Hello Mark.
I will be close to you in January at the winter meeting of the American
Beekeeping Federation in Kansas City, where I give a 3 hour talk to Hobbyists
about how to
succeed as a beekeeper rather than have bees die, swarm, become sick, or a
public nuisance, and of course, how to make MORE honey.  They have had me do
this all over the U. S. for the past 10-15 years.

You are going to discover something that most people don't know; i. e. that
the great
majority of "the good, old boy beekeepers" are LOUSY beekeepers and really
don't know much about bees, bee disease, or bee behavior at all.  They are
really beeHAVERS rather than beeKEEPERS, and have to buy new bees for
themselves every couple of years.

Beekeeping is BOTH an art and a science.  Most of the large commercial
beekeepers
are great artists of beekeeping, but have almost zero scientific knowledge
about them.

All of the above was OK until 18 years ago, 1984, when the tracheal mite
arrived in the U.S.  This was followed by the varroa mite in 87, the
Africanized Honey Bee (killer bee) entered Texas in 90 (and today the
American Adult public is scared to death about bees), the Parasitic Mite
Syndrome, PMS, was announced in 93, the small hive beetle in 98, resistant
American Foul Brood in 2001.

This simply means that one can NO LONGER keep bees like Daddy kept bees!
Many of the things we thought true in 1983, we now know are obsolete, and one
HAS to use the procedures that the bee scientists and bee researchers have
PROVEN since 1984

One thing, in spite of millions of dollars of research, that has NOT changed
(I wish it had).  THERE IS NO (nothing, zero, doesn't exist) treatment or any
chemical, medicine
or anything that will CURE AMERICAN FOULBROOD DISEASE without killing the
bees.
Make SURE that you understand this!  AFB is a disease of the larval state of
the brood, is very contagious, and the pathogen causing the disease can stay
alive and well in the wood of the hive for up to 80 years.  You have heard of
diabetics requiring a daily shot of insulin to stay alive, my wife is a
diabetic.  If the insulin is forgotten, the patient dies.  Terramycin is
identical with AFB.  As long as a hive
is treated 2-3 times every year with Terramycin, the bees will live and make
honey,
BUT everything in your beekeeping equipment, particularly the HONEY, the wax,
and all the wood of a hive is just filled with AFB pathogens which will
contaminate
any new hive or new bees brought on the property.  By the way, almost ALL the
honey sold in stores is loaded with AFB pathogens.  It is harmless to humans
but deadly
for new bees.  Almost all commercial beekeepers HAVE to use Terramycin because
they just don't have the time to inspect their colonies, and they don't
destroy them because than would reduce their honey crop.  Many hobbyists
simply follow what some codger has told him what to do, but the better
skilled hobbyists do NOT use
Terramycin.  What happens to a hive of bees that has AFB in almost ALL
states?  The
entire thing, everything, bees, honey, wax, hive bodies, supers, queen
excluder, etc.
is BURNED by the state bee inspector.  Only Maryland and North Carolina have
an
ethylene oxide fumigation chamber where the wood ware can be fumigated and
kill
the AFB pathogens.  In 70 years, I have discovered a colony with AFB about
6-7 times, and quickly destroyed it before it infected any of my other 100+
colonies.
This year, I found 2 colonies with AFB in my home apiary of 24 colonies, and
destroyed them the same day.  You don't have to be a scientist to know the
symptoms of AFB, so JUST LEARN THEM AND LEARN THEM WELL, and always watch for
any signs of AFB.  99% of bee inspectors are NOT scientists or doctors, but
have been taught the symptoms of bee diseases.

You test to see if you have a fever by sticking a thermometer in your mouth.
The
doctor tests your blood pressure for hypertension, or your urine for kidney
stones.
You check the oil in your car with a dipstick, and tire pressure with a tire
gauge.
DON'T TREAT YOUR BEES WITHOUT TESTING.  This just might make them resistant
to the medicine.  Test with a "sticky board" for mites, not that damn ether
roll test,
but TEST before using medicine.

I KNOW there are mites in every county in the U. S., and hence I am going to
HAVE to treat my bees for mites.  But HOW often, and WHEN?  Hence, I do a 24
hour sticky board test on every colony on April 1st and again on July 1st,
but I install Apistan
in my colonies on October 1st withOUT making any test.  I have never had to
make
an Apistan treatment after either the April or July tests because the mite
count was not abnormally high.  BUT I TEST EVERY APRIL AND JULY to make sure.

You can find many of my PINK PAGES listed on the Internet, and Brushy
Mountain Bee Supply has them on their website.  However, you might try
www.beekeeper.org/george_imirie/index.html

Spent $30 and buy what many say is the finest beginners bee book ever written:
the 3rd Edition, April 1998, of THE BEEKEEPERS HANDBOOK by Dr. Diana S
ammataro.
Later, have some one give you a Christmas present of the 1300+ page beekeepers
bible - the 1992 EXTENSIVELY REVISED edition of the HIVE AND THE HONEY BEE,
for
just $36.  It was written by the TOP 34 bee scientists of the U. S. should be
without it.

Well, got to go to the 3 day Damascus Fair tomorrow where I put on
demonstrations with live bees and my sons sell honey, and I have to dash back
and forth to the hospital to visit my sick wife, but she said "george, do it'.

I hope I have helped.

George Imirie