Mathew Westall wrote:

>  Instead of culling the hive I
> simply removed the brood & 'test' deep and treated with TM by dusting the
> bees.
>
> That was 3 years ago and I've never used TM since without ANY outbreak in
> that hive.  Today the same hive is roughly 4 deeps of solid brood and
> inspected last week - and healthy as any I have at the apiary, supered up
> for a good year coming.  & that's after 3 years without TM.

AFB goes with honey, diseased brood and woodenware. You removed the main
repository and "cured" the disease. You also caught it early and treated
before you had spores throughout the colony.

Our State Bee Inspector gave me the option of shaking my bees onto new
foundation in a new hive so I could keep the bees. So saving bees from
an AFB infected hive is always an option. I did burn all my infected
equipment and could use the honey but not let the bees have it.

I treated for a while after that mostly because of the "fear factor' but
quit after a few years. No AFB since.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, ME

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