During today's check, I took the tops fully off the feeders and I found the dreaded hive beetle. The picture above is a pile of beetles I squished. (normally I just slide the top back about two inches to pour in the syrup) When I fed my 1:1 today I looked for evidence that they'd invaded my hives. Well, I didn't have to look very hard. In my strong hive I had about 20 hive beetles that came scurrying out of the syrup I'd poured into the feeder. And to add insult to injury, lazily floating in the syrup, I saw larvae. If there was this big a disaster in the strong hive, what would I find in the weak hive. I was almost too afraid to look. Continuing in the strong hive, I ended up taking out the wooden floats and cleaning out the dead bees. I also made sure that there were no more beetles before I put the floats back in and filled the feeders.
Along with the hive beetles, I also saw some Queen cups along the bottom of three of the frames in one of the brood boxes. I got video and counted maybe 11 on one frame alone. All were empty but I have to wonder what they are up to. There were also some larger cells with larvae in them but I'm not sure if they are potential Queens or drones.
Entering my weak hive, I took off the outer and inner covers and did a quick scan for beetles. I found only three, to my relief. For some reason these bees still had some syrup left over from the last time I'd fed. Until now it confused me, but my best guess as I sit here and write is that since I put up the robbing screen these bees don't have the numbers on their own to consume the volume I've been feeding. And they don't have the numbers because the Queen is worthless. I hate to admit it because I was really pulling for her, but I just don't see the laying pattern I need to be seeing to justify her reign in this hive.
So, the other day I got an email from the Sustainable Bee Program that indicated that they are switching gears and strengthening their educational activities, and are selling nucs to scale back their Queen production. I sent an email to my mentors to get their advice and they ended up calling me to discuss options. In talking with them I made the decision to get on the list for a nuc. I can hardly contain my excitement, a laying Queen, drawn comb, a fresh start!! Margaret reminded me that I'd need to remove and destroy the existing Queen. Luckily I have a husband who is willing to do the dirty work for me.
And just as I typed this, I was looking at the picture I took of the weak hive Queen. And I think I see frothy honey in a cell near her. Yet another "learning opportunity" for me. Oh goody. Frothy honey is a symptom of the hive beetle infestation. I did some quick research and found a couple places that suggest GardStar as a treatment for the beetles. But, it's highly toxic to people and bees. Hmm, let the beetles infest the hive and possibly turn the honey to froth and slime and drive them out, or treat the soil surrounding the hive and potentially poison the bees and myself? I see no happy medium.
I've spent about two hours creating this post, because of the complexity and number of the issues I'm having and stopping to do tangent research when I need more information about a topic. I'm intrigued by some research being done with nematodes and sent an email to Keith Delaplane to get some insights and advice on the topic. I hope I hear back from him, the idea of a non chemical tretment and prevention for the hive beetle excites me. This information may be old news to some, but it's new to me and the process of learning by way of stumbling onto information helps, me at least, to cement knowledge for further use.
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