stinky hive

[swampcat]

Well the other day I was making my walk about the place, and noticed one of the hives had a odd smell..
I asked my bee keeper friends about it and they are coming over tomorrow to open it up and have a look see..

said it sounded like wax moths.. and slime.. this is the hive I recently robbed and put the empty racks back in.
and I pulled a split off it back mid June.. so I guess I probably am causing my own problems..

I'll try to get back tomorrow and give an up date..

[pokeyjeeper]

Keep us posted

[swampcat]

Well we checked all the hives this evening, no odor noticed, and really we didn't find any problems..

there is a bunch of dead bees in front of the hive, and that probably is the smell.. I have no ideas what the problem was about that, maybe pesticide.. maybe robbers.

my split I made has a lot of drones in it, I am going to open up a hive and look for eggs and swap a frame or two.
I didn't find a queen in it.

heck I don't know learning, its confusing sometimes..

[Brad H.]

I had this issue one time, and I don't recall what the problem was. Perhaps a frame of brood that didn't hatch and started rotting? In any event, I do recall moving that stinky frame into an active hive, and they cleaned that sucker up in no time.

[swampcat]

Jul 28, 2017 11:17:34 GMT -5 Brad H. said:

I had this issue one time, and I don't recall what the problem was. Perhaps a frame of brood that didn't hatch and started rotting? In any event, I do recall moving that stinky frame into an active hive, and they cleaned that sucker up in no time.

Thanks Brad
Your probably right I have noticed bees bringing out what looks like white larva at times. Maybe some died in the cells. I will check my books to see if I can find anything about this.

[bk]

Swampcat, do you have any leads on the stink?
There can be a lot of things that will give a smell to a hive that bothers us bee keepers, but not the bees so much.  On the other hand it can also be a signal that something is seriously wrong and needs to be addressed yesterday!
Do you have slimy frames?  If so, I'd get a set of experienced eyes and determine if it is foulbrood.  Could be fermented nectar.  Have had that happen a few times, and the bees clean that up, as Brad pointed out.  If you are having frames of brood die this time of year, something is going on, and again, I'd get a set of eyes on it.  If you have a serious issue, you want to deal with it as soon as possible to protect both your hive and your apiary, as well as other bees in the area.
Keep us posted.

[swampcat]

Jul 29, 2017 15:45:45 GMT -5 bk said:

Swampcat, do you have any leads on the stink?
There can be a lot of things that will give a smell to a hive that bothers us bee keepers, but not the bees so much.  On the other hand it can also be a signal that something is seriously wrong and needs to be addressed yesterday!
Do you have slimy frames?  If so, I'd get a set of experienced eyes and determine if it is foulbrood.  Could be fermented nectar.  Have had that happen a few times, and the bees clean that up, as Brad pointed out.  If you are having frames of brood die this time of year, something is going on, and again, I'd get a set of eyes on it.  If you have a serious issue, you want to deal with it as soon as possible to protect both your hive and your apiary, as well as other bees in the area.
Keep us posted.

Thanks BK
Yes, thats what I did I asked my mentors to come open all the hives and look them over. They hold some kind of title of bee keeping. I'm very lucky to know them, they are friends of ours and keep a hive here on my property.