I have never known Bald brood before varroa days. This seem to proliferate in Hygienic bees and its one of the ways bees are developing to deal with varroa see VIta resurch on it. FBO do not really know whats it all about but the colnies that have the syndrom do not seem to have a varroa problem or DW.
Uhh, bald brood may not always be a disease but a hygienic behavior usually in response to mites or wax moth larvae. You may be actually culling highly desirable traits. See Corey Stevens for more. Ask a mentor to take a look first
Great vid! Thanks for posting. This is exactly what I have going on with one of my hives. Been wondering what it was. Mite count was a bit high a couple months ago. I've since added oxcylic acid to hive and am watching for an improvement.
Thanks for another great video. I know Roger Patterson puts bald brood down to wax moth, but I had a problem a couple of years ago. The SBI visited and put the problem down to a high varroa load (it was late July) and sure enough after treatment they over-wintered OK and I've since re-queened. So I'm with you.
Ive seen the link to wax moth and while I dont dismiss it entirely, it doesnt expain spotty bald brood. I would expect to see consistent lines of brood above where the wax moth travels.
I've never seen one that bad larvae is obviously giving off some sort of stress chemical causing the bees to uncap wanting to help them. But usually you only see two or three on a frame which is not a big problem but I agree with you there that colony needs help. Thanks for showing 5 Star as usual.
Cheers Mart. Have successfully requeened and now this colony is looking perfect in terms of brood. Will follow up later in the year with an update video.
Thanks for the video...Ive been enjoying all your posts. However, I'd be cautious about saying we "definitely know" this is a genetic trait just because they didn't respond to feeding. Although genetics likely contribute to hygienic behavior, unless there is real data to show that bald brood is due to genetics, definitive statements should be avoided. I see this when varroa is out of control in a hive (one I recently saw had 24% mite load! Not my hive!). Therefore, I would not expect feeding them to solve the problem...or swapping for a new queen either. I'm curious how they responded to mite control...of course, if you replaced the queen AND treated for mites, then you won't be able to attribute a recovery to either of those management decisions.
@@BlackMountainHoney I just came across this video, I found my first frame of baldbrood about 4 months ago & likewise too late to requeen in Vic/Aus, if they survive the winter I'll do so in spring. The wax ring around the cell suggests to me that it was once capped or almost capped & then peeled / chewed back for hygiene reasons, not necessarily varroa as we don't have that problem here yet. Perhaps the bees are not sensing enough of whatever it is that tells them the pupa is alive so they open the cell?
