[G.Kennedy]

Glen here. SoCal, San Pedro to be specific. Beautiful weather here. Bees are flying and foraging like mad. Lots of nectar. Less pollen. But plenty coming in. 3 booming hives. ( always interesting that many are done for the season and I am building.)

I use all mediums. Foundationless. The hive in question is 3 mediums. Plenty of resources. Yesterday during inspection there was a small pile of bees out front. So my radar kicked in to keep my eyes open for .... something.

I could see plenty of jittery incoherent bees on many frames. Plenty of capped brood, larva. Spotted the queen. She looked normal.

This morning was course 3 of OAV with a plan to finish the course by the winter Solstice.

2 hives were business as usual. The last one had 1000’s of dead or dying bees out front and crawling out of the hive.

I opened the top. Still lots of bees in there. But lots of erratic behavior. I closed it up and OAV anyways. Thinking if they are weak from pesticides. Reducing mites will only help. The mite drop in this hive has been very low for the last 2 treatments.

I guess it’s wait and see now ? I won’t be able to inspect until next Saturday. I reduced the entrance to about 1”. I hesitate to put a robber screen on as the dead bees will pile up.

Lots of honey and pollen. So they won’t starve. Temps are mild all week.

Anything else I am not thinking of?

 

[Roland]

What did the late stage larvae look like?

Crazy Roland

 

[G.Kennedy]

What did the late stage larvae look like?

Crazy Roland

I don’t really have an answer for that. What do you want me to look for?

When I inspected Saturday morning. I saw the beginning of this, but didn’t realize what was really happening.

I just did a usual check for resources and Queen cups. I know I saw capped brood, once I saw the Queen, I started putting things back together.

I knew they were acting funny. But didn’t think it would progress too far.
Today it got much worst. Large pile of dead bees. I removed the entrance reducer and raked out bees with a hive tool.

I ended up putting on a robbing screen. The one I made covers the entire entrance. So it will give the lives bees more space to get past the dead bees.

I leave for work before sunrise, and get home after sunset all week. They are on there own for now.

 

[wildbranch2007]

take a look at post #6 in this thread and compare to what you say in the hives, there is information in the other post regarding diseases.

Diseases in Beekeeping; How to Identify and What They...

Hi All, I've been on this forum for 3 years and have made several good contacts through it and not to mention that I have even acquired some pretty valuable information from several other members on here as well. I have stated before that one area of beekeeping that I'd like to further my...

www.beesource.com

 

[G.Kennedy]

Ok thanks. I’ll read up on Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus.

 

[Roland]

I want you to look for off color or dying large larvae, and perforated /chewed on caps on pupae. Also observe the percentage of bees that hatch now compared to a week from now.

Crazy Roland

 

[G.Kennedy]

Ok. I’ll look closer at the Brood at next inspection.

Going to sweep up some bees and alcohol wash tonight. But I expect low numbers as I’m midway through a OAV treatment session

It appears I go to night shift mid week. So I should be able to take a look on Wednesday now.

The CBPV info was good. I went right to poisoning. But in hindsight was a quick judgement. I guess that’s why I started the thread.

 

[G.Kennedy]

I got a good look at the hive today. Went all the way to the bottom board and cleared off thousands of dead and dying bees.

Roland. There is no open brood at all. Some capped brood still hatching out. No chewed cappings. No shriveled or gooey larva. Very clean looking.

No sign of the Queen.

Still enough bees in there to sustain. But as there are no drones, there is no way to get a mated Queen in there. I’d say it’s going to dwindle.

On Saturday I’ll pull 2 boxes and reduce them to one medium with resources.

I’ll give them a frame of eggs from another hive to see what they do. But I don’t think it will ultimately save them.

Not knowing what the real cause is. I’m not sure if I can used these resources elsewhere.

30 frames of foundationless comb. Lots of honey and pollen.

Hmmm

 

[G.Kennedy]

 

[Roland]

You say there are no eggs, but do you think you have a queen? By now they should have set some cells with the eggs you gave them. Please report back as to cells or not, and in a week, the color of the brood just before it is capped.

Crazy Roland

 

[G.Kennedy]

No eggs. No larva. I believe no Queen.

I have Not given a frame of eggs yet.

I should have time tomorrow to look for Queen and get a frame from another hive in there.

I will watch the developing larva/QC and report back.

 

[Roland]

What??? Where is the due dillegence?

Give them as much brood as they can cover. Then ALSO report if the first few days as larvae are swimming and shiny.

Crazy Roland

 

[G.Kennedy]

Ok. Was able to take a look both last weekend. As well as yesterday.

The hive still has a Queen. And she is laying in very small batches.

The larva look fine/normal.

The small amounts of capped brood seem to be emerging.

There are only a few thousand bees left. Maybe 3 medium frames covered.

The rate of death seems to have stopped. So at this point I am pulling boxes to get them into one medium. And see if they can get through this.

Zero foragers , but plenty of resources. I hesitate to give open brood they may not be able to cover. Maybe a frame of capped brood.

 

[Roland]

please forgive me, but you reported the larvae looked "Fine", but did they look shiny and swimming in royal jelly?

Crazy Roland

 

[G.Kennedy]

Yes. 100% normal. Swimming in cloudy Royal Jelly. No Queen cups being generated.

Mon/Tues day shift. Wed-Fri night shift. So I’ll be able to check progress of brood on Wednesday.

I have the entrance reduced to 1/2”.

 

[Roland]

Thank you for your report. Not what I was expecting.

Crazy Roland