On 7 May 97 at 23:25, Tim Damon wrote: Troubled about Packages & Queens
> have all made there way out tomorrow and I was just lending a hand. However
> the sixth queen was found on the top of the frames with a circle of
> attending bees, she was quite dead. The thing that I found odd was the fact
> that I found three small patches of eggs each about 1 - 2 inches in
> diameter, and each on a different frame. This was a new package, so she had
> to have laid them. What could have happened to her? I am worried as these
> three packages and the three queens all came from the same supplier. I also
> noticed what I would consider excessive spotting on the outside of the
> hives of the three packages. I may be a little paranoid, however I am
> wondering if I have a problem with these six hives. Has anyone ever noticed
> if the ability of the queen to release reflect at all on her
> quality/health. What's up with the spotting? These packages were shaken in
> Georgia, USA last Thursday (so I'm told), so they should have been
> packaged only three to four days. And why would a queen die on top of the
> frames like that? I'm puzzled by all of this. All of my overwintered hives
> and packages installed 3 weeks ago are doing great. Those earlier packages
> (6) came from a different supplier. Any ideas?
I would suggest that your dealer has a problem. That dead queen (after
laying some eggs) dies, usually killed by the bees as being
unsatisfactory, in one form or another. Nosema in the breeding yard will
cause queens to be unsatisfactory. Excess spotting is in evidence!!.
Bees do not usually kill a satisfactory queen!!
Dysentry in packages is most unusual, possibly the syrup was too thin or
of the wrong type. Or the packages had been shaken considerably longer
than 3 days, and they stored up so much that it caused problems.
I would recommend that these hives are watched very carefully, a stronger
syrup is fed, perhaps with Fumadil in case stress induced Nosema is the
problem.
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The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia,
Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1
David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171
Dealers for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK
http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks
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