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Date: | Thu, 1 Feb 2007 12:14:05 +0200 |
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> 1. Commercial wax foundation is irradiated so that AFB is not a worry.
> Home grown foundation may harbor AFB.
This is a common myth that should be busted. I have talked to several
researchers about this and always come up with the same answer. No one has a
proven case of AFB from foundations. Not even the trials where foundation
was made only from the frames with full of AFB larva come up with a deceased
colony. One trial could measure some spores in bees the next week after
foundation was put, but not nearly enough to pop up a decease.
So how can this be ? My vision is that to make a young larva sick it must be
fed spores. The bees producing larval food do not eat ( ingest) wax, and
therefore do not transmit decease from wax. We do know that there can be
quite a bit of AFB spores in the wax coming from sick colonies.
So the question is; has someone seen data that shows that foundations can
introduce AFB to a colony ?
By the way I believe that irradiation of foundations is rare. Beekeepers
radiate built combs, but foundation ? Never heard of it.
Ari Seppälä
Finland
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