Chalkbrood has not been a problem for me for about 8 years since I relocated my hive from a cold air pocket. Now I have lots in a split. Is it the "fault" of the new queen? My inclination is to recombine the split, remove the new queen and use the old queen for another year. Any thoughts out there?
Hi Dan,
I'm fairly new at this, but also battled with CB this year in one hive. Here in UK it's common. I read about spraying brood frames with sugar syrup to encourage bees to remove mummies. It worked very well. I was thinking that the temperature and or strain was at fault, but after seeing it clear up I doubt it. It did warm up, and a lot of brood hatched at the same time as I was about to give up and tried the spray...I'm glad I didn't kill her.
Hello John
I have one off the wall thoughts on that not having gone into the depth of chalkbrood combatting.
For the first time chalk brood has invaded my domain.
And I know of more in the neighborhood.
Requeening is not thought of right awy. It is said the humidity has a bearing on that as well as the queen.
Now, Why the queen as culprit ?
In my case all colonies which are affected are also good house keepers ( My harping horse). They dig those mummies out and carry them outside.
It reasons that it is a genetic trait inherited by/from the queen. Then Leave it alone and it will be taken care of by the bees.
On the other hand : IF the colony is not a good housekeeping bunch, then again it is the cause of the queen genetics in which case one could contemplate replacing the queen. You thoughts on that please.
Happy beeing
JDF
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