Hello all,

This year was the first since 2006 that I have seen cases of American 
Foulbrood.  One case was a very slight infection (two or three frames in 
the entire hive had a couple of cells of AFB).  This was in a hobbiest's 
new hive that she had purchased from another hobbiest.  The infection 
was so light that we simply removed the affected frames and treated.

The other case was a complete breakdown in a feral hive I found in a 
wall.  The combs were completely black and nearly every brood cell had 
AFB scales or roping pupae.  Interestingly, the wall had 3 other hives 
that were unaffected only a matter of feet from the AFB hive.  All of 
the wall hives appeared to have been present for at least a few years, 
but probably more like a decade or more.  I did a removal on one of the 
wall hives, and have noted that the queen-stock for this hive is very 
prone to supercedure.  It has been in my back yard since February, but 
goes queenless every other month.  Just when I think it is dead, I check 
to find several frames completely filled with brood.  The chronically 
broken brood cycles surely help to prevent AFB or Varroa from building 
up (the hives had no symptoms of mites when I removed them, despite 
having about 50% drone comb).  Of course the hive never makes any honey.

I am always worried about AFB, but am still  not seeing it at all in my 
operation, despite doing commercial pollination, buying used equipment, 
and never treating.  I consistently look for AFB symptoms in each of my 
nearly 300 hives but have been lucky enough to avoid it so far.  When I 
first started beekeping, I found AFB in several of my hives but was able 
to stop it before it spread.

In my area, there are many new beekeepers just getting started with one 
or two hives.  I worry that they will be a source for AFB infection, as 
many of them hardly ever look inside the hives.  I am trying to educate 
people that they should look for anything weird with the brood and 
diligently correct problems before they spread. 


--Jeremy Rose
San Luis Obispo, CA

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