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Date: | Thu, 12 Oct 1995 09:43:26 -0400 |
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Hi,
I'm a hobbiest with two hives. Here in Massachusetts the flow is
over and I've been feeding a 2:1 syrup to both hives for about
a month. One hive has been taking the syrup quickly, has a large
population, and has good reserves for the winter (I use two full size
hive bodies and they have one full and capped).
The other hive is my problem. A few weeks back I went through it and
found a few swarm cells (at the bottom of the frames). This seemed odd
to me as I found the queen (she's marked and new this spring), so I
destroyed the queen cells. I think the bees may have known something that
I didn't as the population now is much reduced (bees could cover about
three frames, both sides).
More info about this hive:
I put on Apistan three weeks back when I removed the surplus. There
are now some dead Varroa on the bottom board, but not excessive amounts.
There is hardly any brood. A hand full of larvae and capped cells.
The bees congregate on ~3 frames. On the other frames where brood was
produced in the past, there are scattered capped cells, some with
perforations, some with a head of a bee just emerging (but dead). When
I open a capped cell in this area, I find a nearly completely formed dead
bee. These don't seem to have the 'ropy' aspect I've read AFB has.
After seeing this, I mixed up some Terramycin/Sugar and dusted the top of
the frames of both hives. I did this more as a prevention measure than
thinking that it would cure this hive.
My best guess now (and I do mean guess) is that the queen has failed for
some reason and decided not to lay eggs. She's there, and as she's marked,
I know she is the one I introduced this Spring. If this is the case, I'm
afraid it's too late in the season to introduce another queen... any other
ideas?
Thanks,
Mike Killoran ---------------
[log in to unmask] Embrace Entropy
(617) 981-2667 (Lexington, MA USA) ---------------
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