>What are the pros and cons regarding treating with terramycin when no signs of problems exist?

As an NY Bee Inspector, I get this asked all the time. Shorter answers
notwithstanding, this requires a longer response.

First, if you live in an area where "no signs of problems exist", then
-- lucky you! Where I travel, signs of problems are everywhere. But
more to the point, the question is more whether you have foulbrood --
OR -- is there any in your area. Really, only contact with other
beekeepers and bee inspectors will tell you if there is a problem in
your area. Many beekeepers don't like to talk about it, and in NYS we
do not give out the names of the people who have it.

However, I can tell beekeepers if their township is apparently free of
foulbrood, in which case, I recommend not using antibiotics as
prevention. If there is AFB around, I recommend using terramycin
spring and fall, especially when bees are robbing and dragging in
honey from unknown sources. This is one way the disease is spread.
Another way it is spread is: the beekeeper already has it and moves it
around. If you have an occasional case of AFB, I recommend burning it
up, and giving ALL the others TM as a prevention for a few years. Then
you can slack off and see if it comes back.

If, for some reason, you don't want to use antibiotics as a prevention
(and there are many good reasons not to), then you damned well better
learn about diseases so that if you do get them you can treat them. In
NY State the recommended treatment for AFB is to kill the bees and
burn up the hive. In other states, they are allowed to treat
infections with drugs, but you run the risk of masking it and driving
underground, only to pop up later after you have spread it throughout
your outfit by comb swapping.

A hive being worth $150 to $200, you simply don't want to leave it
bare to every bacteria on the block. We don't have many chems that
work and TM is one that does. TM resistant AFB is not common, I have
only seen a few beekeepers that have it. If you do, all the more
reason to burn up the resistant germs and use preventive measures on
the rest. The issue of TM resistant foulbrood is thorny. No one has
proved that regular use of TM caused this, although it is certainly
logical to assume that it did.

Many of us feel it was the use of extender patties left in the hive
year 'round that caused this problem, but there is no proof (so far as
I know) that it did. TM has been used on bees for at least 30 years,
so it took a long time to develop resistance in any case. What I
suggest is three doses in powdered sugar given in the spring and then
again in the fall. It's illegal to give it during the honey flow,
anyway. You have a short window of opportunity to medicate your bees
and I recommend only what is needed.

You will have to determine what happens if you don't use any
chemicals. Maybe yours will be OK; maybe they will die off.


Peter L Borst
Danby, NY USA
42.35, -76.50
http://picasaweb.google.com/peterlborst

****************************************************
* General Information About BEE-L is available at: *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm   *
****************************************************