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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Aaron Morris <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 31 Jul 1998 09:08:46 EDT
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TEXT/PLAIN
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TEXT/PLAIN (106 lines)
For those interested in "The Proper use of TM", please read this entire
post as I respond to many posts herein.
 
More information on "The Proper Use of Terramycin" was provided by
Keith B. Forsyth and Tom Cornick, who wrote:
 
> From: "Keith B. Forsyth" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: The Proper Use of TM
> Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 19:29:24 -0400
>
> Hi,
>
> The title of paper presented at EAS was Using Terramycin Correctly.
> Jack Thomas of Mann Lake made this presentation.
> Best Wishes in beekeeping.
>
         >-------------------------------------------------<
 
> From: <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 05:05:45 EDT
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Check out Bee Culture October 1997 Issue - USING TERRAM...
>
> http://www.airoot.com/beeculture/97oct3.htm
>
> For those with a hard copy of Bee Culture it is the cover with a yellow
> jacket and a bee side by side on some comb Oct 97 issue.
>
> Tom in CT
 
Tom also asked:
 
> Well OK is that a packet of 10gm 25gm or 50gm TM? ...
> TM 10 in 6.4 oz packages is what's on the shelf at my local Agway....
 
This is the point that Jack Thomas was making at EAS!  Tom writes
that the 6.4 oz package at his local Agway is TM 10.  The 6.4 oz package
of TM at my local Agway is TM 25.  Both contain oxytet, just different
concentrations, which definitely adds to the confusion.
 
Another piece of the puzzle elucidated at EAS was the fact that the
formulations of Oxytetracycline differ depending on its intended use.
When one reads the label they will see that oxytet is commonly used to
treat chickens, goats, horses, swine, ..., and even honey bees!  Now
please folks, don't take these next few lines as gospel, I took very
poor notes and then only with regards to TM and bees, I have no goats or
chickens and swine (although there are some who associate me with the
latter).  However, the nongospel recollections of Aaron Morris are that
the "carrier" for oxytet used to be (still is in some formulations?),
ground up rice hulls.  This was fine for most of the target animals who
readily ingest rice hulls, but bees will have nothing to do with rice
hulls in their diet, perceived the rice hulls as debris in the hive and
carried the hulls (and TM) out of the hive and discarded it!  When this
was discovered, Pfizer reformulated their product so the oxytet was
put on a different carrier (I forgot what that carrier is) to ensure
that it is ingested rather than ejected.  So now, not only do we
beekeepers have to deal with the different concentrations of TM, we must
also make sure that we are buying the proper formulation of TM.
 
Getting back to the "Proper Use...", the critical point is that with all
the combinations and permutations of TM concentrations and formulations,
the beekeepers must make sure that they are concocting a proper
formulation to make sure that their bees receive the recommended dosage
of oxytetracycline.  And now we're back to the problem that the
recommended dosage for bees is a one size fits all, which is really an
inadequate recommendation.  Dosage recommendation for other animals are
given in relation to animal weight, yet recommendations for bees are
given "per colony" regardless of colony size or strength.  Is it a
single brood chamber dinky colony or a triple brood chamber buster?
Makes no never mind to the vendor, who recommends 200 mg per colony.
Until such time that the label instructions for TM use for bees is
improved/clarified I will look at the 200 mg per colony as a rule of
thumb rather than a cast in stone dosage.
 
Finally, I realize this is getting long, James R. Shaver requests that I
explain how I go about dusting.  Henceforth I will mix one 6.4 oz
package of water soluble TM 25 with two one pound boxes of domino
confectioners sugar to concoct the proper medication medium.  Label
instructions (which I now perceive as totally inadequate) call for 3
dustings per colony at 3 to 5 day intervals, so armed with my
medications (bee medications, not prozac) and a tablespoon and a hand
held flour sifter I head out to my bee yards where I dump a heaping
tablespoon full of medication into the flour sifter and dust the ends
of the frames in the top brood chamber.  I only dust the ends of the
frames to avoid having medicated sugar get into unsealed brood cells.
Medicated sugar will kill bee larvae.  I repeat this 3 to 5 days later,
and again three to five days after that.  After doing this a few hundred
times I develop a feel for how much medicated sugar gets dusted onto
the ends of the frames and I just sort of eyeball it.  After I do this
for 5 or ten years I also develop a feel for how strong is the
particular colony I am treating and adjust my eyeball dosage
accordingly.  Is each colony getting the recommended 200 mg dosage?
Obviously I cannot swear to that.  I can swear that I have not seen a
case of AFB in my colonies since I began treating with TM, twice
annually in late fall (post Halloween) after honey supers are off my
hives and early spring (around St. Patrick's Day) long before my honey
supers go on.  Obviously these dates will vary depending on your
location.
 
Lastly, thanks to Tom Cornick for posting the URL for the "Bee Culture"
article titled "USING TERRAMYCIN - A Bee Culture Extra".  Readers are
encouraged to surf there and read it.
 
Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee!

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