Author Topic: Autopsy report  (Read 5325 times)

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Offline Chip Euliss

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Re: Autopsy report
« Reply #20 on: February 25, 2018, 06:15:45 pm »
It's entirely possible that you lost your queen (as you thought) late in the fall and you may have simultaneously had an issue with varroa-vectored diseases.  Since you had workers dead in the pile of dead bees, the queen must have made some winter brood but the drones in November is a pretty good clue that you had a drone layer or a laying worker right after that.  Was the worker brood cell surface nice and even (flat appearance) or was it knotty with some cells protruding out past others?  The later situation indicates that there were only unfertilized eggs deposited in worker cells because a drone developed in the cell and the workers had to increase cell length to accomodate their larger body size.  Queens will put unfertilized eggs only in larger diameter drone cells unless she runs out of sperm or if she dies and you have a laying worker take over.  You may only see knotty areas in small areas of worker brood comb if the end was near about the time brood production would slow down at the end of summer to early fall.
Chip
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Online Bakersdozen

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Re: Autopsy report
« Reply #21 on: February 25, 2018, 06:30:19 pm »
  Was the worker brood cell surface nice and even (flat appearance) or was it knotty with some cells protruding out past others? 
No, it was typical drone brood.  Scattered, protruding, and not a lot of it.  About the size of your fist on several frames.  There was zero worker brood. 
I probably lost the queen about the time I was trying to recover from pneumonia.  By the time I was back to my old self, cooler weather had set it making it difficult to inspect.

Offline Chip Euliss

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Re: Autopsy report
« Reply #22 on: February 25, 2018, 07:46:43 pm »
Sounds like you had a tough winter!  Wife and I both had a nasty bug this winter but not the flu thank goodness.  I think you diagnosed your problem correctly.  Drone brood is a little longer so it does protrude; I was talking more about when worker cells are extended by the bees to accomodate the larger size of a drone when an unfertilized egg gets deposited in a cell designed a fertilized fertilized offspring.
Chip