Dick said:

> >It is sprayed directly on the bees where they go to
> work cleaning each other off by consuming the syrup.


Hi All,
I enter into this discussion with trepidation, in that I am trying not to
offend anyone on the List.

Dr. Eric Mussen is a very smart guy, and a great resource to beekeepers.
I can assure the List that he prechecked his facts about nosema treatments
with others prior to publishing his recommendations.

And yes,  Dr. Mussen would hardly "report" a method of use, with suggested
concentrations, without thinking that beekeepers would take that "report" as
a recommendation.

Dr. Mussen, and all other government authorities, are constrained by their
positions to only recommend label directions.
If they "report" otherwise, it is often merely a clever way to make
off-label recommendations, when the science is ahead of legislation.

However, in this specific instance, the drench is actually not off label--it
is on the Canadian label for the spring, if bees won't take syrup.

The exact wording from the label is:

"Heavily infested colonies that will no longer take in syrup may be sprayed
repeatedly, directly onto the bees, frame by frame with 1:1 sugar
syrup…containing 2 g of Fumagilin-B per litre of syrup."
  Since Fumagil-B is not officially labeled for use in the U.S.,  there is
no *official* U.S. label.  Our authorities are merely (and generously)
accepting the Canadian labels. Since the drench method is on the Canadian
label for a certain condition, it is de facto legal in the U.S. to spray
bees in "heavily infested" colonies with 1:1 sugar syrup containing 2 g of
Fumagilin-B per litre of syrup.

This method is appropriate when bees stop taking feed, as they are prone to
do when heavily infested.  The feeding method simply does not work at that
time, since they will not take it from a feeder.  However, they will ingest
it in the process of cleaning syrup off each others' bodies.

I hope that this clarifies the issue.

Randy Oliver

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