----------
 
> > >         2 Why do we requeen, when it has been proved that it is not
genetic.
> > > Comments?
 
> it's caused by dampness, it's caused by chilled brood" neither of the
> above is caused by the Queen! I know the accepted procedure is to
requeen.
> My point, if we have a good strong laying queen, why bother to change
her,
> when it's not her fault.
>         I tend to question some of our accepted methods, some just don't
make
> sense to me and this is one of them!
>         Any one want to comment?
>
>
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> The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia,
> Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1
> David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171
> Agents for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK
> http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks
> *********************************************************
I have had very few cases of chalkbrood so I can't say why it works.  I was
advised to give the colony a frame of sealed brood from a strong colony and
a new queen.  This has always worked well for me.  It may be that the
colony and it's queen are weakened by the decease.  Adding a frame of
sealed brood would add new house bees and a new young queen may increase
egg laying.
 
One incident of chalkbrood occurred two years ago and I still don't
understand why.  I have a friend who sells nucs and queens on request.  He
orders them in from a commercial beekeeper who has started selling excess
bees and queens.  He had ordered 3 queens for a customer and the customer
only took 2.  After about a week and a half, he brought the queen to me
because she was about dead and wanted me to use her if I could.  I put her
in a nursery hive and got her back on her feet then used her to requeen a
swarm that had lost their queen.  She began laying right away and soon
filled the comb that the swarm had drawn out.  Most of that brood became
chalkbrood.  It was mid summer and dry.  I gave the colony a frame of
sealed brood and the queen that I had originally ordered for that colony.
Two weeks that colony was on the mend and never looked back.
 
Frank Humphrey
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