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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
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Mon, 17 Apr 2017 11:26:16 -0400
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Well, I think I know but critiques are welcome. I love detective shows so
here is the setting of the murder.

Three different beekeepers lost one hive each under the exact same
circumstances in late fall/early winter after treating with MAQS in
mid-late August. All their hives were inspected and tested by the State Bee
inspector for Varroa in late July and had low Varroa counts 1-4/ 300
Alcohol wash.

1. All the hives were treated with the same source of MAQS in mid-late
August. Two had two hives each and one had four. All lost one hive in the
early winter/late fall.All had the same characteristics in the bottom box.

2. The ones with two hives lost their second hive, one was from unknown
causes (he moved frames from one hive to another so mixed up the death
scene)  and the other from dysentery and starvation. Both of their second
hives died in early spring/late winter. The one with four hives had the
other three survive the winter and are alive now.

3. All five dead hives had few or almost no dead Varroa on the bottom
boards.

4. The early dead hives had plentiful stores in the upper deep, no brood in
the bottom box and some had stores in the bottom box and some almost none.
There were small clusters of bees in two boxes but few dead bees.There were
some starvation signs all in the bottom box.

5, The bees that died early came from three different vendors.All had
indications of queen emergency cell use. No dead queens were found in any
of the three. One was found in the colony that later died by
dysentery/starvation.

So, the only common denominator for all three early dead hives was MAQS. I
have never lost a queen in the fall, but if I did, I would have expected
the conditions I found- few bees, no brood, lots of stores, no Varroa to
speak of on the bottom boards, and the dead bees looked healthy when they
died. They dwindled and, in the end, the cold killed the remainder..

MAQS have been known to kill queens. I put my guess as to the guilty party
on the MAQS. They were applied according to label with the correct
temperature and location of the MAQS. When we broke down the dead hives the
MAQS were intact, they had not been removed from the hives, in fact looked
untouched.

If this had not happened to three of us under the exact same circumstances
the usual culprit would have been Varroa, but with three distinctly
different colonies, one of which had near zero Varroa, it does not wash.

What ticks me off is that the beekeepers I mentor could have had bees this
spring. The one who lost his last colony to dysentery and starvation did
not put the sugar frame over the bees in early March, but over the inner
cover and they never got to it. I consider that to be my fault since they
did not understand my directions. Not sure what happened to the others hive
as noted. But they would have had a chance to enjoy their bees in the
spring.

So my guess is MAQS. This would have been a good trial for them as you had
three different colonies, different bees, different beekeepers, different
Varroa loads, but only one common factor, MAQS, which were applied
correctly to all the colonies and came from the same vendor.

I am done with MAQS. They do damage brood and kill queens even when applied
correctly. I have "tells" which are pieces of carpet in front of my hives
which I use to check out what the bees throw out of the hive. After MAQS
there are loads of once healthy dead brood and bees. If I treat with Formic
Pads or OA vapor there are none.

It is interesting that the conditions I found would also have indicated a
Varroa kill, but there just was not any Varroa in one of the hives (not
mine), so would have put the blame on Varroa were it to have only happened
to me.

More anecdotal evidence- I spoke to the new State Bee Inspector about my
suppositions and she said that there have been other reports of the same
thing. So has there been a recent reformulation of MAQS?

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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