Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Yarra_Valley on August 23, 2007, 10:01:25 am

Title: First spring inspection
Post by: Yarra_Valley on August 23, 2007, 10:01:25 am
Well its not spring yet, but theres quite a bit of traffic in the apiary, and a fair bit of pollen coming in. So if they think its spring, that's good enough for me. All colonies appear to be healthy, however there are a few issues I concerned about.

Condensation. I found condensation in the lids of two hives. In one there were a few empty frames in the upper brood box covered in green powdery mold. I removed those frames. Are those frame a health hazard or will they clean them up themselves when they need them? That's the only issue I really have. I took a lot of honey off my bigger nasty colony, and used most of it to add to the hives which don't have a lot of stores.

My big nasty colony.

This hive was four boxes high filled with bees in march. I thought I would wait until may so they had settled down a bit in prep for winter and reduced in size. There were still four boxes full of bees. I opened them up yesterday, still four boxes full of bees. I escaped the two honey supers yesterday, and then removed th few remaining bees today. I moved them onto my property today. I couldn't work them in their previous location. I did an inspection in feb and they went and attacked the neighbouts 30 metres away. I did another inspection later in the month, and they attacked a man working on the roof three days later. so nasty, as soon as you took they lid off they went crazy. new queen for them soon.

So anyone have any thoughts on the mold?

James.
Title: Re: First spring inspection
Post by: BMAC on August 23, 2007, 10:20:05 am
I would put the moldy frames in your big nasty hive and let them babies clean it up.  I think the bees will clean out most of the mold with no ill effect.

Condensation on the lids shouldn't be too much problem.  It will give the bees some needed water.

How cold is it there at night now?
Title: Re: First spring inspection
Post by: Understudy on August 23, 2007, 04:10:34 pm
The mold is there because of the hives week status. If you can remove the frames and replace with fresh ones. If the bees don't work on the frames and you see other frames with the mold. The hive is weak. Remove the whole box and consolidate the hive. If they build the frames up don't worry about it.

The mold doesn't present to many health issues but it is just no fun to look at in the hive. It may however be a sign of a weak hive.

Sincerely,
Brendhan
Title: Re: First spring inspection
Post by: Yarra_Valley on August 23, 2007, 08:45:59 pm
Hi there,

Its about 15 - 20 c (59 - 68 F) here in the daytimes. Nights can still get quite cold and frosty with the clear skies but usual is about 6 - 9 C (43 - 48 F).  Its too warm for this time of year. They're bringing in lots of pollen (golden wattle is going crazy), I'm not sure about nectar. If it gets cold again in the last weeks of winter and the first of spring, they could have too many bees and not enough stores, and there might not be any nectar around :S.

I want to inspect the hive with the mold. They have one box full of bees and then some in the second box where the honey is; the frames with the mold are on the outside, well they were before I removed them. I don't want to give them to the crazy hive, in case the cause of weakness is disease. I haven't done a brood inspection, as i didn't want to accidentally harm a queen if drones aren't flying yet.

James.
Title: Re: First spring inspection
Post by: Yarra_Valley on August 23, 2007, 10:38:24 pm
Beautiful sunny day. I just checked the hive in question with the mold. There is very little traffic at the entrance, just a few bees crawling around. This is weird because when i took a look in it yesterday there was a box full of bees, and then a few more in the upper brood box on the honey.

I'm going to take a closer look at what's going on in there today. If there are drones and/or drone brood, that's good as there should be drones flying and a new queen can mate. They're not starving, they have plenty of honey. So I'm looking at disease, and maybe queenless. If they don't hany any eggs and larvae, I'll put in a comb with such from another colony, in the hope they'll raise a new one. I don't think that will be the case though, as they have bees, its just seems none are flying.

Any ideas on course of action? I'll be back with more details after inspection.

James. 
Title: Re: First spring inspection
Post by: Yarra_Valley on August 24, 2007, 12:00:08 am
Update:

I've just inspected. Queen is alive and exhibiting healthy routine. Brood found in all stages.

There is disease in the hive. I'm assuming EFB. There is quite a lot of dead sealed brood, but I can't get it to string out which would indicate AFB. If it is EFB, I'm hoping the large quantity of pollen available at present will help improve the health of the colony.

There is greed powdery mold to be found throughout the hive.
Title: Re: First spring inspection
Post by: FordGuy on August 24, 2007, 01:41:27 pm
I'd put a screened bottom board on the one with condensation.