Beekeeping > Pests and Diseases

Hive Not Doing Well; Suspecting Disease!

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Alklar20:
I inspected my hive today, and I noticed some problems with my hive during my inspection (the following text has been copy pasted from an email I sent another beekeeper):
"Hive population seems to be declining rather than expanding. On March 16, I thought it was slightly smaller than a football, and I thought it had expanded a little by April 2, but now, I would say the cluster is the size of a baseball. There were about 3 brood frames on March 20; now (April 15) there are only 2 (each time I inspected, there wasn't much brood on the frames at all). I noticed some problems with the brood:
Perforated cappings; no signs of AFB or EFB, though. I "did" the matchstick test for AFB using a twig I found on the ground, and the pupae didn't have the discoloration associated with EFB. The pupae looked normal. However, there were several dead pupae just sitting in their cells without caps; the bees hadn't removed them yet. There was also a few half-grown dead pupae that the bees had pulled out of the cells sitting on the bottom board.
There was a tiny amount of dead bees in front of the hive, and a few dead bees sitting on the combs. I noticed a lot of poop on the front of the hive (I also noticed a much smaller amount on April 2), and there was some poop on the combs themselves; the bees even pooped on my gloves while I was inspecting the hive. Also, I noticed a few of the bees were acting sluggish/sick during the inspection. I'm suspecting they have dysentery, or maybe even Nosema. Can you tell me what you think is going on?

P.S. I noticed eggs during my inspection, so there was a laying queen present."

Bakersdozen:
Alklar20, you didn't mention any mite treatments or sugar roll tests to see what your mite load is.  That is usually the place to start as mites are the cause of most of the problems within the hive.  Penn State has great information on pests and diseases.  You can read it for free here: https://extension.psu.edu/a-quick-reference-guide-to-honey-bee-parasites-pests-predators-and-diseases.  They also have a great publication https://extension.psu.edu/a-field-guide-to-honey-bees-and-their-maladies.  You can order it or download the preview.  I am not sure if the preview is the complete publication or just a sample. You may get lucky and find what you need to know.
Here is another good source that will tell you how to treat if it is nosema. https://canr.udel.edu/maarec/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2010/03/Diseases_of_Honey_Bees_PM.pdf
You didn't mention if you had other colonies, but if you do or there are other beekeepers in the area, I would discourage robbing to control the spread of disease or mites.

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