Thanks Blane, your comments are very interesting.

> ...one
 > beekeeper here burned all AFB colonies last fall - he only had a few
 > and figured it was the best way to go - trying to nip the problem in
 > the bud so to speak.  The result?  A major outbreak of AFB in his
 > outfit this summer.

I take it he did not use prophylactic antibiotics after the ETO?  AFB is
everywhere, even if it is not in other equipment in one's own outfit.  I
originally started out years ago with all new equipment, but soon learned that
one cannot be free of disease if it is in the neighbourhood.  The lesson there
was that either I had to clean up everyone else as well as myself, or get with a
drug regimen.

A question on the antibiotic resistant AFB you have encountered: is it entirely
unaffected by the application of drugs, or does it require a higher dose to
achieve control?

 > Get any disease resistant stock you can and don't expect it to
 > completely take care of the problem in one year.  This applies to any
 > resistance either to disease or mites.  Hygienic is one easy way to
 > screen for colonies with good brood disease resistance and therefore a
 > good character to look for in breeders.  As a plus it also seems to
 > help slow the increase in varroa mites in the colonies.

The universal use of hygienic bees should reduce the reservoirs of diseases and
benefit us all.  If we can get bees that can handle the diseases and still
produce, we can get off the drug treadmill.

BTW, for those who are interested, another large email in the 'Saga' series came
through today and is at the onelist site.  It makes interesting reading and is
not without merit.

allen
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