Dead bees from apidea

[Jon]

One of my apideas is chucking out an above average number of dead bees.
These look like varroa and virus damaged bees to me.
short abdomens, shiny black, tongues out.

dead-bees-from-apidea1.jpg dead-bees-from-apidea3.jpg dead-bees-from-apidea2.jpg

They look fully formed but stunted. I wonder are the bees uncapping these from cells or can they detect a damaged bee once it has emerged and expel it.

[The Drone Ranger]

might as well have a look in there to see whats going on Jon
When you say apidea is this a stack of apideas ?

[Jon]

Just the one which is a double.
I am guessing that most of the mites in there entered the final patch of brood and severely damaged it.
I'll have a look in over the next day or two.

I tricked it with a few drops of Oxalic today.

[Pete L]

Jon, do you treat your mini nucs with anything earlier,like late August.

[Jon]

Sometimes I do but treated none this year. Mite counts in general have been very low.
I sampled a lot of full colonies by taking a sample of 300 bees and using a sugar shaker to dislodge mites and count them.
Most of them had under 2% infestation.

[The Drone Ranger]

If varroa are there one or two might drop out onto paper if the plastic sliding floor is withdrawn and put back
That won't disturb them much (and any dead bees will be lying on there as well)
Have you considered these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-12V-He...item58a51f7b2b
In colder climates they are apparently used for full sized hives
Might help with tiny colonies ?

heater.jpg

[Jon]

It is a pretty strong apidea.
Second from the left top row.

The main thing is to have enough bees in there so heating should not be such a problem.
Finman uses those heaters.

This is the equipment I use to sample the rate of varroa infestation.
I don't trust the mite drop on the inserts.

varroa-sampling-equipment-small.jpg varroa-sampling-returning-bees-small.jpg

Take a sample of 300 bees from the brood nest, add icing sugar, shake for two minutes then shake over a pot of water.
The mites which have been dislodged float on the surface.

[The Drone Ranger]

Sadly I have had to chastise others for using the name of the Dark Lord so please show restraint we dont want an influx of the deranged
Actually though off the topic slightly The Beekeeping Forum is really good now
The moderators have put their foot down and the whole atmosphere has changed

That hive does look nice and busy so probably will do fine if the queen is laying to replace the dead ones
As you have said elsewhere though you need a certain critical mass to cover any little patch of brood and maintain temperature
As soon as that can't be done then the queen can't lay no matter how much she wants to
That's the downward spiral that sees them dwindling and dying out in Spring I think

[The Drone Ranger]

Re the varroa sampling I don't suppose you plan doing that with the apidea Jon it might do more harm than good

[Jon]

Not sensible with an apidea although the bees should be unharmed.
I like to try an overwinter a few.
Sometimes it works, sometimes not.