In a message dated 96-06-27 16:11:01 EDT, [log in to unmask] (Tim Peters)
writes:
 
<< I must confess that I am ignorant of what the acronymn 'PMS'
         means (with regards to HONEYBEES...for those of you who are
         snickering right now!). In this thread it is being used in the
         same breath as varroa. I do a drone comb inspection for mites
         each time I open one of my hives. No sign of varroa as yet using
         this method. What is 'PMS' and what should I be looking for?
 Tim Peters, Kirby VT >>
 
    PMS refers, not to the queen's mood, but to Parasitic Mite Syndrome,
which is the death of large quantities of brood when mite levels are high
enough to kill them, either directly, or by stressing and/or infecting them
with viruses.
 
    PMS looks somewhat similar to American Foulbrood, but dead larvae do not
exhibit ropiness, nor is there the "kick-in-the-face"  odor of foulbrood
(though there may be a fainter odor of dead brood, and sick bees.
 
    You can normally spot varroa mites, if you uncap drone brood and look.
 When a hive has PMS, it is in the last stages of the infection, and likely
will not have any drone brood.  You can then uncap worker brood.  Sometimes
two or three mites will run out of every uncapped cell.  The hive has only a
few days left to live.
 
    At this point the adults tend to drift off (spreading the parasite).  A
hive that appeared strong one week may be empty the next.  This most often
happens in the fall of the year, sometimes just after honey removal.
 
   In the fall hives in such bad shape might better be extinguished anyway,
as salvage is not likely.  If you find a bad case in spring or early summer,
you can treat with Apistan, and give them some extra (clean) brood, to get
them going again.
 
[log in to unmask]    Dave Green,  PO Box 1200,  Hemingway,  SC
29554
 
Practical Pollination Home Page            Dave & Janice Green
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