Alas! My girls are gone...

[theinein]

Hi,

Two weeks ago, a friend of mine had split two wintered colonies. Our inspection of both hives revealed a healthy laying queen in each. Unable to locate the queens, and having no queens available to re-queen, we took our chances and split both hives. He took two, and I took two.

Now, two weeks later, I have one strong hive with three queen cells, eggs, larvae in various stages, capped brood and active workers. All is well here.

The other hive... was not so lucky! All bees are dead. Reading up in "Beekeeping in Western Canada", I believe the problem was caused by either Nosema, or Dysentry.

The case for Dysentry:
'I did it'. Well, when I got them home, my friend suggested I feed them syrup. I looked up a recipe at where else... but BeeSource.com. Unfortunately, I only had a wee bit of granulated sugar. So, I added some icing sugar and Rogers Golden Syrup. I figured if I like it, the bees must like it too!

The case for Nosema (more brief):
+ Weak colony
+ Disoriented bees at hive entrance of in front of hive

Against Nosema:
+ Hive treated with fuagillin

So, if you've managed to stick with me through my exhastive commentary, can you please offer any suggestions. If it is most likely Dysentry, be gentle. I did not plan the mass murder of thousands of innocent Apidae.

[clintonbemrose]

I'll bet the cornstarch in the icing sugar did not agree with the dees and gave them the trots. Was there much brown spoting in the hive and on the outside of the hive?
Clint

[Michael Bush]

I'm with Clint.

[theinein]

Thanks for your feedback. Tonight, weather permitting, I will check for spotting.

Do you really think that icing sugar would be that fatal? The reason I ask, is that several sources recommend icing sugar for mixing with medication. One example is here:

http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/crops/honey/bha01s00.html

Others examples can be found by searching Google.

Cheers,
Greg

[Michael Bush]

Yes, powdered sugar is often used for medications etc. and it works ok if the amounts are small enough and the bees can free fly. But it will give them dysentary and if they can't fly that is a problem.

http://www.mannlakeltd.com/catalog/page42.htm

Read the section on "beekeepers sugar"

[Jim Fischer]

Mann Lake is of full of it, and "it" ain't sugar.

1) The tiny amount of cornstarch in powdered
sugar is not going to cause bees any problems
unless it is misused as the sole feed source
for overwintering bees, which would be brain-damaged.

2) Grocery store sugar, if it says "Pure Cane
Sugar", is 100% pure cane sugar, as one would
expect. There may be some grocery store
sugars that have some amount of "starch" added,
but I've never seen any.

3) What they are selling is nothing but
"fine" or perhaps "superfine" sugar, something
that you could buy yourself in bulk ("bar sugar").

Boring details about sugars and other sweeteners
as they apply to beekeeping and compete with honey
can be found here:
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/sugar.pdf

> But it will give them dysentary...

It might, but only under the most extreme
conditions of confinement. The bees at
issue had quite a few flying days in Alberta
during the timeframe cited.

I'd conclude that the actual culprit here was
the "Rogers Golden Syrup".
http://www.rogerssugar.com/products/syrup.html

This stuff is a sugar refining byproduct, a
liquid that contains all sorts of stuff that
you don't want in sugar. Boil it down, and
you'd get molasses. Lots and lots of gunk,
more than you'd ever want to feed bees.

[BWrangler]

Hi Greg and Jim,

It's interesting that various kinds of starches and cellulose are common constituents of pollen. And in the early spring, before pollen becomes available, my bees actually prefer corn dust over ever other kind. They will seek it out and they can cause much consternation at the feedlots where crushed corn is quickly covered by a matt of bees getting the good stuff.

Hummmmm....

Actually, powdered sugar is a 10x size of very fine granulated sugar. It's sometimes called bakers sugar. I think that's what Mann Lake sells.

Confectioners sugar is really what I dust my bees with and I haven't seen any kind of negative impact or impaction :>) in the bees. It's actually what most beekeepers call powdered sugar. But if you order a ton of powdered sugar from the factory, you will get bakers sugar. :>)

I've also made queen candy from confectioners sugar and from powdered sugar. Neither had any negative impacts on the bees.

I just don't know where the confectioner's sugar statement comes from. It's often repeated, but I can't find anyones actual observations.

I sure sorry to hear about your bees. I too, think the syrup did them in. All beekeepers want to take good care of their bees. But if we don't know the biology of the bee, our best intentions can and often do interfer with them.

Don't give up. The bees are really tough little critters. Read a little more and try again. Just work with the bees. They will actually do better with less 'management' than more.

And don't be too concerned about the loses. Hives die with even the best management.

Regards
Dennis
PS. Jim I sure enjoyed your sugar article in the bee mag. I had a organic food oriented friend who wouldn't touch that evil sugar but actually sold Suconate. Go figure:>))))

[Dick Allen]

Diastase (from the Greek word for separate) is a group of enzymes which catalyses the breakdown of starch into glucose. Along with the enzyme intertase they produce to breakdown sucrose, bee also produce diastase from their hypopharyngeal glands.