Hive Symptom Checker: What's Wrong With My Bees?
Something is wrong in the hive and you're not sure what. Tick everything you can see, on the bees, in the brood and around the comb, and the checker weighs it against the signs of every common honey bee disease, pest and colony problem, then ranks the likely causes with what to check next and what to do. It is not a diagnosis; it is the fastest way to know where to look.
Tool Hive Symptom Checker
Ranking reflects how many of each problem's signature signs you ticked. Two problems often occur together; a weak colony with beetles or wax moths usually got weak from mites first.
The five-minute triage that beats any checklist
- Mite wash. Half a cup of nurse bees from the brood nest, alcohol, 60 seconds of shaking, count, divide by three. Over 2 per 100 in spring or 3 in late summer is a mite problem regardless of what else you see. How to do a wash.
- Look at the brood, not just for the queen. A solid pattern with pearly white larvae is healthy. Spotty, sunken, discolored or smelly is a disease sign; pull a dead larva with a matchstick to check for the ropy string of American foulbrood.
- Look at the entrance and the bottom board. Crawling bees, deformed wings, wax cappings from robbing, mummies, beetle larvae, mouse droppings: the bottom board is a diary.
- Confirm eggs. One egg per cell, standing upright, means a queen laid in the last three days. Several per cell means laying workers.
- Weigh the hive. Heft the back. A light hive in fall or late winter is a starvation risk no matter what else is going on.
American foulbrood is reportable. If you see sunken, perforated cappings and a ropy string, stop, close the hive, wash your tools and hands, and contact your state apiary inspector before you move any equipment. AFB: signs, test and what to do.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common cause of a sick hive?
Varroa mites and the viruses they carry, by a wide margin. Deformed wings, crawling bees, a spotty brood pattern, a sudden population crash with honey still in the hive and a small cluster dying in winter all trace back to mites far more often than to any disease. When in doubt, do a mite wash first.
How do I tell American foulbrood from European foulbrood?
American foulbrood kills larvae after capping: sunken, greasy, perforated cappings, a foul smell, and a ropy string when you stir a dead larva with a matchstick. European foulbrood kills larvae before capping: twisted, yellow-brown, melted-looking larvae with a sour smell. AFB is reportable and its spores persist for decades; EFB is a stress disease that strong colonies often clear.
Is this checker a diagnosis?
No. It weighs the symptoms you tick against the signs of each common problem and ranks the likely causes so you know what to check next. Foulbrood should be confirmed with a field test or your state apiary inspector, and any hive showing crumpled wings or crawling bees should get a mite wash before anything else.
My bees have dysentery. Is it nosema?
Not necessarily. Dysentery is a symptom, not a diagnosis, and it is more often caused by fermented or high-moisture stores and long confinement than by nosema. Nosema is confirmed under a microscope. Our nosema guide covers what the research says.
There are no eggs and I can't find the queen. Is the hive queenless?
Maybe. Check for eggs on two visits a few days apart, look for the polished cells a laying queen leaves, and listen for the roar of a queenless colony. The definitive test is a frame of eggs from another hive: if they build queen cells on it, they were queenless. If they don't, a queen is present but not laying, which in late fall can simply be a broodless period.
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Related reading: the full field guide
- Honey bee diseases: the field guide
- Varroa mites on bees: what they look like and the signs
- Deformed wing virus: what crumpled wings mean
- American foulbrood · European foulbrood and chalkbrood · Nosema
- Small hive beetle · Wax moths · Robbing
- Queenless hive: signs and what to do · Why did my bees abscond?
- Why colonies die in January
Most of this list traces back to mites
Keeping varroa low is the single best defense against nearly every problem on this page. The InstantVap oxalic acid vaporizer makes a treatment a 20-second job per hive; the Easy-Check mite wash tells you when you need one. Time it with the Broodless Window Finder.
General beekeeping information from Lorob Bees, not a substitute for a product label or your state apiary inspector. Always read and follow the label of any product you use in a hive.