I was reading Peter's article "A Brief History of Honey Bee Disease" in the
June ABJ and saw in 1878 Pastor Dzierzon lost a number of stocks from mad
sickness, bees tumbling about as if intoxicated. I just had some one email
the other day with these symptoms in her hive. Here is what she wrote:
"My colony which came out of winter seeming populous, still heavy, and
apparently amply fed (they didn't touch the candy board I gave them at the
end of winter, even though they were bubbling up to the top of their deep +
deep + medium 10-frame hive). With the warming of spring, their flying
activity looked good. Upon doing a full hive inspection two weeks ago,
however, I found that there were only two frames of bees, which included
all stages of healthy-looking brood, healthy-looking brood cappings (though
a little spotty), and a healthy-looking queen. No poop in the hive. I
centered them up and surrounded them with their pollen and honey resources.
With the dandelions and trees in bloom, I thought I just needed patience
for them to strengthen and grow.
A week ago, to make them feel less overwhelmed in their space, I reduced
the hive down to their deep brood chamber + their medium honey box. I also
removed their screened bottom board insert (only 2 varroa) to increase
ventilation.
What I started seeing, a few days after, looking up through the SBB:
- several tumbling bees—casually wandering, seemingly jumping, maybe
falling back down onto the SBB on their backs, and then buzzing back onto
their feet
- another day, many (50-ish) dead bees on the SBB, plus a crew of tumbling
bees
- another day, more dead bees, plus the tumblers...you get the picture
In front of the hive on any given day: 5-ish "tumbler bees" in the grass."
I looked some more about mad sickness and found some older books, 1800's,
relating it to when Mountain Ash and Apple trees bloom. It is a little
early for mountain ash here and apple just have king blossoms. There is no
fermented honey in the hive and no syrup.
So what is mad sickness?
Karen T-K
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