Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DISEASE & PEST CONTROL => Topic started by: gottabee on July 23, 2013, 08:56:06 pm
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Hey guys hope your beekeeping year is doing great.
I have a problem I have not seen before. Basically: many dead bees, maggots, some SHB, and a few dead wax moths on the hive floor. It really stinks - a rotting smell, frames have maggots and dead larva. Bees are lethargic but the queen is alive.
I did the (AFB) rubber band/toothpick test on the brood but they did not string out or snap back. They were soggy (mushy).
This year is very wet and I have been recovering from severe storm damage so I haven't checked them in about 5 weeks. I am hoping just a bad case of SHB.
What do you think? Your insight and thoughts much appreciated.
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I would scrape it all down and reuse it. Sounds like the bees are a loss. Shake them out and let them move in wherever they like or compress them down to the number of frames they can cover in a box made to take close to that number of frames. Like a two frame nuc or a five frame nuc etc.
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Sounds like SHB problem. Do like Micheal says, but remove any frames that smell like SHB. They will abscond from that smell.