Is Deformed winged virus contagous?

goertzen29 · October 18, 2010, 12:38:47 AM

I may have done something really stupid.....I have another thread where I asked about combining weak hives...well one of those hives was badly infested with mites (I saw quite a few bees with deformed wings), I treated it with OA then combined it with another hive. I plan to treat again in a week. But I'm wondering, even if I do get the mite population knocked down, did I doom both those hives by combining?
Does this Deformed Wing Virus spread bee to bee or just from mites?
thanks
Jay

rdy-b · October 18, 2010, 12:50:46 AM

the sick bees are the emerging brood-the mites vector it -RDY-B

AllenF · October 18, 2010, 10:13:15 AM

Treat them, you are doing right.

BjornBee · October 19, 2010, 08:32:05 AM

DWV is not just spread by mites. Even in very healthy hives, viruses have been present in all the bees. The vector source has been shown to include mating, feeding, and I believe they even mention egg laying.

It's not the fact that your bees have the virus. The virus does little until mite load becomes a problem that is affects brood health and vectors enough wounds on bees to crash the immune system and vector other conditions. (Think CCD - ;) )

Don't worry about passing along DWV. All hives already carry the virus. Passing on mites that can compound other factors......that is the danger.

rdy-b · October 19, 2010, 07:56:01 PM

yes the bees cary the virus about -but for the debilitating effects it has to -reach the bees brain
this happens when the mite bites the pupae in the cell-then the hatching bee is to sick and deformed to function-then the
sick bee is escorted out of the hive-those are the crawlers you see-this is the weakening of the new house bees-the field force cant keep going double duty for to long-the hive then starts the downward spiral and crashes-many viruses are in the hive
already-but it takes a cascade effect for the bees to have a problem-the new school thinking will tell you you can have DWV without mites-but i belive mites are the basic root of many problems-RDY-B

goertzen29 · October 19, 2010, 09:44:59 PM

That was all very helpful information, I had no idea how the virus worked and that is wasn't really from mites! Thank you. I'll keep treating and feeding and see what happens.

Jay

L Daxon · October 20, 2010, 11:04:41 AM

So how many bees with DWV is an indicator of a bad problem? One a day? 5 a day. None today and 5 tomorrow? Sometimes I'll see several outside the hive (I know I have a mite problem) and some days I see nothing. Sometimes I'll see a couple crawling around on a frame when i am doing an inspections, other times I don't see any.

goertzen29 · October 23, 2010, 12:03:42 AM

Idaxon, I dont know technically what indicates a bad infestation, but all I can say is I saw quite a few bees with DWV, I didnt have to search for it at all, every frame had some bees with deformed wings. I never saw them outside just when doing inspections, I dissected some drone cells this summer from this hive and many of them contained mites, that seems to be an easy way to find mite problems, which lead to the DWV problems.

Michael Bush · October 23, 2010, 02:59:12 AM

I guess it depends on your meaning of the word "contagious" A bee can get it from a mite that got it from a bee... but your equipment isn't contaminated...

L Daxon · October 23, 2010, 12:22:36 PM

OK, now I am worried. Yesterday I saw the girls in my strong hive kicking out a young bee with DWV about every couple of minutes. At one time there must have been 20 of 'em walking around, curled up in front of the hive. So I went in afraid that I would see the frames covered with DWV bees but didn't really see more than 2 or so inside.

Clearly I have a BAD case of DWV and I am not surprised because I have been fighting mites for the last 7 weeks or more. I did two sugar shakes 1 week apart, then a week later started Apiguard treatments. I am now at 4 weeks on Apiguard: done 2 trays 2 weeks apart and based on the mite droppings (haven't done a full sticky board yet) it still looks like I am getting VERY high mite drop rate. I was hopping that was just the Apiguard working but I am now afraid it hasn't worked at all and the DWV is taking over.

I've had considered this my strong hive (3 8 frame mediums). It had terrific brood patterns 6 weeks ago. But now I am afraid it is doomed. Is there some other treatment I could do or has it gotten too late in the season? Temps are still in the 70s in the day but down in upper to mid 40s at night.

annette · October 23, 2010, 01:29:41 PM

Just a note of my experience with deformed wing virus. One of my hives got it a couple of years ago. They were kicking out hundreds of bees that would walk around on the grass looking lost. I was crying it was so sad. Well this hive bounced back and it is now my strongest hive. So sometimes they recover nicely and I believe they develop a nice immunity after that.

L Daxon · October 23, 2010, 02:07:08 PM

Annette,
Thanks for the encouragement. This hive had done so well over the spring and summer and I thought I was on top of the mite situation with the ps and Apiguard so I was devastated to see so many babies get kicked out with those stubby little wings. It is sad to see them crawling around in front of the hive knowing they are doomed. I sure hope the hive makes it over the winter. This queen is a real egg laying machine.

Here is a picture of how good the brood pattern was just 6 weeks ago:

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That is a good point about getting them through this so they might have some resistance later on, IF they survive.