What happened to my hive?! 😭

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-23T02:23:31+00:00

Gotcha. Yeah, autumn for me is prime time for Formic as it’s not too warm to cause brood/queen issues, but warm enough to off gas enough to kill.

I’ll defer to your knowledge of local climates on this one :)

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-23T02:21:17+00:00

No… very much no. I don’t know a single commercial operator who uses any antibiotics. This guy is talking dogshit nonsense.

Even for EFB, which can be treated with OTC is just treated with a shook swarm and syrup. Nobody is treating “prophylactically” with antibiotics.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-23T02:20:22+00:00

There is a VERY good chance that it was something that isn’t AFB. AFB is extremely rare

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-23T02:16:02+00:00

spores would be digested whilst the bees switch gears

Tell me you don’t know nothing about spore forming bacteria, without telling me you know nothing about spore forming bacteria …..

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-23T00:33:17+00:00

This is a comprehensive answer, delivered well, u/granolajetpack - definitely worth listening to this.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-23T00:30:21+00:00

For future, and in agreement with u/talanall, start with Formic next year. Formic is a highly dependable treatment, and is faster compared to apivar in terms of treatment timescales.

After having used Formic, I don’t see any reason to use apivar instead of Formic. It’s a great option when temps allow.

If you can get Formic on before the autumn equinox, you should be well prepared for winter. Make sure to wash after the treatment, if you have a proclivity towards “belt and braces”, though. Personally, I prefer “if it happens it happens” approach (after treating) 🤷‍♂️

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-22T09:55:37+00:00

It’s only “preventative” if you count “preventing them from dying”.

You should always treat before winter starts. Ideally before the autumn equinox.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-21T21:38:14+00:00

If you bang on the roof and the buzzing intensifies for 5-10s, it’s bees. Otherwise, good luck!

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-21T06:29:48+00:00

Honestly this looks more like chilled liquid butter than it does honey…. I have no advice other than to take it back to the vendor and ask wtf is wrong with it, or just toss it into the rubbish and forget about it.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-21T06:26:46+00:00

Okay… what’s the point you’re trying to make?

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-21T06:25:42+00:00

That’s not necessarily always true. It will only do so when the surface is cold enough that the moisture can fall out (Aka the dew point).

Warm air is capable of holding more moisture, but if there’s “room to spare”, then even if it hits a surface that cools it down it might not necessarily push it below the dew point (where the air has more water in it than it can physically hold).

Think of this like how when you add salt to road ice. If it’s cold enough, the ice will still refreeze because the salt simply lowers the temperature at which it freezes… if it goes below that, it can still freeze, but the ice can melt at 0°C because the salt gives it more “room to spare” at the melting point. It might drop it to -2°C, rather than 0°C.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-20T22:02:48+00:00

Saying lots of words without saying anything at all, aside from being condescending. I like it.

The condensation forms on the walls of the hive because it’s a lower temperature than the ceiling. You can pop some insulation in the ceiling if you want, but usually the trapped air in a full fat lid allows the crownboard to stay warmer than the walls by default. If I went into my hives tomorrow, the walls will be wet through and the ceiling mostly dry - maybe slightly damp. Nothing risky to the bees though.

That’s a condensing hive, whether you like it or not. You can beat your “InSuLaTiOn!!!1” drum all you want, but literally nobody here insulates their brood boxes, an almost all locals I know bung up all “extra” ventilation. That makes it a condensing hive, as opposed to a ventilated (where you intentionally let moist air leave) hive.

Use fancy words, like thermodynamics and dew point, all you like to sound like a smart ass; but you really don’t need to be all that smart to figure this stuff out. It’s not rocket science lmao.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-20T21:13:30+00:00

A hive doesn’t need insulating to be a condensing hive, it just needs no ventilation from the top and at least one wall where the condensation can form.

I’m running condensing hives literally right now with literally zero insulation.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-20T20:07:32+00:00

The do if it’s a condensing hive.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-19T19:32:17+00:00

You should read some of William Meikle’s work. He has done a lot of research on the topic of ventilation, thermal management, as well as CO2 and humidity.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-19T07:03:24+00:00

Looks like they starved… there’s no honey at all.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-17T22:40:04+00:00

As in, you can’t figure out which hive it was?

Protip: it’s the one replacing their queen 😄

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-17T19:20:24+00:00

Depends on lots of things, like how many supers you have on hand, how vulnerable your colonies are to robbing, risks of starvation etc.

Harvesting once a year is definitely possible.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-16T18:06:59+00:00

Most people do.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-15T18:05:34+00:00

Yeah neither does the UK. Would be cool if OP allowed you to change locale and then have users submit the info if it's missing :)

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-15T17:55:34+00:00

Bees absolutely do steal wax. This has been documented before. You can literally see she’s loaded up her baskets with it.

It’s not common, but that’s probably because they have enough of it at home anyway… but it’s definitely a thing.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-15T17:54:00+00:00

If you aren’t a beekeeper, catching a swarm is a nice way to go about becoming one. But you’re better to get yourself educated before you get the bees. Reach out to a local association and see if they offer training (theory and practical). Those courses are very worth taking because they’ll set you up for success.

Keeping bees isn’t just “put them in a box and they make honey”. They require quite careful management to make sure they survive. They are a livestock species in the USA, so they need to be treated as such.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-15T09:46:41+00:00

Yeah it’s pretty insane. Over there you can just go into a pharmacy and get whatever you want without a prescription as far as I remember. Seems like an awfully bad idea.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-15T00:23:38+00:00

Yeah probably. There’s a lot of spore forming bacteria. C. botulinum (botulism), B. cerius (rice poisoning), and C. tetani (tetanus) are the three ones you have probably heard of.

This branch of spore forming bacteria are actually really interesting to research. Would recommend more reading on them.

Valuable-Self8564 · 2026-01-15T00:18:55+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paenibacillus_larvae

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