Hi Beekeepers & Friends,
 
The rest of the story on Fumidil-B, does it work?
 
Yes it works, at least in this area and for me.
 
First I am a conservative so before I spent the money and it was and
continues to be big money on this product I got some smarts. I made many
telephone calls to the manufacture at the time and was lucky enough to hit
it off with the hands on person who actually made the stuff and was
educated more then I wanted to be on how it is made, including all the gory
details on actually process and the like. I then went to the University of
Nevada at Las Vegas crash course for USDA and State Department's of
Agriculture regulatory officers, (crashed the party), to learn how to
identify and count the buggers. Nothing special at all if you have the
better power scopes and a blood cell counting glass slide. (End of BS)
 
What it does for me in my location. I found the most rewarding use is in
feeding queen banks, bulk bee cell builders as it all but eliminated the
loss of queen bees in storage banks and made it possible to use the twenty
pound bulk bee cell builders several times. Before feeding the loss in
queen banks could go as high as 20% over time, and the loss of the bulk
bees used for cell builders was 100% as we only used them once and then
dumped them back in a bee yard.
 
So when buying queens and package bees I would demand they be treated and
the syrup in the package bee cage contain syrup with FUMIDIL-B.
 
As for treating hives...it would be far better to find new locations with
better conditions in most cases. In annual surveys in California it was
shown that all bees used by package and bee shippers did have nosema and I
am sure if that survey was expanded it would have shown that all bee
keepers have it. The high numbers were found after the spring brood rearing
started, so if you want low number you check early in the season. All
numbers fall off as better conditions prevail, and can rise and fall with
the cycle of the season, mostly lowers with good flight conditions and
rises with damp confinement over time.
 
As for passing off the bee nosema to humans it has been recorded in
unprotected water tanks that honeybees have fallen in and drown. No big
deal and should be fixed to keep the bees, birds, bats, and rats out  which
also keeps the hair and feathers from plugging up that strainer on your
kitchen sink water facet.
 
ttul, the OLd Drone
Los Banos, CAlifornia
 
Some selected archives of
the OLd Drone's rumbling
can be seen on-line at:
 
http://beenet.com/index1.htm
 
halfway down the page or so.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
>In this case with this product you should take it back at once!  With this
>product is very critical in how it is handled and stored and if the labels
>are damaged there is a good possibilities you have a worthless product or
>at the least the first signs or appearance of one. You bee supply dealer
>will return your money or replace the product.
>
>Fumidil-b is package in a dark jar because it is very light sensitive.
>(SORRY, BUT It should not be fed in clear glass outside feeders in amounts
>of more then what the bees can remove in a short time.)
>
>It is packed with the air replaced with an inert gas because it is air
>sensitive. It should be stored in a cold box, not at room temperature
>because it is heat sensitive.
>
>The product itself is wax based, and contains buffers that make it foam up
>to aid in mixing the product. It first should be dissolved in warm, not hot
>water, using only enough to do the job when all foaming action has stopped,
>(it will look like brown water) and then it can be mixed with sugar syrup.
>
>BEEWARE, the active ingredients in this product are such as there is only
>one time it can be measured and that is in the manufacturing process which
>is one of the reasons it can not be used in humans.
>
>*You are buying a pig in the poke so to speak and placing all your trust in
>an anonymous off shore manufacture so if anything at all appears not to be
>normal you should return the product..
>
>Heck for all we know the plant that makes this stuff may be the next target
>of this administrations "wag the dog" policy. Maybe we should stock up
>after all.<G>
>
>WARNING. Feeding this drug should never be done in such a way that it could
>at some later date be extracted in the honey. (This is never been a problem
>because not test works to detect it and because of the high cost of the
>drug itself and any tests to detect it.) The nasty bug that this drug can
>control can be a human drinking water health problem and honeybees have
>been know to spread it. The symptoms of the disease in bees normally are
>expressed in the wet damp shady spring by suppressed build up of the bees
>in the bee hive. BUT the greatest increase or gains by using the drug were
>demonstrated in field trials to be in bees kept in the desert regions which
>are normally dry which has left a lot of questions in how the drug works.
>The original manufacturer of this drug wash their hands of it many years
>ago...and it is not licensed to be manufactured in the USA but can be sold
>here.
>
>BTW: I have used hundreds of jars of the stuff and still have them to prove
>it. I saved them just in case at some later date I needed proof of purchase
>if someone sued Abbott Labs the original manufacture for selling a bogus
>remedy and won.<G>
>
>ttul, the OLd Drone
>Left Coast of the Republic of America
>Los Banos, Ca (California not Canada)
>
>Left Coast BEENEWS at:
>http://beenet.com/bnews.htp
>
>(c)Permission is given to copy this document
>in any form, or to print for any use.
>
>(w)OPINIONS are not necessarily facts. USE  AT OWN RISK!
>
 
(c)Permission is given to copy this document
in any form, or to print for any use.
 
(w)OPINIONS are not necessarily facts. USE  AT OWN RISK!