Brown, Sticky substance on landing board

Jerry/Judy · August 22, 2009, 11:40:01 PM

There is a brown, runny, yet sticky, substance on the landing board of one of our hives. It appears to be coming out from inside the hive and running onto the board. This just started a few days ago and seems to have increased. We have six hives and this is the only one affected. Does anyone know what this might be and how to take care of the problem. ... Judy

Kathyp · August 22, 2009, 11:43:14 PM

can you post your location in your profile please?

you need to see what is going on inside. mice, other invaders, robbing, may break honey comb and cause honey to run out. heat may cause comb to break if it is natural comb and not attached well.

without seeing the inside, all you can do is guess at what is going on.........

Jerry/Judy · August 23, 2009, 12:49:07 AM

Kathy ... Thank you for the suggestions. It took me a little bit to figure out how to update my profile, but I have added our location.

I was in the Chat room and am leaning toward the substance being Honey. We will be checking it out real soon. Hopefully, that is all that it is and we can fix the problem. ... Judy

Michael Bush · August 23, 2009, 12:23:37 PM

If it's really sticky, and not so runny, then it's probably propolis. If it's really runny, then it's probably honey. That could be because of heat or because of pests destroying comb such as SHB or wax moths. I'd take a look inside and see what's going on.

Jerry/Judy · August 23, 2009, 12:49:01 PM

Thank you. Jerry just finished checking the hive and found a real bad infestation of wax moths. He is out there now trying to take care of the problem. I think he is going to destroy the super and try to save the hive. Everything was fine until about a week ago. We haven't had any trouble with wax moths prior to this. It sure doesn't take long for them to cause problems.

We believe that the hive may have swarmed recently without our seeing it as the hive had become less active. Now we know that this may be a sign of something wrong.

Jerry checked all our other hives and did not see any sign of wax moths.

Jerry/Judy · August 23, 2009, 01:10:53 PM

Jerry is burning all the frames in the super right now. There was nothing left. The wax moths had completely destroyed everything in the super.

He is outside now, trying to shake the bees into a nuk. He will then burn out the hive and kill any remaining wax moths. We will feed the bees heavily to help them fill in the prewaxed frames.

Hope that we can save the bees.

asprince · August 23, 2009, 01:15:19 PM

There is no need to burn good equipment just because of wax moths! Just clean them up and reuse.

Steve

Natalie · August 23, 2009, 01:20:22 PM

Stop!!! Yikes you are burning a good hive.
You do not have to burn your equipment because of wax moths. After you clean them out and get rid of the old comb you can use the equipment again.

If you have combs that you suspect may have wax moth eggs then you can freeze them for a couple of days and it will kill any eggs, then you can put them back in the hive.

Michael Bush · August 23, 2009, 04:31:23 PM

I'd just cut each comb out (if it's wax) and pile those up outside somewhere. The wax moths can't really do well outside. No need to even try to kill them. If it's plastic foundation, just scrape them off or even let the wax moths clean them down to the plastic. Once they are done it will be clean plastic and the webs will just fall off.

No need to burn equipment with wax moths in it. If I did that I'd have burned all my equipment years ago...

JP · August 23, 2009, 04:49:39 PM

Quote from: asprince on August 23, 2009, 01:15:19 PM
There is no need to burn good equipment just because of wax moths! Just clean them up and reuse.

Steve

^^^Agreed

...JP

beecanbee · August 24, 2009, 03:05:33 AM

Quote from: Michael Bush on August 23, 2009, 04:31:23 PM
I'd just cut each comb out (if it's wax) and pile those up outside somewhere. The wax moths can't really do well outside. No need to even try to kill them.

I burn the wax residue that has been fouled by wax moths. I have seen moths hatch even weeks later if a pile is created outside - so freeze, bury, or burn is my recommendation. I would be concerned that the larva would hatch and seek out more hives around which to lay their eggs.

And thinking of hive byproducts, the larger larva make good fishing bait. Or if you keep chickens....

Jerry/Judy · August 24, 2009, 01:01:52 PM

We saved as many bees as we could by putting them in a nuk. We decided the infestation was so bad that all the frames and super were burned. The frames were full of huge worms, larva, and just about everything had been eaten. The super was full of real thick honey when we removed four frames a month ago. The queen had already moved up into the super and there was already brood in there so we didn't take any more frames. When we removed the bees yesterday, Jerry could not find the queen and only found two drones. He will check the nuk tomorrow and see if the queen is in there. I want to thank everyone for their advise and concern about this. We are really learning a lot. ... Judy

Kathyp · August 25, 2009, 10:18:08 PM

glad it worked out. to bad about the frames, but you'll know better next time. just bagging and freezing is the easiest way, i think. i got a chest freezer a couple of years ago that was not to expensive at costco and just the right size for bee stuff.