Infestation Alert – real and present Danger

Hi Everyone,

Well the title of this says it all. Part of our Summer program in the Apiary at kiwimana HQ is our continued efforts to ‘grow Bees’ we can’t grow Bees or have honey or enjoy our girls if our colonies die.

So with each season comes monitoring, inspections, record-keeping, apiary maintenance, gear checks, and so on….

Recent inspections have shown mixed results.

A: Our Apiary up at the organic farm has seen mite infestations – Gary has been treating these with the Kiwi Oxalic Acid Vaporizer.

B: Our Quarantine Apiary has seen thriving hives but varroa are starting to appear.

C: kiwimana HQ, as I progressed through the hive inspections 4 of the hives looking good but number 5 – not good~!

This hive is called, Swanson 10.

ABOUT SWANSON 10.

Swanson 10 is our main genetics from which we have ‘grown’ our apiary. The girls in these colonies are lovely to work, calm and productive Italians. Not huge honey production this year but we’ll talk about that shortly.

The queen of this hive is a new, 2013 season, queen. Which was ‘grown’ from a split we did earlier on in October (2013) and to help the split, we gave them a couple of 3/4 frames with Honey.

She is a great layer and the population is excellent for this time of year and they are working hard.

However the 3/4 frames were not upgraded to full-depth so what this has led to is, comb being drawn-out on the bottom of the frame – so note – any space, the girls will fill it and fill-it they did, with Drone Comb.

Outside the hive were some tell-tale signs of ‘issues’. There were dead brood lying in the grass, on some frames I saw some Bees with ‘Deformed Wing Virus’ – indicative of PMS (Parasitic Mite Syndrome) or Varroa mite infestation.

Risk

What this has done is caused us to create an opportunity for ‘varroa destructor’ to have a yummy and big drone store – easy access as it was in the lower level of the hive, also another pest has ‘wormed’ its way in to the hive, ‘wax moth’.

Result

This has resulted in an infestation, when I opened one cell – 4 varroa mites crawled out!

Look at this newly emerged Drone, initially you could see one mite on him but then, others emerged.

The wax moth has multiplied and started eating the wax-comb and creating a suffocating web.

FIX ?

So what I did was, cut-off the extended comb which was full of drone-comb – and not looking too healthy.

It looks like the girls had been checking cells and opening those with mites but there were too many for them to manage.

ACTION ?

Immediately went to the workshop and got some Api Life Var and took one wafer and cut it in 4, cleaned the top of the frames and placed the pieces in the center close to brood area. The treatment will stay in there for 7 days, then I will add another wafer. I’ll repeat this until the treatment has been present for 28 days.

The cut-off comb was placed in the freezer to kill off the pests, yes sadly we lost a few Bees as they were too infested to save.

The comb was then placed in our wax-melter. We’ll filter this and clean it for creating wax blocks.

What follow-up is required?

I will go back in and check mite levels using the sugar shake method, a bit more invasive than an inspection-board or ‘sticky-board’ check but I am going in to add the next wafer anyway and have to open the hive. Gary has made these handy ‘sugar shake jars’ which make it very easy.

I will re-check the frame, I aim to replace it with a full-depth if possible.

Could this have been Prevented?

Yes.

How?

By inspecting and knowing your hive and what they are up to.

There are always discussions about “how many times do you need to inspect your hive?” – ask one question and you’ll get lots of differing views.

A commercial beekeeper says hobbyists go in to the hive too much, “…just leave them to it…”

A hobbyist may not even know that inspections are important.

Some new Beeginners do go into their hives too much and have lost their girls because the colony has not felt safe.

Our View?

kiwimana’s view is that inspections are extremely important and must be conducted regularly, especially over the periods of increased or high population. You must know what state your hive is in. You must know if they have enough space, enough stores, are there drones? is you queen laying properly?

Our recommendation is that inspections should be carried-out at least once a month or maximum two-weekly over the high population periods. Population starts to increase in Spring and continues right through to Summer.

These are the times when Bees are out regularly and can pick-up mites, AFB, etc.

Note of Caution: Colonies are used to a dark, warm and dry hive – this means they feel safe. If you constantly open your hive, the colony feels threatened therefore, ‘unsafe’ – they may abscond to find a new location if you ‘over-work’ your hive. Not every inspection needs to be a ‘full’ inspection.

I have always recommended two-weekly inspections to our new Beekeepers – the aim is that they can learn about what is normal and get to know what is happening in their new hive. As they become more familiar they will learn what is normal and inspection schedules can be modified.

WARNING: to leave a hive unattended for long periods can mean DEATH.

Interesting….a new beginner called us in to look at their hive, they said “…there are lots of Bees coming and going…” so we started our inspection – turns-out the hive was being robbed-out, and inside AFB ~!

Don’t be that beginner~!

Will this hive survive?

Due to this ‘infestation’ issue, it is very possible the hive may fail. I hope I have caught this in-time.

Have you checked your hives?

Do you have records of your mite-level trends?

Have you conducted a mite check?

Have you done a sugar-shake test?

When did you last treat?

What do your Bees look like?

What’s happening out front of your hive?

Do you have drone comb in your hive at the moment?

Call us if you want to chat about your hive (09) 810 9965 – or if you want a second opinion, we have ‘Beekeeper Services’ available (check-out our on-line shop) and we can come to your site and look with you.

Thanks for reading and supporting kiwimana.

Regards

Margaret

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