From: Peter L Borst <[log in to unmask]>

>...apistan and checkmite...are ineffective against mites and toxic to bees. 

yes, i understand this is true in many areas...i've been on inspections 2 years in a row (not this year, but the previous 2) where a beekeeper who has bees only for blueberry pollination (doesn't extract honey) had years worth of apistan strips in all 5 or so hives...and mites crawling all over them.  my understanding is that after a couple of warnings, the state apiarist was brought in to enforce proper/legal use.  fwiw, these hives are well within flying distance of about 20 of our colonies.

although i hate to be in the position of defending the use of apistan, ken is an excellent beekeeper, and for years has run about 50 hives, and rarely loses more than 1 or 2 over the winter.  he heavily promotes his own management practices which, if his results are any measure, work quite well in our area (he has quite a good honey crop even in years where others do not).  it's hard to say that apistan doesn't work with such results, and i don't know of anyone in our area that uses checkmite at all.

(ken brings new and experienced beekeepers along for inspections...which is a great learning experience...i don't think he brings people to "commercial" operations, mostly hobby sites...and this is very valuable, it was the first time i saw afb...and it was well within flying distance from our hives).

>As far as oxytetracycline use *increasing* the prevalence of foulbrood....

i'm not talking about prophylactic use (which i know you advocate), infected hives are allowed to be treated as long as symptoms are kept suppressed, which has serious implications.

the afb hive that i referenced above was moved away from the beekeepers operation (to protect the rest of his hives...no consideration for ours), and had been treated with oxytet.  this particular hive was on a rotting pallet that was sitting on some old tires and at a 20+ degree angle (and the tires made it wobbly at best).  there was no bottom board, and the hive had been treated, but was collapsing from afb, chalkbrood, efb, wax moth, sacbrood, etc...with a lot of honey on top (several supers rotting and falling apart).  

the hive next to it was dead, full of all the same diseases, and a pile of candy canes inside (presumably to kill tracheal mites).  afb symptoms were not fully suppressed, and the hive, on the verge of collapse, was ripe for robbing with the entrance being a wide open bottom over a pallet (!!!!).  this was a mess (to use polite language).  a week after the inspection, he called me to go back and pull a frame to bring to a county club meeting (most have never seen afb..and a frame with every imaginable bee disease is quite a show).  i'm not exaggerating (yes, he got permission from the owner).

my point is that legally in massachusetts, more antibiotics could be used on this hive to supress the afb symptoms, which isn't good for anyone.  i would have preferred that the owner had burned it, or had enough confidence in his treatment to keep it near his own hives.

deknow

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