| A few observations - I’m a beekeeper. The brood pattern on that comb is horrible - I suspect a lot of varroa, but there are other potential causes.
Varroa can be tidied up if the colony isn’t too far gone. Once it’s removed it needs to be kept under observation for a bit, and kept away from clean hives. If it’s carrying something like American Foul Brood, it shouldn’t be spread. Here in NZ the ‘treatment’ for AFB is to burn the colony and the hive. A colony is unlikely to die if the queen is killed (assuming it isn’t winter). They will make a new one from an existing egg. This is a neat write up - and good on the person who removed them. Cutting a colony out of a building is a horrible, messy chore. Catching a swarm is very wary in comparison. Edit: one more thought, comb is white, then it goes yellow, then brown and finally black.
This is from use, bee feet and the cocoons that are inside each cell. That process takes time, usually a season of two at least. I retire my comb at about 3 years old. That comb looks quite black - I think it a been there for more than a season (dead bees noticed in April). |