>>After 20 years I think its safe to say AHB is mostly hype. varroa is a bigger concern to us than AHB. I have never seen a AHB hive in the U.S. which made me run away. I have seen those which made me return to
the truck for a veil.
I was asked a few weeks ago to check out a Langstroth hive at a nature center a few miles away from me. I went over to the hive with the center's manager who donned a beesuit. [The hive had been kept there by a priest years ago who has passed on since and the manager wanted to see if I could help them maintain the bees.] The colony was in 3 deeps and 3 mediums w/o an excluder. The hive was strong and very heavy. It had not been opened up anyone in years. It was buried in poison ivy vines and I had to cut down the young saplings all around it.
I gave the bees some smoke and started taking it apart. As soon as I cracked the inner cover, the bees came out stinging. I got a dozen stings right off. The bees kept coming even when I retreated behind a bush. I thought of AHB at first. I stoked the smoker well and came back to the hive. The smoke started to sting my eyes but I got the bees to settle down. They must have had a bad hair day because they have not been that way on subsequent visits.
I have not taken the hive apart except for the medium supers on top which were filled with old, capped honey. I saw good brood patterns in the center frames of the upper deep. The boxes and frames were heavily glued together. The boxes started falling apart when pressured with a hive tool. I mentioned to the manager that I'll move the colony in the spring into the spare boxes they have in storage.
To my knowledge, I have not across an AHB colony here in downstate NYS. I did remove a feral colony with beetles that match the SHB in size and appearance! I found and squashed about 6 of them on the honeycomb. There was none of the slimey mess I've read about in articles. So I don't know if they will be a major nuisance in the future here.
Waldemar
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