Curious in Iowa,
I suspect T- or V-mite, not nosema, which is common, but
not fatal, this time of the year. I've never had nosema--which
I ignore--kill a hive in 37 consecutive years of beekeeping.
I suspect U lost a queen somewhere along the way.
Jack in Maryland
 
On Fri, 20 Feb 1998, Chris and Janet Sauer wrote:
 
> Since we're on the subject of dying bees... I've just lost a hive I started
> last spring.  It has long streaks of brown feces at the entrance indicating
> Nosema.  I treated the colony with fumidil in the spring and fall last year
> with the correct amounts mixed in syrup.  Is it still possible for Nosema to
> kill the hive?  Another interesting sight: when I pulled apart the top brood
> chamber yesterday, there were dead bees in the comb as if they were
> starving, but there was capped and uncapped stores on the same comb.
>
> Curious in Iowa.
>
> Chris
>
 
**John Iannuzzi, Ph.D.
**38 years in apiculture
**12 hives of Italian honeybees
**At Historic Ellicott City, Maryland, 21042, U.S.A. (10 miles west of
   Baltimore, Maryland) [9772 Old Annapolis Rd - 410 730 5279]
**"Forsooth there is some good in things evil
   For bees extract sweetness from the weed" -- Bard of Avon
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