Started a package in the last week of March in a top bar hive. 3 weeks later figured out that the queen was missing. So ordered another queen and installed her. The remaining couple thousand bees accepted her and all seemed well but without additional growth of the hive. Yesterday i went out for my weekly check of the hives and found a total mess in that top bar hive. Lots of dead bees in the bottom. Thought at first I had been attacked by maggots. Figured that the small hive beetle or wax moths had had a heyday in there over the last week. The queen was still there but most of the hive residents were gone. I collected the queen and put her and the remaining couple hundred hive residents into a 5-frame nuc and added two "borrowed" frames from my boomer hive that was started on the same day. The comb was a mess with larvae all over it so I tossed them all (about 8 bars) in the trash. What's done is done . . . but could I have saved the nectar/honey or am I better off to have tossed it. I just didn't want to take the chance of messing up any other hives. This is part of that steep learning curve isn't it?:scratch:
SHB Larvae and My Missing Hive Population
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you could have collected the honey and froze it to kill any eggs/larva and then fed it back to the bees.
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kwright...One of my hives became a "small hive beetle" hive (and it happened QUICKLY!) It was the most disgusting slimy stinky mess I have ever seen in my life. I brought them to a local person with chickens, and let the girls have a field day. They lovvve shb larvae! Brought it home the next day, double bagged all the frames, tossed them, and soaped down and washed the box. All that stinking slimy goo was not worth the torture for me. Sounds like you did the best for the remaining bees, too. Good luck!
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