ForumPests & Disease

Brown streaks down the front of two hives in mid-September — dysentery or nosema, and what can I do without fumagillin?

Fifth year in Małopolskie, ten hives. After a warm start to the month we've had ten days of cold rain and the bees have been stuck inside. Two of the ten hives now have brown-yellow streaks below the entrance and on the landing board, and there's a sour smell when you get close. The other eight are clean. Some things about those two: they're in the shadiest corner of the apiary right on the forest edge. One of them got a batch of syrup three weeks ago that had a faint yeasty smell — I used it anyway, which I already regret. And both brought in a lot of fir honeydew this summer that I left in the brood boxes as winter stores. Is this nosema? I don't own a microscope. There's no fumagillin in the EU and I keep reading that nothing else actually works. What do I do this autumn, and what should I stop doing?
#dysentery#nosema#honeydew#fall-feeding#hive-placement
▲ 1 votes 💬 1 replies ✅ Solved
1 reply
DrentseBij · Sep 20, 2026 · ✅ Accepted answer
Streaks are dysentery — a symptom, not a disease — and you've named the two likeliest causes. Honeydew is full of indigestible solids, and bees wintered on it soil the hive when they can't fly. Fermented syrup does the same. Nosema is confirmed only by microscope (20 bees crushed, spore count — your regional lab does it cheaply), and Nosema ceranae often causes no dysentery at all. Now: dump that syrup; feed fresh 2:1 and swap the honeydew-heavy frames for capped syrup; get those hives out of the shade, tilt forward, dry floors. In spring, clean comb and 80% acetic acid on the old.
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