I have a small apiary at the end of my garden with 3 WBC hives and been beekeeping for just 3 years.
All 3 were productive colonies last year, survived through the winter well, expanded rapidly this spring and have double brood boxes. All colonies received clean hives this spring (bleached and scorched where appropriate)
One colony (the biggest) has since developed CBPV with typical signs: a pile of smelly rotting bees out the front, hairless and shaking bees, K-wing sign.
So far the Q seems unaffected with 13 frames of brood (BIAS) and no signs of swarming.
I have no out-apiary but have moved and rotated the affected colony to reduce cross -contamination through drifting as much as possible.
I have no personal experience of CBPV. So I wonder what to do now?
Advice so far obtained is variable (nothing new there )
Active destruction of the colony seems a bit drastic to me at the moment.
My thoughts are to tough-it-out for now as the weather is awful. But when its warmer carry out a bee dump and allow the healthy bees to get back to the Q residing in a clean hive but with the original frames.
I'd appreciate any comments regarding my plan and any additional advice.
All 3 were productive colonies last year, survived through the winter well, expanded rapidly this spring and have double brood boxes. All colonies received clean hives this spring (bleached and scorched where appropriate)
One colony (the biggest) has since developed CBPV with typical signs: a pile of smelly rotting bees out the front, hairless and shaking bees, K-wing sign.
So far the Q seems unaffected with 13 frames of brood (BIAS) and no signs of swarming.
I have no out-apiary but have moved and rotated the affected colony to reduce cross -contamination through drifting as much as possible.
I have no personal experience of CBPV. So I wonder what to do now?
Advice so far obtained is variable (nothing new there )
Active destruction of the colony seems a bit drastic to me at the moment.
My thoughts are to tough-it-out for now as the weather is awful. But when its warmer carry out a bee dump and allow the healthy bees to get back to the Q residing in a clean hive but with the original frames.
I'd appreciate any comments regarding my plan and any additional advice.