Gumption (Nuc #6)
69°F
Sunny
Calm
This is what she looked like at the beginning; sans the top cover. The bottom deep is the original swarm box from a year ago. The rest are medium nucs made this year. The white box is NOT upside down. Though it was when i cut the handles in it.
Population is fair. Didn't see a queen. Saw a few eggs and larva. Very few! The frames in the white box, newest, were not drawn out. All end frames filled with honey. Weak stores elsewhere. The bottom box had a bunch of pollen in it. The brood nest was up in the top box...well, what would have been the brood nest.
The bees boiled a little bit so i really think there is no Queen. Also the few brood frames only had a handful of DRONE cells on them.
However, the REALLY bad news is the black brood dead in their cells. I have no experience with Foulbrood but i suspect this to be one of them.
The darkened brood is what i'm worried about. If it is a foulbrood i can kiss the bees & woodenware goodbye. I looked on the internet for images of foulbrood. They seem to match. Out of hope i asked this question on a bee forum and sent an email to a bee buddy. Have my fingers crossed they say it's something else.
I put the hive back together but without the bottom deep or the empty white boxes. Trying to fit the space to the bee population. Brood frames below and reserve frames above. Now to sit back and see what the prognosis is.
69°F
Calm
This is what she looked like at the beginning; sans the top cover. The bottom deep is the original swarm box from a year ago. The rest are medium nucs made this year. The white box is NOT upside down. Though it was when i cut the handles in it.
Population is fair. Didn't see a queen. Saw a few eggs and larva. Very few! The frames in the white box, newest, were not drawn out. All end frames filled with honey. Weak stores elsewhere. The bottom box had a bunch of pollen in it. The brood nest was up in the top box...well, what would have been the brood nest.
The bees boiled a little bit so i really think there is no Queen. Also the few brood frames only had a handful of DRONE cells on them.
However, the REALLY bad news is the black brood dead in their cells. I have no experience with Foulbrood but i suspect this to be one of them.
The darkened brood is what i'm worried about. If it is a foulbrood i can kiss the bees & woodenware goodbye. I looked on the internet for images of foulbrood. They seem to match. Out of hope i asked this question on a bee forum and sent an email to a bee buddy. Have my fingers crossed they say it's something else.
I put the hive back together but without the bottom deep or the empty white boxes. Trying to fit the space to the bee population. Brood frames below and reserve frames above. Now to sit back and see what the prognosis is.
____________________☼____________________
2 comments:
Hi. One thing pointed out to us by our state apiarist is a dark, tarry, ropy kind of substance found in the cells with AFB. Take a toothpick and swirl around in the cell. Here is a description of this ropy substance: "Presence of a brown viscous liquid inside the punctured cappings, that, when a match stick or small sliver of wood is used to try to remove acts like rubber cement, springing back into the cell. This is called roping and may extend 3/8 to 1/2" out of the cell before breaking off." I don't see that in your photo, but our apiarist said it is a pretty sure sign.
Hi Jim,
The State Apiarist said this is 'Chilled Brood'. The lows have been in the 50's lately and the population of this colony isn't that good. So it makes a lot of sense.
I did do the string test today with negative results (no string).
Thanks.
Post a Comment