The weather was nice 70 + today and I inspected my bees.
TOP : Medium super: 5 our of 10 frames drawn from the center. Queen is laying in there????? I saw pupas, capped broods, eggs!!!
SECOND FROM TOP: Medium super: 10 frames back to back capped honey only
THIRD FROM TOP : Medium super: Capped broods, tons of pollen, honey
BOTTOM : Deep : Pupas, capped brood, pollens, honey
Question: Is it normal for queen to go to top medium supper and lay there?? why?? why not stay in deep & third from top "medium supper"?? why did queen went to the top to lay eggs? Is that normal? Does anyone have an idea?
Thank you
-Rodni
Yeah, its normal and its not. The bees are in the process of inverting the hive, putting the brood chamber on top. To fix prior to wintering the hive I would pull the second super and leave them the rest until spring. A hive with a deep and 2 mediums should have plenty of stores.
>Question: Is it normal for queen to go to top medium supper and lay there?? why?? why not stay in deep & third from top "medium supper"?? why did queen went to the top to lay eggs? Is that normal? Does anyone have an idea?
Usually what drives the queen to lay in the top super if there's brood in the bottom, is the need for drone comb. Old brood comb isn't easily rebuilt into drone, but new comb or foundation is. If you leave them enough drone cells or put some empty frames in for them to draw drone comb, they won't have any incentive to break up the brood nest.
Thank you so much for the feed back!
Apiguard is working wonders.. tons of dead mites all over the place. However, some bees have deformed wings and are being evicted outside. In three days I counted about 20!
-Regards
-Rodni
You maybe too late for your hive. It sounds like it was heavily infested with mites.. You should probably consider some type of IPM system to help combat the mites. You can also look for mite resistant strains to help.
I know some beeks that only use Apriguard as a last resort.
You to Rodni73,
I've 3 hives and have used apriguard on them for the last 2 seasons, this season noticed the deformation of wings on one of the hives.
Shorter shrivelled up wing on young bee's only?
Interested to know if your bee's wings were the same.
We use apriguard and bavoral strips to combat varrora, also in spring add shallow frames in the center of the brood box to entice bee's to build drone comb, then allow the drones to be capped, Its like a magnet for the mites in the brood box once capped remove shallow frame and burn the unhatched drones and mites and comb that was built on the bottom half of the shallow frame.
Oh whats an IPM system. :oops:
Yes, the young bees are emerging with deformed wings. I placed Apiguard for 2 weeks now and yesterday I added the second tray. Mites are droping every where. I hope it is not too late. counted about 32 young bees yesterday in 3 hours of observation with deformed shriveled wings.
I hope this hive will survive
-Rodni
Just doing abit of reacerch into this and found some documented reports.
Most are of this opinion:
"Effect: The mites feed on adult larvae and pupae, weakening the bees and causing disfigurement or death to developing brood. Some bees emerge crippled or with their wings incompletely formed. Heavily infested colonies may show very reduced bee populations."
May I point out these are not my findings and I have copy/pasted them from a website sources as I cannot yet post links to this site. Been a newbee!
The hive is very strong in numbers. However, since Sunday I have counted close to 20 to 30 young bees every other day with deformed wings. Most commited suicide by jumping off the bottom board. Others were simply thrown overboard by their sisters. I had apiguard in for two weeks and I administered another tray. I am hoping to reduce the verroa population to a manageable level before the cold weather sets in. The temperature been in mid 70's here and expected to hold for a week. This hive is loaded with stores for the winter, all I have to do is hold my breath and hope this apiguard does what it's designed to do. I see tons of dead mites every day since I applied apiguard. The queen as I said before is laying in the top medium and in my last inspection the bees seems to be preparing the middle of the hive for the winter cluster.
This is my frist hive and I want it to live bad!
Regards
-Rodni
You should be fine. You can't prevent mites, the problem is when there are too many for the bees to overcome. You're almost always going to see some mite damage. 20-30 bees/day, if your queen was laying 1000 eggs or more/day in September is an insignificant fraction.
Quote from: Greywulff on October 14, 2008, 03:16:58 PM
You to Rodni73,
I've 3 hives and have used apriguard on them for the last 2 seasons, this season noticed the deformation of wings on one of the hives.
Shorter shrivelled up wing on young bee's only?
Interested to know if your bee's wings were the same.
We use apriguard and bavoral strips to combat varrora, also in spring add shallow frames in the center of the brood box to entice bee's to build drone comb, then allow the drones to be capped, Its like a magnet for the mites in the brood box once capped remove shallow frame and burn the unhatched drones and mites and comb that was built on the bottom half of the shallow frame.
Oh whats an IPM system. :oops:
Sorry. IPM = Integrated Pest Management. Maybe it goes by other names too, but things like screened bottom boards. Drone comb, etc... The more natural methods that are continually combatting varroa mites. Which can include resistant bees such as "Purvis Queens". If you search this forum you will find a plethora of information on more natural methods of combatting varroa.
So the drone culling we do is a form of IPM. Kool
It is rather sad when I see any bees with no wings or deformed short wings. I know that is a direct result of those creepy mites laying the eggs within the cell, their larvae sucking the very life out of the honeybee larvae, eating and eating away, resulting in terribly deformed baby honeybees with bad wings. So annoying. I have even seen these poor bees with no wings with their butts up in the air, thinking they have wings and fanning their ever lovin' little selves half to death. Ding dang mites!!! Have a wonderful, most awesome day, Cindi