Dead Hive Post Mortum Evaluation (part II) additional pics from first post on same

Not sure of the culprit but I usually freeze my frames from dead outs for a couple of days and then re-use them. With your weather you may be safe just cleaning up the hardware and letting it sit.

I had one dead out this year and due to time restraints/weather just let it sit with intentions bringing it home. When I went back the following week it was full of bees, I reckon some surrounding scouts did their job! :grin:

Sorry for your loss....

 

See my comment in the other thread in this subject.

 

I don't see anything that unusual here, except some dysentry (possible nosema) stains on the top bars in your last couple of pics. If you can freeze them, do so. The moisture (water) staining on the one corner of the third from last pic is no biggie to me, not every hive gets sealed up 100% by the bees and during a heavy rain with a bit of wind they leak a bit.

 

the dead bees on the bottom board in the background of picture 3 seems to suggest the hive has a fairly small cluster of bees... not tiny but none the less small. the stains on the sides of the inside boxes suggest what I would suspect is exactly the likely suspect here... which is leaking equipment and either driving rain or powdery blowing snow.

if you did wrap these hive you might wish to rethink how you are doing that.

nice catch Perry on the dysentery.... I would guess given the population not really excessive but there is a very small chance that nosema (almost by definition would have to be the apis variety given the location and time of year) played some small part here. nosema can have some 'larger' roll when a group of bees is stressed.

 

I would freeze and re-use based on your photo's you should be good to go. :thumbsup:

 

Yes, it is the brown stains that are on the top of your frames, alot of times you will see it concentrated on your bottom boards as well.

 

The dark brown staining on your top bars (and running down the comb) is dysentary. Bees will normally not defecate in the hive but will wait until there is opportunity for cleansing flights. When bees are infected with nosema (particularily nosema apis) they may defecate inside the hive. As far as I know, nosema ceranae does not always carry this tell tale sign.
Often you will see a bit of this staining on the outside of a hive where bees are letting go as they leave and enter, particularily after a prolonged containment.
For me, nosema apis was easier to identify because of this "calling card", nosema ceranae is a little more insidious and often times the first discovery is often too late.

 

You had a queen excluder on all winter? If so, why?

 

a snip..
The hive was not wrapped.

tecumseh:
not totally knowledgeable about your area but at least part of the function of wrapping is to limit drafts of cold air and any blowing 'wet stuff' that you might experience. I suspect 'at' the mason-dixon line you can (in most location with limited elevation) avoid this process, but at places not much farther north (or where you do have significant winds and blowing snow or rain) wrapping should be considered. in some place wrapping and some kind of shelter belt set up might be advisable.

 

:lol:

The "standard" treatment for nosema (apis or ceranae) is fumagillan (fumadil b) mixed in with your sugar syrup. Used to be recommended for spring or fall but is now recommended for both spring and fall.
I don't know what your chosen management style is so I am not sure if this is the route you would want to go. I myself have stopped using fumadil (and terramycin/oxytet) for the last several years. I was part of a university study on nosema and they reported low spore counts on the samples they collected over the year and I haven't bothered with it since.
It might explain some winter losses but I can't ever be sure of that unless I sent bees away to be tested. Trying to wean off most stuff but will do what's necessary if the choice is lose 'em or not. Personal choice.

 

nosema is a disease that affects the gut of the honeybee. the full detail of how it works is very nasty.. when it hits the hind gut it unwinds little lances that pierce the digestive tract. nosema at some low level is generally not a problem unless a hive is highly stressed. each of the nosema twins being derived from vastly different places... one of southern and the other of northern origin. so the simple clean up process for equipment is you heat up one and chill the other. most national bee health survey now suggest that nosema apis is fairly rare and nosema carena is much more prevalent. nosema carena is the one that doesn't thrive so well in the cold so you can likely eliminate this as a factor given you location and time of year.

based on the evidence in your picture I wouldn't think nosema is not much of a player in the demise of this hive. the small amount of fecal matter present could just have well have been generated by a long period of confinement when the worker bees could not relieve themselves. rather than disease the culprit here was likely thermal shock from cold running water and possible some snow and ice.... essentially exposure.