chris asked about my comment:

> > - exclusion of all residues from antibiotics ( Here any residues men that
> > the honey must be destroyed. Actually there is a proposal to make the use of
> > antibiotics illegal in the whole country, the decision comes on few months)
> >
> >
> What will you do about Nosema?

To treat with fumidil B is legal at the moment, but very few people do. I imagine less than 1 % of hives are treated annually. I personally treated last time 1986.  We do make evaluations of spores every now and then. The amounts change from year to year. Some years we find almost nothing. At some years we can see the affect on some colonies.

All commercial beekeepers I know don't treat because they have not seen  return of their investment. Or they just want to avoid residues.

A few beekeepers have expressed in the past month fear of  loosing the possibility of treating with antibiotics. No one of them mentioned nosema as a problem.

Use of antibiotics in apiculture is already illegal in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany as far as I know.

When someone reports problems with nosema, I recommend gas treatment with acetic acid to all frames. Many beekeepers do this as a normal standard work. It is considered as one of the standards of good beekeeping practice. This also works against European faulbrood.

Also the beekeeper should change the queens to other strain.

Ari

Central Finland

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::