REGARDING           RE> Weak hive, AFB?
 
Mark Egloff wrote:
"I have a single hive that concerns me of the 10 I have running.
 
     The bees have not taken the quart of syrup being fed to them at
     the entrance, whereas its neighbors have consumed a minimum of
     three quarts (emptying the feeder in 1 or 2 days) and its top
     gallon feeder has not had any taken from it.  It has grease
     patties with Terra mixed in and has had so for two weeks,
     although, again unlike its neighbors,  this hive doesn't seem
     to have touched it.  Yesterday,  its neighbors were BUSY
     foraging but this hive had only a few foragers flying back and
     forth.  Most bees were clustered about the front entrance
     fighting off yellow jackets and bald face hornets.
     (Interesting battles, that, with four to five honeybees to one
     bald face hornet and even at that the odds were about even.)
 
     It has a VERY small brood area, although eggs were observed
     yesterday.  Observation of the brood area indicates a rather
     spotty brood pattern but no punctured caps. I did notice what
     looked to be a larvae that was "flattened" on the bottom of a
     cell.  I do not see any brood with its tongue sticking up as
     the pictures show, but I am concerned that the hive has a
     distinct smell that is different from its neighbors.  This
     smell is noticable from 3-5 feet from the hive.  It is not what
     I would call "sweet" or pungent but rather like the smell of
     old dried out frames of wax that had been left sitting for a
     long time.   The bees have little stores put away although
     there is a lot of pollen.
 
     If am assuming that AFB is present as a worst case.  If so,
     then I do NOT want to combine this weak hive with any other
     hive NOR do I want it to get robbed out when it weakens to the
     point where it can no longer defend itself.  Therefore, I need
     to kill the hive off in a situation that I control.
 
     This is where I need ideas and some help.  What procedures are
     there for "depopulating" a hive without harming hives adjacent?
     Are there any other diagnostics that I have missed?  Based upon
     what I have communicated, what is your diagnosis?   What are
     your recommendations?"
 
Mark, just a couple questions about this hive.  Does it have adequate stores
of honey normal for your area at this time of the year?  Has the hive
population rather abruptly declined, rather than having been weak all year or
in gradual decline?  If the answer to both is "yes", I would suspect varroa
rather than AFB, if "no" AFB is likely.  AFB also should show perforated,
widely dispersed brood cells, often present in frames away from the present
cluster.  AFB should in addition show ropiness except in quite old capped
cells, which is not present in the mite vectored diseases which ape it.
 
If it is AFB, then by all means you should kill the colony, especially since
it has weakened to such a great extent.  There is a powerful aerosol spray on
the market made just for this purpose, but the name escapes me now (Meth-
something).  I will try to remember to look it up when I get to my bee house.
 
Ted Fischer