Kris :
 
Sorry to hear about the AFB.  I have only dealt with four infected hives in
the past two years, so you'd be wise to validate my advice with other more
experienced beekeepers.
 
At 11:33 AM 7/1/97 -0700, you wrote:
 
>1) How easily is this disease spread?  Do I need to discard the hive tool I
>used to inspect the infected hive or sterilize it somehow, wash or replace my
>bee suit, etc?  Can propolis contain the spores too?
 
I do not think the disease is spread very readily unless infected equipment
and tools are passed from diseased to healthy colonies.  I do not think the
disease spreads by stray drifting bees, but I think weak AFB colonies that
are being robbed out by neighbouring heathy colonies will result in some
degree of disease spread.  If your other colonies look heathy, do not assume
they do not have the disease.  The local bee inspector told me that you are
not out of the woods until you can confirm neighbouring heathy colonies show
no sign of the diseases up to a year down the road.  Torch the hive tool to
disinfect it.  Use dispoable gloves when handling diseased frames.  Bleach
your suit.  I think propolis contains spores.  Although propolis contains
antibiotic substances, they likely not able to either destroy or reduce the
later germination of spores (I am guessing).  Torch all the wax and propolis
off your supers, inner cover, outer cover, and bottom boards.  Burn the frames.
 
 
>3) Should I pull the supers from all the hives in the yard and medicate now
>even though they don't appear sick, or is this overkill because they had terra
>patties this past winter and spring and will get them again in the fall?
 
I am a bit of a gambler.  Don't use TM right away on your 'heathy' colonies,
because subsequent honey will be contaminated.  Keep a close eye on your
colonies to see if the disease appears.  As soon as the honey is off, treat
them with TM syrup, and continue watching them through the fall and gain
next spring. If you want to be more cautious, take all your honey off and
extract it, then dust your colonies with @ tablespoon of 1:5 TM in icing
sugar over the next couple of months.
 
>4) How long is TM-25 effective when fed as a patty after it is removed for
>supering?
 
I am guessing that as long as the TM is not exposed to sunlight, it lasts a
long time in grease (not the case in water-based carriers).  Please not that
TM patties have been implicated as potentially inducing resistnace in B.
larvae populations.  I'd use pulses of syrup and icing sugar rather than a
continuous release via patties.
 
>Will a colony with AFB spores develop AFB during the summer when
>supers are on with no medication if it has a terra patty throughout the rest of
>the year?
 
I do not think so.  TM is bacterialstatic.  It stops the growth of B. larva
in bee blood.  Larvae need to eat the stuff for it to work.  Following
feeding with TM in syrup I think most of it is gone for nurse bees in about
3 weeks.  Syrup is stored.  Grease is not.  I think grease patties have very
short residual action, although I do not think anyone has ever looked at this.
 
>5) I have seen no signs at all of AFB in any of my other 17 hives, but am
>paranoid now.  Should I attempt to sterilize my extractor between supers from
>different hives somehow?  I don't share equipment among hives, but some bees
>from the sick hive could have drifted into the others, even though it was 200
>feet away.  Could AFB be present in supers too, or just in brood chambers (I
>use two)?
 
From my experience being paranoid is good.  My worst fears have not come
true when I am paranoid and being extremely careful.
 
>6) If I had medicated the infected swarm from the time I hived it, would it be
>healthy now, or would the spores always be waiting to cause disease?
 
Maybe.  I have heard if you absolutely drench an infected swarm with syrup
that the spores somehow get diluted and taken out of circulation.   I have
no experience with this technique tho.
 
>Is there anything I haven't mentioned here that should be done at this point or
>as part of a general treatment plan?  The books and web sites I visited while
>trying to sort this out had lots of good information for identifying the
>disease, but were lacking severly in the area of what to do for control aside
>from buring infected hives, not sharing equipment among hives, and medicating
>regularly.  Maybe this is all there is to do.
 
If you can, check Balley and Ball's 'Honey Bee Pathology' for a rigorous
treatment of AFB.
 
Please treat my suggestions with some skeptisim.  Most of them are based on
guesses, not fact.
Adony
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** Adony P. Melathopoulos *********
*** Center for Pest Management ****
**** Simon Fraser University ******
***** Burnaby, British Columbia ***
****** Canada, V5A-1S6 ************
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