Joel Acheson
05-27-2003, 05:10 PM
At least I think it is called shriveling wing disease (SWD), when the newbees emerge with deformed wings. I had been of the understanding that this was one of the signs of a major varroa infestation - the infestation causing such stress that it allows the microbe causing the wing problem to surface - and that presence of this sign meant that your colony was in the final stages of a crash. Is there any other condition in a hive which could cause this to occur?
I entered a post in one of the other forums about 2 wks ago wherein I stated that I had a colony with odd sized foundation going through a varroa crash, right next to a healthy colony on 4.9 comb. I made this statement because I saw a newbee with deformed wings in a newly requeened colony (from supercedure) with about 5 frames of brood, and the rest honey or just empty, so I thought it was weak from varroa. I did nothing for that colony, and checking it two wks later, it is thriving and well, with no sign of SWD, or any other problem. The queen is doing an excellent job, and all appears wonderful.
So what else could have caused that newbee to have SWD?
Thanx, Joel
I entered a post in one of the other forums about 2 wks ago wherein I stated that I had a colony with odd sized foundation going through a varroa crash, right next to a healthy colony on 4.9 comb. I made this statement because I saw a newbee with deformed wings in a newly requeened colony (from supercedure) with about 5 frames of brood, and the rest honey or just empty, so I thought it was weak from varroa. I did nothing for that colony, and checking it two wks later, it is thriving and well, with no sign of SWD, or any other problem. The queen is doing an excellent job, and all appears wonderful.
So what else could have caused that newbee to have SWD?
Thanx, Joel