K Wings

[bee-nuts]

I have been watching a colony collapse since spring.  I do this because I dont have a mentor and I want to figure out what the problems are so I can diagnose them in the future.  So today I gave a look and I have stubby little bees that all have their wings spread out and I think thats k wing, right?  I did not see split wing meaning four wing just wings out to the side.  So I made a call to a beekeeper I know and was informed that this usually indicates tracheal mites.  I dont have bees crawling in the grass though or dead bees on the bottom board.  So now that I am noticing this spread wing thing I go looking in other colonies and see ten percent or so seem to have it.  Some I see bring them back in.  It was also a bit cool and not sunny when I did this so Im wondering if that might have something to do with some of them in apparently healthy colonies showing this behavior.

DO I have a serious problem?  Do I need to take mediate action? I can get video tomorrow if it helps.

Thanks
bee-nuts

[bee-nuts]

I an having a hard time finding pictures of k wing examples.  I am confused whether I am seeing DWV or K Wing.  Can anybody help.  I dont know if I will get to yard with cam tomorrow or not.  Have some things I need to do and may not have time to go there before I head to work.   I pretty worried.

[Michael Bush]

DWV looks like a crumpled wing.  Old bees look like frayed wings.  "K" wing looks like a letter "K" on each side.  A normal bee the two wings are attached to each other.  With "K" wing the back wing is pushed forward of the front wing.  A lot of deformed (crumpled) wings of course is indicative of Varroa mites.  "K" wings are indicative of Tracheal mites.  Frayed wings are indicative of hard working old bees...

[bee-nuts]

Michael Bush

I think I saw a couple with wings separated making a k.  It was right after a good rain near evening and was cloudy so maybe with the bad light I did not see the separation like I should have.  I never noticed this before but it was very obvious something was different about wings on collapsed colony.  Thankfully I did not seen it in my main yard.  I was told from the people I got my bees from that they had not had a problem with tracheal mites for years now and have not needed to treat for it.  I was hoping I would not have a tracheal mite problem but it appears I may.

The bees in collapsed colony look stubby like this but there wings looked like the one on left but uniform, not frayed or missing.  Last time I looked at them they did not look like this as I remember.  Queen is missing now and obviously dead.

Oh, a link to pic Im referring to would help
http://www.flickr.com/photos/max_westby/4068531583/#

I may have been a bit paranoid though and mistaken this wing position in other colonys I looked at.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/max_westby/4567110893/#

Most had there wings in tight in other colonies I looked at.  I will have to look again and take video and post it so hopefully someone can give me a definitive answer.

Thanks for response.  Ill get video as soon as I can.

[Michael Bush]

A couple of anything is meaningless in my opinion.  One or two deformed wings, one or two "K" wings, is nothing.  A lot may require your attention.

[bee-nuts]

Yeah, I understand.  Ill get video, hopefully tomorrow.  You will see something is is going on for sure with the one, even if its malnutrition, something is going on.