Hi all.
Last week, I tried moving a split from a TBH into a frameless Langstroth. It was a diseaster. The nurse bees left the first night. Just now, I thought I'd clean out the brood from the abandoned Lang. I pulled it out and there was a moth. It looked like a pantry moth, maybe about a half inch long with light colored wings. I smushed it immediately. Last week, when I was doing the split, I saw a single hive beetle (which I also killed). One moth might not have caused me heartburn (or maybe it should), but as soon as the sun hit the brood, tiny larvae started coming out of the brood cells.
I know, I should cleaned the hive immediately after my failed split, and I learned that lesson. But I didn't and now I have an infestation and I don't know what it is.
To complicate things further, there was a single string in the Lang. It was like a spider silk. Just one. I brushed it away. And yet one more thing, fearing American Foulbrood, I poked at some of the cells with a tiny stick. Three of four were little dead bees that hadn't emerged yet. But some were kind of sticky and gooey. I don't know if they were just too young to form, or if this could actually be AFB. The goo was white, not dark.
To put it all together:
I took pictures and a video. I could not get them to post here, so I posted them on my blog about chickens http://buzzquack.wordpress.com/buzzhome/bee-problems/
Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Last week, I tried moving a split from a TBH into a frameless Langstroth. It was a diseaster. The nurse bees left the first night. Just now, I thought I'd clean out the brood from the abandoned Lang. I pulled it out and there was a moth. It looked like a pantry moth, maybe about a half inch long with light colored wings. I smushed it immediately. Last week, when I was doing the split, I saw a single hive beetle (which I also killed). One moth might not have caused me heartburn (or maybe it should), but as soon as the sun hit the brood, tiny larvae started coming out of the brood cells.
I know, I should cleaned the hive immediately after my failed split, and I learned that lesson. But I didn't and now I have an infestation and I don't know what it is.
To complicate things further, there was a single string in the Lang. It was like a spider silk. Just one. I brushed it away. And yet one more thing, fearing American Foulbrood, I poked at some of the cells with a tiny stick. Three of four were little dead bees that hadn't emerged yet. But some were kind of sticky and gooey. I don't know if they were just too young to form, or if this could actually be AFB. The goo was white, not dark.
To put it all together:
- I have evidence of a moth and a SHB and larvae crawling around the abandoned brood.
- There was a string of webbing.
- There was gooey larva.
- Oh, did I mention the larvae. They're kind of gross. Not friendly little things like meal worms.
I took pictures and a video. I could not get them to post here, so I posted them on my blog about chickens http://buzzquack.wordpress.com/buzzhome/bee-problems/
Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!