Stink!

[xgeordie]

For the past week or so I have been noticing an unpleasant smell in my apiary - difficult to describe but you wouldn't want to use it as aftershave.

I eventually tracked it down to one of my colonies and opened it up half expecting to find something dead inside. All appeared normal.

I think it might be due to a plant they are foraging on - Goldenrod?

 

[Red Bee]

Or Ivy

 

[justme]

ivy doesnt stink! or at least the honey and smell from the hive of it being produced doesnt.

 

[susbees]

Ragwort.

 

[drstitson]

all the ragwort in surrey has been finished for well over a week

 

[BKF Admin]

I agree with Susbees,I think it could be Ragwort if its a flower causing the smell.

 

[Swarm]

I'd be inclined to say ivy, not a very pleasant smell. Maybe if it's coming in at a rate the smell from the plant may be more noticeable?

 

[Midland Beek]

Foulbrood?

 

[mexbigshow]

i've seen a lot of bees on pissy smelling shrubs near r house they are really foul smelling i will try and find out what they are

 

[xgeordie]

I think I have located the offending plant and it does look like Goldenrod (camera is bust or I would post a pic). Looks like it is coming to an end now so hopefully the stink will disappear.

Having googled the problem I can see a number of similar posts on American beekeeping sites.

 

[Winker]

Foulbrood?

 

[Nose Ma]

i've seen a lot of bees on pissy smelling shrubs near r house they are really foul smelling i will try and find out what they are

Dogweed?

I'll get me coat.

 

[itma]

Foulbrood?

I haven't spotted anything from the original poster to suggest that this possibility has been investigated, let alone ruled out.

If that is something that the poster is in any way uncertain about, shouldn't he be calling his Seasonal Bee Inspector? And pronto?

 

[Meg]

Xgeordie,

For the sake of your bees and everyone elses in the area, please check out the brood in your hive. Youb mentioned only one of the hives stank and yet I imagine they are all foraging on the same plants?

If you are not confident about identifying foul brood, then as others have said already, please contact your Seasonal Bee Inspector.

Meg

 

[xgeordie]

Folks - I stated in post #1 that I had done an inspection and "all appeared normal." I also stated in post #10 that I had located the plant with the same smell.

 

[itma]

...
I eventually tracked it down to one of my colonies and opened it up half expecting to find something dead inside. All appeared normal.

I think it might be due to a plant they are foraging on - Goldenrod?

My book-learning (I'm only starting with real bees) suggests that the FIRST thing to suspect as the cause of a "foul smell" in the hive is Foul Brood.

"Identifying the early stages of AFB is difficult ...
Get to know the nice smell of a healthy colony. Then, when you smell something different, suspect AFB." - Cramp, Practical Manual, page 183.
And about EFB he says (page 186) "The later stages of the disease produce a foul smell - often worse than AFB. In both diseases this smell depends on which secondary bacteria infest the larval remains after death."
In other words, these diseases smell EXACTLY as if something had died inside the hive.

Since it is SO serious, so infectious, AND the first thing to suspect from that sort of a smell, I would have expected to see some sort of explicit comment about checking specifically for Foul Brood, rather than a mere 'no dead animal and it all looked OK in there'.

 

[Chris Luck]

and I would check it out if it was mine.

Chris