On Wed, 6 Mar 1996, Jean-Marie Van Dyck wrote:
 
> ...
> Pay attention that there is a reverse at the medal (in french it means
> the worst side) : if you get bees really resistant to chalkbrood
> you'll get bees really sensible to AFB : we saw this with our Buckfast
> bees which got AFB in an area quite without AFB (one case for 2-3
> years)...!
> ...
 
Hallo Jean-Marie,
 
how often do you practice renewal of combs?
 
Brother Adam emphasizes in his book "Breeding of Honeybee" the necessity
of regular renewal at least all 4 years as supporting measure against all
diseases, especially against AFB. In his book on bee management he
describes two ways of doing it according to the yield of the region in
which one lives.
 
I have made good experience with it. Every year at the end of yield in
July I put a quarter of my 50+ Buckfast colonies completely on new
wax walls (?). Until now I never lost more than 10% of my colonies during
winter, mostly less, for instance because of Nosema. And this I am regarding
as natural selection. Up to now there hasn't been any AFB though there were
infected hives in the environment. (Admittedly, when we claim such important
things we say always "toi", "toi", "toi" and knock on wood thrice).
 
Regards,
R.E.Bahr
 
NISI APES FINIS