Andrzej and Frank Farrell ask about treating this bee disease.  From the
exhaustive work of Dr. Martha Gilliam of the USDA it is very apparent that
nothing will cure chalkbrood.  She used all kinds of substances including
kitchen flour to see if they would have any control of the organism.  What
she found was that any of the substances she tried stimulated the hive
cleaning behavior of bees and chalkbrood disappeared.
 
My advice:  Please don't put any chemical into your hives for chalkbrood
control!  All of these chemicals are foreign to the bee hive and we know
that wax absorbs and holds many chemical substances.  Breed better house
keeping bees instead!
 
Another idea that occurred to a very experienced beekeeper here with a
severe chalkbrood problem was one that had its genesis in the coffee shop.
He queried what prevented his cinnamon sweet roll from forming a mold.
Without the cinnamon the sweet rolls will produce a mold after some time.
He tried using one tablespoon of cinnamon per pound of Terramycin/powdered
sugar mixture for foulbrood control.  He claimed that it reduced chalkbrood
levels about 95 percent in his area which has quite wet weather.  Several
commercial beekeepers used this idea in dry eastern Washington.  They also
claim it worked well.
 
We know that just putting the TM/Pwd. sugar mix in the hive didn't work
because this was his normal foulbrood control and it hadn't reduced
chalkbrood levels.  Perhaps the cinnamon did the trick.  I'd like to see it
tested by a scientist.
 
James C. Bach
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