Foulbrood or just an abandoned frame of larvae I'm not sure I Attached photo

[virginiawolf]

I had a weak colony because of perhaps an old queen and a bunch of bees drowned in the top feeder. It was a nuc I bought from reputable local beekeeper. I took a frame of what I suspected was larvae from my healthy hive which is still booming and put it in the bottom box of the weaker colony.
Anyway the weak colony was alive until a few weeks ago when I suspect they couldnt get to the honey on the frames on the other side of the top deep box. I took the frame of larvae out of the bottom deep and It appears gooey like a foulbrood scenario but there's sugar and pollen mixed with it. Could this just be dead larvae? I called the fella that sold me the nuc and he said he doesnt have any foulbrood and the hive I took the frame from seems ok. He said I could bring it to him and show him but I haven't had a chance to yet. None of the other frames or larvae is suspect. I'm a new beekeeper this was my first winter and I want to make sure going into spring I don't have foulbrood but rather just a dead frame of larvae? I'm not sure.
I'm hoping people will tell me I'm ok just not sure.
Thank You, Virginia
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[virginiawolf]

Heres one of the dead bees[IMG][/IMG]

[virginiawolf]

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[frazzledfozzle]

It's hard to tell from the photo but I think it looks like a pollen & honey mixture and the stuff on the end of the stick looks like stored pollen rather than foul brood.

The best indicator of foul brood is to test for it roping out, If you put a stick in and turn it a couple of times then pull it out slowly does the goo stick to the stick and come out like a rope?

If it does its foulbrood.

frazz

[frazzledfozzle]

that second picture is a good one it's definately not foulbrood it's pollen

[virginiawolf]

There's no string ropeyness It just feels like ear wax. It doesnt look like regular honey just like a reddish polleny type stuff.

[virginiawolf]

Great Thank You!!!!
When the colony died I was figuring they didnt make it to the food but when I saw this frame in the bottom I got scared maybe there was a disease because I wasn't familiar with a frame that looked like this. Moving forward this spring I'm determined to have successful colonies. I didn't want to mingle the packages coming with something foul. I'm so releived. I'm still learning to understand what I'm seeing in the hives. This is the first frame I've seen like it. I feel better from you educating me. Thank You!!!!!
Virginia

[Naturegoods]

once you have smelled foulbrood , you won't forget it.
Usually occures with sealed brood, sunken cell caps, stringy dead larvae.

[virginiawolf]

Thank you Fred!!!
I looked at some pictures of foulbrood and I thought the colors kind of looked like what I was seeing on this frame. I wasn't sure what this was. I feel bad that I lost a colony I can't imagine and hope I never have to burn all my equipment because of foulbrood. All the talk of diseases makes me paranoid. I hope I never smell foulbrood. I'm guessing you have and I'm sorry to hear that!! I wish all these diseases didn't exist. Hopefully things will get better for all the bees and beekeepers on the topic of diseases. I hope your bees are doing well!!!
Thank You,
Virginia

[virginiawolf]

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[virginiawolf]

beebread See it
bitter yellowish brown pollen stored up in honeycomb cells and used by bees as food, mixed with nectar or honey; the illustration here shows honeybees on a frame of comb, and the beebread is the dark-colored pollen stored in the cells.

[Michael Bush]

"Stringing" with fresh foulbrood is like snot. It's wet and slippery and just like mucus. Old foulbrood combs have scale in the bottom where that has dried because the bees can't easily remove it.

[virginiawolf]

Hi Michael, Thanks for your response.
It sounds like a nightmare. It's No wonder I'm scared I may ever see it.
Now I know. It would be un mistakeable

un·mis·tak·a·ble (nm-stk-bl)
Impossible to mistake or misinterpret; obvious: unmistakable signs of illness

As a first year beekeeper these diseases I've only heard about are so ominous and apparently show up in the hives by chance. Makes me worry.
Thanks for your help I really appreciate it. I feel better. I felt like I had to disclose that frame in case it was foulbrood I didn't want that on my conscience cause I could end up spreading it around not only to more of my own bees if it was. Couldn't do that. I'm a registered beekeeper. They used to have a local bee inspector in our area but the funding dried up. This forum really helped me! Thank you Bee Source and everyone that took time. Virginia

[KDM]

AFB is most often recognized in the brood that is caped. Sunken cappings, greesey wet looking. It strings out when it is mixed with a stick. EFB the larva dies before it is caped. It will turn yellow, then brown, and last leave a dark loose scale in the bottem of the cell. It looks like this brood died from chill. The yellow is pollen.

[virginiawolf]

Thanks KDM,
I appreciate you looking. I thought it was part dead brood I wasn't sure.
Just wanted to make sure this wasn't a crazy disease. Is this frame ok to put in with other bees then? Will it harm anything?
Thanks Virginia

[Joseph Clemens]

I've been keeping bees for forty-five years; from Washington state to Florida, from California to Ohio and a few states in between. Years ago I saw occasional cases of chalkbrood, sacbrood, and parafoulbrood. More recently I've seen a few cases of PMS (parasitic mite syndrome), but I have yet to see a single case of either EFB or AFB.

BTW all your photographs just show stored pollen, called bee bread. The bees natural food source for vitamins, lipids, and protein (amino acids).

[virginiawolf]

Thank you Joseph!!!
I really appreciate your response!!!
I thought it was bee bread from the description I read yesterday. Like I posted earlier I wasn't sure and got nervous about it. I had taken this frame my hive that was and still is doing great and put it in the other hive that was weak and then it didn't survive.
This coming year I'm Hoping for a great season. I'm a bit more experienced and feel good about the spring. Wanted to make sure my equipment wasn't infected or anything. I'm feeling good now.
Thank You Very Much!!!
Virginia

[johng]

Bee bread for sure.