Allen:  I first heard about the gorging technique from Roy Thurber a
beekeeper who had an insatiable desire for knowledge about bees.  He showed
me some research from New Zealand about 20 years ago in which the data
indicated that by gorging bees three times ten days apart with enough syrup
to get the bees all wet each time (about four cups for 12 combs of bees in
the spring = 12 cups) the Nosema level in a colony was reduced the same
amount as if a gallon (16 cups) had been fed using a feeder.  The theory is
that when you moisten the bees they all lick each other off to clean up the
mess you created and they each ingest some of the syrup before they off
load it into the cells in the brood nest.  If they each ingest some
Fumidil-B it will clean them up.  As I recall, the paper contained a graph
showing Nosema build up beginning in November, with low levels occuring
again in late April.  The graph was in the shape of a bell shaped curve.
When Fumidil-B was fed in the fall the curve was much lower, and when only
spring gorging is done the bell curve line drops off much more quickly.
 
My observations of treated and untreated colonies in wet springs is that
treated colonies have more bees (2-5 combs) by April than untreated
colonies.  In warm dryer springs not as much difference can be seen.  I
have generally recommended at least spring feeding here, just because fed
colonies often, though not always, show a greater vitality and more bees,
even if I don't know the Nosema levels.
 
Here we can get a private lab to check a bee sample for $25.00.  The sample
would consist of about 50 bees from a side pollen comb from seven to ten
hives randomly selected in the apiary.  Apiaries in similar climatic areas
would be considered the same and samples would be taken to represent the
obviously different climatic areas.  Ideally, colonies sampled would
represent at least five percent of the colonies owned.
 
I talked with Dr. Shimanuki once about feeding Fumidil-B in patties and
dust.  As I recall he was not infavor of it.  He said that the drug would
not get to the maximum number of bees in the colony.  From observed bee
behavior it follows too that dry substances often get removed from the
hive.  You really want Fumidil-B to get into the digestive system.  Syrup
is the best way to achieve this, especially in the spring and in dearth
periods.
 
Let's talk economics.  If Fumidil-B costs $85 for 9.5 grams and is to be
used on 50 colonies, then Fumidil costs $8.95 per gram.  9.5 grams divided
by 50 = .19 gr. per hive.  $8.95 x .19 = $1.70 per hive.  Now if feeding
Fumidil-B results in just two more combs of bees, or two pounds of bees
(weighing approximately one pound per comb at 55F.), then what is the cost
of a two pound package?  And if you want a rapid start in the spring, is a
$1.70 investment worth the return?  The question looks different from that
perspective doesn't it?  Now I agree that cash flow is a different issue.
 
James C. Bach
WSDA State Apiarist
Yakima WA
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