Killing me softly with honey - a tale of dysentary

[Barry Digman]

Dang. We're in a warm spell. The ladies were flying yesterday, so I decided to put on a hivetop feeder with some older honey. Warmed it up by setting the gallon jug in a pan of hot water, poured it in the feeder and set it on the hive. This was about 3:00 pm yesterday. This morning at 9:30 the front of the hive was splattered with large brown spots, as was the top and the the ground in front of the hive. Lots of dead bees outside, but some of them are from regular housecleaning that started yesterday. I pulled the feeder off, hoping I didn't destroy a colony.

[Michael Bush]

I've never noticed the bees having a problem when feeding honey. However old. It's kind of early in the cold season to have dysentery already, though.

[Barry Digman]

Wonder if I got the right diagnosis. I wanted to feed just because it warmed up so nicely and this hive is lighter than the other. If it is dysentary, it'll wipe them out won't it? Could it be something else?

[dcross]

Nosema? They can survive both dysentery and nosema, but it's two more strikes against them.

[dcross]

And if it is nosema, you could treat them for it, but I'm not sure how well it works at this time of year.

[Dick Allen]

Old honey has been reported (in the books) to cause dysenterry. If that wet fecal stuff showed up right after you put old honey in your feeder, it seems to me there's a good chance that was the culprit. If you took it right back off, and the hive has enough stores, I would think there's a good chance the hive will recover and survive.

[Barry Digman]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>If that wet fecal stuff showed up right after you put old honey in your feeder, it seems to me there's a good chance that was the culprit.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It appeared within a couple of hours, and I've never seen it before, ever. It's another 55F-60F day here and they're really flying. (Well, at least the ones that are left) I just pulled the reducer out and will let them clean until dark or until it cools down again. We're due for a couple more days of warmth, then back down into the 30's.

[nursebee]

Does it taste like chicken?

[jfischer]

Run down to the store, and buy a cheap
child's microscope while they have them
on sale for Christmas. That's all you
need to see the difference between
simple dysentery and nosema.

The protozoa that causes nosema is very
unique, and looks like nothing else you
will find in the midgut of a bee. There
are lots of pictures of it in Zach's
online picture gallery at http://photo.bees.net/gallery/nosema

The old "brownish midgut" test is certainly
simpler, but it does not show up in all
cases of nosema. If you DO see it from
your bee sample, there is no reason to
verify things with a microscope.

If the bees had days when flight was
possible prior to the brown stains,
then you clearly DO (or did) have a
problem. Dysentery after only a short
period of being cooped up is rare.

[GreenMountainRose]

Coyote, how did this turn out?

[Barry Digman]

Coyote, how did this turn out?

They look fine from the outside. I haven't thorougly inspected the hive, but the numbers on warm days indicate a strong hive. Bringing in lots of pollen. There was such a traffic jam that I had to open up the reducer last week.