(QUERY) Is it really possible for SHB larvae to hatch in such volume and then exude such a magnitude of excrement so as to slime a hive badly enough to drive the hive population out of the hive? Mike in LA
That My friend is an EXCELLENT question! One I have been puzzling on, as it was slimed overnight! 3-4 frames worth first time I have seen that and known the time frame. My first thought was the slime was from hatched larva, but the amount of SHB larva was tiny, very tiny, adult beetles were EVRYWHERE Which makes me suspect than maybe the slime is actually from the adults, or a chemical reaction from the egg/ larva hatching??? Adults deficating on the honey to make way for larve?? AS surprised as I am at that, it did in fact occur, in fact Carrol asked me why all the bees were hanging out, before I opened the box.
I am quite unsure of that..
I do also know that the majority of my hives don’t get slimed, very few actually attack the honey cells on the hive. Most get the brood nest and pollen. Even in the honey house, any missed brood is the first target, but hatched larve will attack honey frames, but now I am wondering where/what the slime is??
FYI I did save that hive! At that point it was on a 6 way pallet, all the bees hanging outside and wandering to another hive next door. I took the slimed boxes( 2 deeps) out and gave them a completely empty drawn comb single. Checked Yesterday and the queen and most the bees are back, and look okay. Filled the feeder for them. The beetles in that Hive I destroyed.
For those interested I have a 5 gallon bucket setup that looks just like a mite wash cup screen in the bottom to catch bees, frames are banged around in there to remove beetles and bees beetles fall down into soapy water, bees are dumped back. Normally this will help and buy a lot of time, but other steps such as super crowding are in order also to save whats left of the hive.
Another interesting thought, My close friend lives 40 miles south and runs a lot of hives also, he was like you a bit, in suspecting beekeeping skills at play. He called this AM, Disaster struck. A yard with 50 hives got wiped out (in full sun) many hives a complete loss, most just super heavy infested. All were 3 or 4 deeps full of bees. He made the mistake of taking the decent honey boxes beetles and all off, and put them on some smaller hives thinking they would chase out the beetles.....that didn’t go well. Not a pretty situation. He is now very interested in my cleanup testing.
Charles
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