[MCC]

Got the word from the bee inspector. What type of hive clean up is recommend to install a new nuc this spring?

 

[brooksbeefarm]

I just clean the dead bees out the best i can and if there is dead brood in the frames that you can't bump out,i put them in the freezer(wrapped in plastic bag) to keep from molding. Then when i get my nuc just take them out and thaw them out and put them in the nuc, the bees will do the rest. Another thing i like to do is mix a cap full of bleach in a gal. of water, and put it in a spray bottle and spray each frame with a fine mist. Good luck. Jack

 

[Michael Bush]

The tracheal mites are dead...

 

[sqkcrk]

Did your inspector take a sample of bees and have them disected? How did the inspector know that they died from tracheal mites. I haven't heard of anyone loosing a colony to tracheal mites in a long time. Not that it couldn't be true. I'm just asking how do you or your inspector know.

As said above, the mites are dead. They aren't a problem anymore.

 

[JoeMcc]

Washington State University still tests for them to make sure....but all my hives are free also.

Also FWIW Randy Oliver stated.... Nosema-C dies when frozen....so if you have a hive that died from Nosema C you just need to freeze it. Here in the NW all hives w/o bees will get a good freezing....makes it easy...lol Also they tell me Nosema C has replaced Nosema A. At least the spores will die when frozen.

Michael... have you heard this?

JoeMcc

 

[brooksbeefarm]

Like Micheal said, the mites are dead and in a dead out the varroa mite would also be dead if any. Jack

 

[MCC]

thanks everyone, it would make sense that the mites are dead if the bees are dead and gone. This nuc was installed in April in southern Indiana, very wet all spring, summer and fall. They never acted right, never built comb, I was feeding them until August and when the golden rod came out I did a wait and see. They were gone except for maybee 50 bees crawling on the bottom on September 15.
I sent those to the Bee Research laboratory via the county bee inspector, the official letter came in the mail.

I think I'll do some housekeeping before the new nuc is installed.

 

[beeking1]

If tracheal mites are the problem, why not try Buckfast Bees or a hybrid Buckfast. They're supposedly resistant to many things especially tracheal mites.

 

[sqkcrk]

I sent those to the Bee Research laboratory via the county bee inspector, the official letter came in the mail.

So the lab results showed tracheal mites? Interesting.

 

[camero7]

Curious, what type of bees were they? Did they start from a package or a nuc?
thanks.

 

[Beeslave]

This nuc was installed in AprilQUOTE]

 

[camero7]

I would purchase my next nuc from a different supplier.

 

[Countryboy]

Mike Palmer has said that if you use your strongest hives in early spring to make your increases, in 3-5 years of doing this tracheal mites will be nothing more than a minor problem.