Bob's opinion about NC

<I have been on the front lines of commercial beekeepers fighting nosema
<ceranae issues for a few years. The spores are on the comb, picked up on
<flowers and passed from bee to bee. Fumigillin does not work very well to
<control the problem. It is true some hives can tolerate high spore counts
<( Randy Oliver) but I have observed thousands of cases and once nosema
<ceranae gets a hold on a hive untreated most crash. Half (my opinion) might
<survive but it takes a long time for the hive to recover.

Reading Bee-L I have got an understanding that most commercial US/ Canadian 
beekeepers use more or less Fumidil to control NC. 



Here in Europe that is not an option as it is illeagal in EU. Spansh authorites 
gave an special permit for few years against the general rule, but I don't know 
if they still use. Other countries don't as far as I know. 



In Finland we have had NC since 1998. Now found in most of the country. We can 
see more losses in beekeepers with high spore load, but they do not build up so 
that every year the losses would get bigger. 



I would like to hear of studies or personal experiences  of beekeeping units 
having NC and not treating.  What kind of losses over the years, any trends ? 



My own operation had first detected NC about 3 years ago.  At that time I still 
had also Nosema apis as well. No big changes in winter losses. 



One thing different here is that the norm is to use 10 -15 foundations/ year / 
hive and melt that many dark combs.  



Ari Seppälä

Finland 

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