As George so gently put it, you do need to see if it really is AFB.
Plus, waiting, if it is AFB, will just about insure that more colonies
will pick it up, since you will have both drifting and robbing. You have
to take care of AFB early. You will not only spread it in your apiary,
but will put all around you at risk.

Obviously, you are new to beekeeping. Every year, at our chapter
meeting, our State inspector brings some frames from AFB infected hives
along with frames that were from other dieing or dead colonies and we
are asked to find the problem, just from frame inspection. I usually do
fairly well on the AFB frames, since I started keeping bees with
infected equipment (welcome to the club). But I do not do as well with
some other problems since I may not have run into them.

There is nothing wrong with being ignorant. You see that demonstrated
daily on the BeeL :)

At least you did ask. I knew one "experienced" beekeeper in my area who
had AFB and never really did anything right with it. Plus, since he was
"experienced", he knew what was "right". He no longer keeps bees.

Get yourself some good books. The best is debatable but a good start is
  The Beekeeper's Handbook by Diane Sammataro.

One more thing. Be prepared, on this list to occasionally take some
heat. It is no big deal. If you stick around, the BeeL is an exceptional
repository of excellent advice and information because all will be
challenged if they post unfounded or shaky advice and/or techniques, as
you so quickly learned. Consider it part of your continuing education.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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