Nosema or Cleansing Flights?

[mbcpa]

I ordered two packages. The seller changed the delivery date from Tues to Friday and I was out of town Friday. I had a buddy pick up my packages and put them in my utility room. In the process, he put a 3 inch gash in the box. As a side note, if you like your wife, don't put a package of bees in the house if the bees can get out.

To further compound matters, the hundreds of bees that escaped pooped all over the house. My wife moved the bees to the garage on Saturday morning. Luckily, I was at a place without cell coverage for several hours.

When I got home, there were hundreds of dead bees on the garage floor. I installed the package on Saturday ( I was told the bees were packaged on Wed) at about 4pm. I noticed lots and lots of poop, everywhere. On the landing board, neighboring hives, my truck, etc. Below is a picture of the hive. How do I tell if a package has Nosema or if the bees are just doing cleansing flights? I went out on Sunday and there are tons of dead bees around the hive.

Thanks in advance.

IMG_1752.jpg

[Charlie B]

I had two packages last year that had Nosema. One characteristic of Nosema is that their bee poop is dark brown and they poop in long streaks, not drops. It looks to me from the photo that their just taking cleansing flights.

I would open up the entrance during the day as that helped quite a bit with my two hives.

It's normal to have dead bees in a package and then in your hive after installation. When you say "a ton" of dead bees, approximately how many?

[Charlie B]

Sorry, duplicate post

[mbcpa]

This is the view from outside the hive:

IMG_1764.jpg

[Charlie B]

That's about normal. You have to remember that workers only live 6 weeks so you have natural die off plus I think being couped up in a package cage that long takes a toll. They should rebound with 1:1 syrup and an open entrance if it's not to cold.

[geebob]

Agree that neither the poop nor the number of bees is an immediate worry. I would keep a close eye on them, though, and possibly order some Fumagilin-B. If you notice a slow build-up or other problems, I'd consider treating.