Carbohydrate dystrophy of bees
Carbohydrate dystrophy (starvation) – mass death of bees when exhausted from a lack of carbohydrate feed – honey.
Causes of the disease. Starvation of bees at a feed insecurity can cause the death of bees at any time of the year. In spring, they die when last year’s reserves are exhausted, or when other families steal them by bees. In the summer, bees are killed if there is a shortage of honey in beehives in a time-free or unfavorable weather; in the fall – during the theft of honey from beehives by bees-thieves and wasps, as well as with a sharp reduction in nests on the eve of cooling, when part of the bees remains without feed behind the planks. In winter, bees die with insufficient food reserves or with an incorrect distribution in the nest. It is also possible the death of bees during the crystallization or fermentation of honey.
Course of the disease. The death of bees during fasting develops rapidly. In winter, hungry bees, if they do not come in time for help, die. In summer, death from starvation is manifested primarily in bee-gatherers. In the absence of honey in honey hives or with limited quantities, bees fly into the field searching for nectar and, not finding it, perish. In the presence of cold rainy weather, bees can die inside the hive, and when good weather sets in, their bodies are thrown out of the beehive by live bees.
Symptoms of the disease. In summer, when there is a shortage of fodder reserves, the larvae emerge from the hives of the hives. Sometimes, together with them, before the flaps, there are large numbers of ejected bees. The perishing bees have a honey beet, the middle and back parts of the intestine empty; sugar is absent in the hemolymph; in the hive there are no stocks of honey because of the absence of a bribe in nature. Sometimes families that do not have honey leave the nest and join other families or fly away to other
In winter, when listening to the bee colonies dying of hunger, characteristic noises can be detected. Hungry bees in search of food move through empty honeycombs, creating a sound reminiscent of the rustle of dry leaves. Perhaps the mass extinction of bees.
When crystallizing honey on the bottom of the hive among the dead bees, many crystals are found.
The diagnosis is based on examination and listening to wintering families. Live fasting families in wintering are determined by the sound (the rustle of dry leaves), which is formed from the crawling of bees through empty honeycombs. In the absence of sounds, a light blow is made along the wall of the hive. If the bees do not respond, then they died. A typical indication of famine death from hunger is the lack of honey reserves and the presence of a mass of dead bees that are inside the cells head inside.
Crystallization of honey is detected by the presence of a mass of crystals on the bottom of the hive. When inspecting the nest, large areas of printed honey are observed, and in all cells it is dry and crystallized into a solid dense mass. At crystallization of a honey of a bee by the raised noise show anxiety caused by thirst. When honey is benign and crystallization is caused by a low content of water in honey or a high content of glucose, then overlapping the frames of gauze or cotton wool soaked in water soothes the bees. If the crystallized honey contains melisitosis or other harmful substances and the bees do not cause calming, then the bees are fed.
Fermentation and souring of honey is detected by the alcohol or sour smell from the hive of the affected family. Upon examination, almost all cells are open, overflowing with a watery, sometimes foaming, pouring liquid through the edges. A stream of watery liquid flows down the honeycombs. On the honeycombs, liquid stools and a large number of dead bees are often found, the latter too much and at the bottom of the hive.
Prevention. For the winter, each family of bees provide 18-20 kg of honey. Honey in the nest is placed so that at the edges there are honeycombs full of honey, and in the middle not full, but containing not less than 1.5-2 kg of honey. In autumn, preventive measures are carried out against bee theft and bee prey. In the spring, families should have at least 8 kg of honey.
Control measures. When families are found in a state of starvation, they are fed one of the following food.
Feeding with crystallized honey. Thick, settled honey in the amount of 1-2 kg is placed on a clean paper, pierce the holes in it and place it in a hive under the linen or ceiling on top of the frames.
Feeding with sugar-refined sugar. Pieces of sugar slightly moistened with water, wrapped in cheesecloth and put also on top of the frames under the canvas.
Feeding with fodder. To the four parts of carefully prepared sugar powder, poured onto the board, one part of honey, heated to 60-70 њ, is poured in for a long time and carefully knead until a steep dough is obtained. From the dough prepare cakes weighing 1-2 kg, wrap them in cheesecloth and put them on top of the frames.
The forage mass is prepared in another way. One part of the boiled water is added with constant stirring, two parts of sugar and cook it over low heat until drops of syrup, dropped into cold water, give a soft doughy mass. When digesting sugar syrup, hard drops, like a candy, form. In such cases, water is added and boiled again to this state. Then add 20% (200 g per 1 kg) of honey to the syrup, cool to a temperature of 30-40 њ and stir with a spatula until a white dough turns out. He is cut with a knife into pieces of 1-2 kg, wrapped in cheesecloth and put in a hive above the frame of the nest.
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