>Ignoring that, I can assure you that what you recommend has been indeed been tried -- in Ohio. Ohio had at that time, a _reported_ incidence of leas than 1% as I recall, but I am sure our members from Ohio will have something to say on that.
"Reported" being the key word.
According to the 2012 report, there were 47 cases of AFB out of 16,646 colonies that were inspected. (0.28%) In 2011, 134 out of 14,907. (1.12%) In 2010, 141 out of 14,724. (1.13%)
There were 31, 7, and 21 cases of EFB from 2010 through 2011.
There were 180, 112, and 142 cases of chalkbrood in the same years.
In my humble opinion, the numbers are ALL bogus. They do not match what beekeepers see in hives.
The inspectors are not trained uniformly. (The State Apiarist works part-time and is responsible for making sure county inspectors are trained properly.) If you look at the number breakdowns for each county, you see that some inspectors are able to find plenty of pests and diseases, while inspectors in adjacent counties find little or nothing. (My county inspector has never reported finding small hive beetle, but I found them in my hives last year and this year.) It sure gives the appearance of incompetence among inspectors.
Last year I filed a Freedom of Information Act request. By law, if an inspector finds a pest or disease, they are required to give the beekeeper a form that the beekeeper fills out stating how they choose to treat. That form is required by law to be returned to the state. So I filed a FOIA requesting all those forms for the previous 3 years. It should have been about 15,000 documents.
I received a letter less than 1/2 inch thick with all the completed forms they had on file. Needless to say, either inspectors aren't getting the forms to beekeepers, or most beekeepers aren't sending them in. The forms that were completed for AFB, some beekeepers treated and some beekeepers burned. And some beekeepers never filled out the form but mailed it in. So it is inconclusive what method beekeepers are using to deal with AFB.
I was able to document criminal actions by every inspector who reported finding any pest or disease. They are violating the reporting or enforcing requirements.
In 6 years of beekeeping, I've never seen a case of AFB, and I am running 75-100 hives. I've seen 1 case of EFB. Varroa is common, and chalkbrood isn't uncommon. (I see a fair amount of chalk when breeding from ferals. I see it more in spring, and it clears up by mid-summer.)
Just for kicks, I also filed a FOIA for all criminal citations/prosecutions of violations of apiary laws, for all years from 1904 to present. The Ohio Dept of Ag was unable to find a single prosecution of any violation. (Used to, inspections were mandatory and inspectors could burn AFB hives. Commercial beekeepers sued and mandatory inspections were found to be unconstitutional in 1986.)
In 2010, inspectors inspected 3356 out of 5996 apiaries. In 2011, 3527 out of 10,287. (ODA charts say 10,287 but when I add up apiaries in each county, I come up with a total of 6270 apiaries.) In 2012, 3708 out of 6936.
So roughly half of registered apiaries get inspected. (I know of many beekeepers who do not register their apiaries.) The apiaries that do get inspected, are often inspected by incompetent/ignorant inspectors.
Ohio had less than 0.3% of hives with AFB last year. I don't know if we should be happy or sad. The previous 2 years had rates 3-4 times as high. Did our AFB rate drop? Do inspectors even know what they are looking for, and how to look for it? (I know inspectors who say they are supposed to do a powdered sugar roll for varroa, but they are too lazy. They just look for varroa mites with their naked eye.)
Most beekeepers I know are afraid of the AFB boogeyman, but they don't know how to look for it. The inspections in Ohio are laughable at best. This leads me to believe that either AFB isn't a problem in Ohio, or else beekeepers have been very successful at keeping AFB under control, in spite of incompetent inspectors.
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