> Some thoughts on this subject.
> Bleach at a high enough concentration, for a long enough exposure will
> kill
> anything.

Bleach has stood the test of time is this aspect. Cheap and easy to apply
and I have not heard of problems. I would never start extracting honey
without using bleach on all the equipment. My 90 year old mentor did fifty
years ago and as far as I know most commercial beekeepers do also.


> But spores hidden in honey or beebread might not be touched.

True but if all but those spores (thinking nosema ceranae) then I believe
worth the effort.

Opinions differ on nosema for sure. U.S. researchers are not in total
agreement with Spain's researchers. Spore counts are not the most accurate
way to gage nosema but the only gage we have right now to work with. I feel
hives with high nosema spore counts need treatment. Others have said maybe
not.

consider:
When i was having big nosema issues I was told using a drench would solve
the issue.( Dr. Eric Mussen) but did not. spore counts went right back up
the next spring. After treatment with Clorox the nosema counts went down
and *all* hives started taking syrup from feeders. Next I stopped the drench
(per the fumigillin label) and returned to using fumigillin in syrup. I was
reluctant to drop the drench as I saw a big improvement in my bees with
nosema issues using the drench but Shad Sullivan ( 13,000 colonies in
California and the person which pointed to Dr. Mussen as his source of
help ) had already dropped the drench. The drench saves money as far as
fumigillin costs but has labor costs.

This fall I have left a test group of those hives untreated for nosema but
the others I treated.  Hopefully my nosema issues are now under control.

My friends which work hard to control varroa and nosema have few problems.
We need a better treatment for nosema than fumigillin in my opinion .
Fumigillin alone does not seem to solve nosema in severe cases. (personal
experience).

The title of this thread is "Nosema free bees" . For me I doubt my bees will
ever be totally nosema spore free but after the battle I have fought keeping
spore counts as low as possible makes sense.

I would guess some of the reported CCD is related to nosema in hives with
not the best varroa control. I see little spotting with nosema ceranae so
the nosema can be a silent killer and those unable to check spore counts
might miss nosema as a problem.

bob





>
> Mike Palmer already brought to our attention that AFB combs treated with
> bleach may still be infective, based upon his practical experience.
>
> This discussion is largely academic without running actual lab and field
> tests on infected combs.
>
> Randy Oliver
>
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