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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Jacquelyn Clymore <jacquelynclymore AT yahoo.com>, "ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Gone, all gone
  • Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2015 11:36:23 -0400

Jacquelyn,

The wigglers are most likely either small hive beetle larvae or wax moth larvae. The links have descriptions of how to tell them apart.

The article <here> touches on what may be a likely culprit in your colony's demise. It says, in part:
How can loser hives exist in a healthy, well managed apiary? Research at NCSU looks at the causes of colony malaise and failure. Aside from disease, “queen events” are a major factor. This term encompasses all types of queen failures/losses and the subsequent success or failure of the hive’s attempt to requeen.
As we learn what is involved in queen success, queen replacement, swarming, supersedure and so on, it is a mystery how a colony of bees ever survives in the first place. There are so many steps in the queen life cycle that can go wrong. Sometimes all that can go wrong aligns and, poof, we end up with a failed hive. Fortunately things usually go right, on average. It is the "on average" part that trips up beekeepers with only one or two hives -- they can be stung by the luck of the draw and lose all at once.

Please don't despair. You've already got equipment and a good bit of experience & knowledge. Freeze your drawn comb and start over next spring.

Randall


On 9/25/2015 8:52 AM, Jacquelyn Clymore via ocba wrote:
1489352575.906169.1443185568459.JavaMail.yahoo AT mail.yahoo.com" type="cite">
Two weeks ago my hive seemed to look less robust than usual. I couldn't find the queen (but I rarely can, even though I'm a second year bee keeper), but I was concerned there wasn't enough brood, though quite a bit of honey and pollen. I added a feeder and closed up. Now...nothing! There are four bees, almost no honey and no bee bodies that I can locate. There is a strange, sort-of-fermented honey smell and lots of tiny wiggly white worms. I see no wax moths or other parasites aside from those. I did treat for mites over the summer. There was plenty of room for expansion and I had seen no signs of swarming.
Where, oh where did my bees go and why!? What are these nasty little worms? What should I have done differently?
I only had the one hive - had tried a split months ago, it didn't work so I combined them back again.

Please tell me what went wrong!
Jacquelyn Clymore



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