At 02:43 PM 10/27/98 +0100, you wrote:
 
>> Anyhow the fact is -- as Andy has pointed out a few times -- bees fed
>> oxytet do better on the whole than those which are not
 
>Now Allen, would this be the "real" reason for the treatment? That the
>use of antibiotics will give the beekeeper a higher crop, irrespective
>of whether there is AFB or not? That would explain the persistent
>defending of prophylactic treatment with antibiotics by some of the
 
It is true to this point....to protect a bee hive from EFB you must use TM
as a prophylactic treatment before the disease gets started in the spring.
I learned that the hard way and from Dr. Bailey, one on one.
 
For AFB its a little different but again the best protection is as a
prophylactic before exposure to AFB early in the season. Resistance AFB has
not been a problem because most hives that come through the TM screen are
destroyed.
 
This tread is a never ending one and I must say until you walk in the shoes
of a beekeeper who has done everything right only to be destroyed in a few
days time by EFB you can not appreciate the value of TM which has made much
beekeeping possible in places that would not support it without it because
of EFB not AFB.
 
If for every reference to disease and TM we would substitute "sugar" I am
sure we could get the same kind of tread going. Yet most beekeeper realize
that in some areas of the world if beekeepers did not feed sugar they could
not keep bees, its the same for drugs, antibiotics, and chemicals of one
kind or another. I don't like it, I fight against it, I don't even want to
believe it, but that's the way it is...!
 
>As I earlier said, I don't argue against larger commercial operators
>using it for curing hives that are found with clinical symptoms of AFB.
 
Speaking from my own experience in the US most commercial beekeepers do not
have time to play with AFB diseased hives and "do not" normally knowingly
treat hives with visual symptoms of AFB, "we burn em", and have been doing
that since the 40's, besides it the Law in most states. I have never met
the commercial beekeeper who does it any different other then just about
all who at one time or another played with a few sick hives behind the
barn, in this respect we are no different then the hobbyist.
 
We do have another antibiotic maybe better then TM for AFB that could be
used at about the same cost if there ever is a problem with TM but today
AFB is not the problem in the US. So far the problems reported for bees
with TM have not given anyone a reason to change as they are in isolated
areas and complicated by other factors.
 
Hope this helps,
 
ttul, the OLd Drone
http://beenet.com