What's wrong with my hive?

Find what you can see in the hive, read the likely causes, then follow the link for what to do. This is a triage aid, not a diagnosis.

When to contact your department. If you suspect a notifiable or exotic pest or disease, stop and contact your state or territory department of agriculture. Only a laboratory test reliably confirms American foulbrood (AFB), European foulbrood (EFB) and nosema, and varroa should be confirmed by a test as described on the varroa page.

What you see, likely causes, what to do now

What you see	Likely causes	What to do now
Patchy or “pepperbox” brood, sunken, greasy or perforated cappings	AFB, EFB, chalkbrood, sacbrood or varroa	Do the matchstick test and read Foulbrood. Don’t move frames. Report if you suspect AFB
Larvae turned yellow or brown, twisted or melted, or a brown thread of 3 cm or more on a matchstick	AFB or EFB	Report it and treat it as notifiable until a laboratory says otherwise. Foulbrood
Hard white to grey-black “mummies” in cells or at the entrance	Chalkbrood	Chalkbrood, sacbrood and nosema
Larvae in a tough fluid-filled sac, head raised	Sacbrood	Chalkbrood, sacbrood and nosema
Small flat reddish-brown mites on bees or drone brood, deformed or crippled bees	Varroa mite	Test with an alcohol wash. Varroa mite. In WA or Tasmania, or for any unfamiliar mite, contact your state department first
Brown dysentery streaks, crawling bees, falling numbers or heavy winter losses	Nosema, varroa or poisoning, among others	Chalkbrood, sacbrood and nosema, Varroa mite
Silk webbing and tunnels through comb, tough white cocoons	Wax moth	Wax moth
Wet, slimy comb, fermenting honey, a smell of rotting oranges, or small dark beetles running from the light	Small hive beetle	Small hive beetle. In Tasmania, the NT or northern WA, contact your state department
Many dead bees in front of the hives	Possible pesticide poisoning	See the next section

Small hive beetle larvae can look like wax moth larvae, but they don’t spin webs or cocoons. Small hive beetle is not found in Tasmania or the Northern Territory and is very restricted in northern Western Australia.

Sudden loss of bees

Large numbers of dead adult bees on the ground in front of the hives is the most common sign of pesticide poisoning, according to NSW DPIRD and BeeAware. Other signs:

• most or all hives in the apiary are affected
• dead bees with unhooked wings, an extended tongue and outstretched hind legs
• few foragers leave the hive, and live bees move slowly or look paralysed
• surviving bees are more aggressive than usual
• queen failure can follow within about 30 days

These signs overlap with other problems, so don’t assume the cause. BeeAware explains how to collect samples (dead bees and comb) and lists who to report to in each state and territory. NSW DPIRD explains how to care for poisoned hives. Poisoning can also be reported to the APVMA’s Adverse Experience Reporting Program: see the APVMA contact page. In NSW, suspected pesticide misuse goes to the Environment Protection Authority’s Environment Line on 131 555.

What to do next

1. Close the hive and write down what you saw: date, hive, frames, and photos.
2. Don’t swap frames or equipment between hives, and don’t feed bees honey or pollen from other colonies.
3. Read the matching page linked above.
4. Report anything suspicious to your state department, and ask about getting a sample tested.
5. Check Current alerts and see State-by-state rules.
6. Use only registered products, and follow the label.

Ants, mice, queenlessness, robbing and starvation can also cause trouble. A local club can help: see Clubs and associations.