I am having problems this year with Black Queen Cell Virus in my queen
raising hives. Mite levels are a bit higher than normal in my whole
operation for this time of year. Perhaps nosema levels are higher
too, since hives being buried in the snow all winter was conducive to
nosema buildup.
What I am wondering (and have not found any references to it in the
archives) is at what stage the larva is affected. We marked all the
finisher hives that had BQCV and stopped using those. The situation
seemed to improve, but now some finishers that were performing well
before are showing some BQCV and I am wondering whether it is coming
from the starter hives. I normally bring boxes home and shake nurse
bees into the starters every week and then put brood frames in with
the finishers. I suppose I will have to try making up some new
starters, but I would like to know more about BQCV and how it affects
brood so I can try and get past this problem. Information or pointers
to information on the web would be appreciated.
Stan
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