Author Topic: Chalkbrood  (Read 2310 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Blair Sampson

  • Regular Member
  • **
  • Posts: 45
  • Thanked: 3 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
Chalkbrood
« on: July 02, 2018, 11:16:39 am »
Over the past 4-6 weeks chalk brood in a weaker colony has spread from several cells (2-4) on 2 frames to numerous cells (8-10) on multiple frames (4-5). Unsure if chalk brood has an impact on the queen's egg laying but she's not laying nearly as well as she should be given the time of year.  This was a single brood box colony. Unsure if this was a good approach but I have added a 2nd brood box to provided the queen with chalk brood free frames.   How else should this issue be address? Is there a solution?

Offline Bakersdozen

  • Global Moderator
  • Gold Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 4511
  • Thanked: 482 times
  • Gender: Female
  • Location: Olathe, Kansas
Re: Chalkbrood
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2018, 11:09:00 am »
Some natural methods of handling chalkbrood is to increase colony strength.  Increased strength in numbers will allow the bees to control the ventilation themselves.  You could accomplish this by added a frame or two of larvae or brood from another colony.  If you can manually assist with better ventilation, that could help as well.  Adding an upper entrance or removing any entrance reducers are some suggestions.  Apiguard or thymol products will help with the control of chalkbrood.  Don't apply these if you have honey supers on.
Hope this helps.
The following users thanked this post: Blair Sampson

Offline riverbee

  • Gold Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 8924
  • Thanked: 410 times
  • Gender: Female
  • ***Forum Sponsor***
  • Location: El Paso Twp, Wisconsin
Re: Chalkbrood
« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2018, 12:03:13 am »
blair,  chalkbrood is a real pita. it is a fungus, the spores spread and really there is no treatment for it, or i thought so. bakers suggested apiguard or thymol. i was not aware of this, and have never used thymol to treat chalkbrood. googled it quick, and bee informed partnership claims that apiguard, thymol are active against chalkbrood, also mentions 'vitafeed green' and 'bee vital chalkbrood'.

link is here for the article:
beeinformed.org CHALKBROOD

i have not used any of these products for chalkbrood treatment so can't say how this would work.

if your colony is weak, it may get worse (not saying it will); not going to get all technical, but chalkbrood can really take a toll on a weaker hive. consider combining it with a stronger hive. moisture and cooler weather doesn't help, and sometimes there can be other stress factors. for example, weather, mites, lack of pollen, lack of nectar, a failing queen..........etc....could be anything that contributes to a colonies stress.

as bakers said, you could try boosting the population of the weak colony. the bees need to haul the larvae out and clean the cells up, (hygenic behavior) if they can't do this quickly, infection spreads. you may want to destroy combs if many mummies in cells. also, check everyday and clear the dead mummies off the landing board that the bees are hauling out.

how old is your queen and what breed of queen? you may also want to consider requeening.

i keep wild things in a box..........™
if you obey the rules, you miss all the fun.....katherine hepburn
Forum Sponsor
The following users thanked this post: Blair Sampson

Offline apisbees

  • Global Moderator
  • Gold Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 3723
  • Thanked: 331 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Vernon B.C.
Re: Chalkbrood
« Reply #3 on: July 04, 2018, 08:05:15 pm »
requeen the hive. if the hive is low in population i would cull the hive and give the boxes, bees, and brood to a strong colony so they can cleen it up
Honey Judge, Beekeeping Display Coordinator, Armstrong Fair and Rodeo.

Offline riverbee

  • Gold Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 8924
  • Thanked: 410 times
  • Gender: Female
  • ***Forum Sponsor***
  • Location: El Paso Twp, Wisconsin
Re: Chalkbrood
« Reply #4 on: July 04, 2018, 11:33:37 pm »
it is recommended to requeen..........

however, one year i purchased nucs with laying queens, and experienced chalkbrood with 2 of the nucs and these were new queens. these queens were not very old, and they were fat girls. lol. wet spring, frames that came with the nuc, probably already had the fungus/spores. i ditched the frames, replaced with my own. boosted population. fixed. those nucs and queens went on to do well for me in full hives. 

requeening isn't always the answer to all colony maladies.

keith, i am not sure i would give really infected chalkbrood frames full of mummies to another colony to clean up?



i keep wild things in a box..........™
if you obey the rules, you miss all the fun.....katherine hepburn
Forum Sponsor

Offline Mikey N.C.

  • Gold Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1393
  • Thanked: 76 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Cameron N.C.
Re: Chalkbrood
« Reply #5 on: July 10, 2018, 05:10:06 pm »
3 years ago a beej friend had 9 hives , all double 10 deeps with supers (1) on top. He asked me about a problem with one hive. I went to help him identify.  After inspection i thought it was clk brood ( colony was weak so we gave 2 frames of half capped brood with nurse bees and ventilation up top (removed super) didn't work.  State inspector said if we had seen mummies that look like rollie poleies on bottom board its clk brood.  I called iddee , he said get rid of hive in apiary and frames. Iddee said to take hive out 100 yards,  find queen and kill, spray all bees with sugar water,  knock (shake) all bees off frames an hurry to seal frames in empty sealed box.
Didn't have anymore problems with clk brood again.
The following users thanked this post: riverbee