Chalkbrood help

[Jf01]

My local Bee Inspector was out and one of my hives is heavily infected with chalkbrood. He says Bees usually will keep it in check and overcome it but it is spreading into my new frames, etc... He says it looks like it started in the Nuc that I bought & has spread.

Does anyone have any remedies that have worked well for them?

[Michael Bush]

A new queen. Moving the hive to full sun. More ventilation if it's a wet climate.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beespests.htm#chalkbrood

[Ian]

Ya, I had a problem with one of my yards this spring, well right up til last week.
Its stress related. And I am sure it is linked to genetics, someone once told me.

I waited my outbreak out. We had a few bad weeks come through here for the bees, and I think it probably had some hand in the yard outbreak, but funny thing only that yard?
Anyhow, I fed them a bit, and didnt get back to them for a couple of weeks. I came back to do something drastic, and ended up taking brood away. They had recovered totally with the onset of better weather and flowers.

[Michael Palmer]

>He says it looks like it started in the Nuc that I bought & has spread.<

You're not the only one having chalk problems in purchased nucs. I've heard from two other beekeepers who bought nucs from a MA supplier, whose nucs are rotten with chalk.

You'll need to requeen with hygienic bees.

[BjornBee]

I'm not always so fast to just requeen.

I suppose if the problem, or many problems, are linked back to one supplier, then yes maybe its the queen line being bad.

The nature of nuc production, (i.e. pulling frames, moving bees multiple times, queenless period, how the bees were made up, the make-up of the bees, and many other items) all contribute to stress. Perhaps a uneven balance of the nuc in worker task distribution contributes.

Once chalk starts, it can take a good while to clear. Sometimes weeks or a couple months.

I think the requeening part sometimes permits a break in the brood cycle, thus allowing the bees to overcome other chores, and get a handle on the cleanup. Was it the brood cycle break or the new queen? If not for the new queen, would of cleared on its own? Hard to say. But many times it does.

Yes, I know. It seems every problem with secondary deseases comes back to the "Requeen" comments.

If you can, clean the bottom board off. Shake some bees from another colony. Many times the chalk goes away and is never seen again. That would indicate stress and other factors and not necessarily genetics.

Of course this sounds like someone (MP) knows of a breeder that has a problem. Something that should not happen.

[Jf01]

I wonder if I had the same supplier as Mikes' friends? I don't want to name names. I do intend to ask if they will make good next season if this hive dies...

Jf

[Velbert]

I use to see ck brood in a hive here and there But have not see any in the past 5 years. Don't know if it is because the Russians are more Hygienic or ma by when i quit feeding sugar water and went to using undiluted HFCS 55.

It has been about 25 years ago I had 35 full size hives had ordered 30 starline queen for the middle of march. Before the queens came in I got to noticing open dying larvae. Never had seen it in my hives before so I checked all hives 27 out of all of them had it EFB oh I was sick Started treatment didn't seem to be doing any good. by the time my queens arrives the middle of March the brood frames had about 50 60% dead brood in them SICKING I went ahead and killed the old queen and left queen less a few days then put in the new Starlin Queens By the time the new queen started to lay they had about 10 days with no brood being layed so they had cleaned up the biggest part of the dead brood and from there things started going great.

[Ann]

The chalkbrood we reported in our newly purchased hives (we picked them up in mid-may, noticed the problem two weeks later) has ended for us up in Maine. Looks like the girls took care of the problem themselves (the weather has surely helped! Lots of sunshine does wonders).

[Robert Brenchley]

Putting the hives on screen bottoms can make a lot of difference. I once had a very bad outbreak in a queenless split; it can sometimes just be down to temporary circumstances. That being said, there undoubtedly is a genetic component, and requeening can cure it if all else fails. But I'd give them a while, and see if there could be anything making those hives damp.