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Author Topic: Stinking mess in my hive  (Read 2526 times)

Offline gottabee

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Stinking mess in my hive
« on: July 23, 2013, 08:56:06 pm »
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.

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Stinking mess in my hive
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2013, 11:23:08 am »
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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Offline iddee

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Re: Stinking mess in my hive
« Reply #2 on: July 24, 2013, 11:32:54 am »
Sounds like SHB problem. Do like Micheal says, but remove any frames that smell like SHB. They will abscond from that smell.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

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anything