Deformed wings

[keswickB]

 Im a neebe,found 5 or 6 bees with deformed wings this morning.Took them to bee story .The lady said have varrao mites, brought some api life var and put that in hive bodys. While I was in the hive saw 3 supercede cell,could not find queen,But some eggs and lava.Second brood box has capped brood and honey plus pollen.Need help.

[asprince]

Sounds like mites. Since I don't treat for them others will have to help you with that issue. If you saw eggs, she must be there but not for long if you have supersede cells. If the cells are on different frames and you have two boxes of bees, I would split off a NUC and start a new hive. Do not destroy the queen cells or you could end up queenless.


Good Luck,

Steve

[keswickB]

Thanks , 2 cell are on one frame,and 1 is on another frame dont no if they are strong enough to split.Just got these bees from beekeeper 4 weeks ago. The deformed wing worrys me a little.

[L Daxon]

Deformed wings are caused by a virus which usually takes hold when mites are present in the capped cell when the bee is pupating . The emerging bee will have deformed wings.  You will see them on the frames but more often they end up wandering outside the hive where they soon die. 

Who did you get your bees from?  The hive they came from might not have been too healthy.  Usually package bees won't have a mite problem the first year as they have had a "brood break" while in the package/shipping,etc.  A brood break is one of the ways of controlling mites.

I agree with the above about not destroying your queen cells ... never a good idea.  If you are sure they are supersedure cells, I would just let the hive get rid of the old queen and raise a new one.  They know better than you if the original queen is worth keeping.