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Post by Todd Balsiger on Jul 20, 2004 22:12:02 GMT -7
I thought I would share an observation. Yesterday I inspected some of my hives, mostly the new start up nucs. One nuc in particular has been floundering, not keeping up with the others. I dug into it. It has American Foulbrood, in the early stages. No scale yet.
I'm going to test the efficacy of Tylosin. In the end I think I will burn it (just one new queen, nuc box, and 6 frames).
My point. If you have a colony that is not keeping up with it's peers, then check it out. You want to find AFB before the robbing season starts.
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Post by HarryVanderpool on Jul 20, 2004 22:37:53 GMT -7
Todd,
Why don't you bring your nastyist foulbrood frame to the meeting on Friday?
Harry
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Post by Todd Balsiger on Jul 21, 2004 19:58:42 GMT -7
That's possible. In the recent past I brought frames with classic AFB to my club. Brand new boxes, brand new frames -- I burned everything then. I want to test tylosin this time, yet I think I will burn the hive regardless.
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Post by toddbalsiger on Jul 24, 2004 22:01:50 GMT -7
Today I used the "Honey Bee Diseases & Pests" booklet to accurately diagnose the foulbrood. Luckily, it turns out to be European Foulbrood, not American.
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Post by HarryVanderpool on Jul 26, 2004 14:29:27 GMT -7
Todd,
I had a hive with Efb the 2nd or 3rd year out.
I was tipped off by the orange larvea.
Is that what you saw?
What are you going to do about the hive?
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Post by Todd Balsiger on Jul 26, 2004 16:59:51 GMT -7
How I diagnosed it as EFB, not AFB?
Not by the scattered pattern and capping appearance -- both share this.
Not by the odor: AFB, putrid; EFB, sour or rotten fish-like odor. I wouldn't be able to discern a difference here.
Not decisive regarding ropiness test: EFB is not suppose to exibit the gluey or ropy characteristic (albeit one of my cells did, all the rest did not!).
Yes, larvae death occurs at different stages: AFB usually kills larvae in the late larval stage; EFB usually kills larvae while they are still coiled at the bottom. This I noticed.
Yes, scale is different: AFB scale sometimes has a pupal tongue sticking out (this I didn't see). AFB scale is flat, dark, and difficult to remove (this I didn't see). What little scale I did see (hardly any) was easy to remove.
Not by the discolored brood, both exibit this.
What I'm going to do? Well, I remember going through hives with Chuck Sowers once and he came across EFB. He killed the queen and requeened it. I killed this queen and am letting the bees clean things up with tylosin. I will check the frames once again for AFB -- and if I am certain (which I think I am), I will add the frames to another start up. This queen and hive never got going. I didn't like the queens I got this year -- some did fine though.
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