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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Medhat Nasr <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 18 Oct 2010 11:49:16 -0600
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Peter said:

I thought it was interesting that while almost 50% treated for nosema, 
only 21% even checked to see if they had it. 

Hello Peter,

Monitoring for Nosema is still a problem. Beekeepers don't like to use 
microscopes. However, if you check the report. Alberta did not provide all 
our program details due to Freedom of Information Act. In Alberta 
surveillance program, we have at least 75% of the bees sampled for nosema 
in 2009 and 2010. Most of 2010  fall samples were collected last week. I 
have two more beekeepers left to do this week. We collect 24 samples/ 
operation in spring and 24 more samples in the fall, A total of about 5000 
are collected and examined for nosema. We examine 30 bees/hive for nosema. 
The averages of nosema spores per apiary and per operation are calculated 
.  Detailed reports about nosema per hive, per apiary, and per operation 
are delivered to beekeepers with recommendations to take actions as 
needed. As we implemented this program since 2009, overall the average 
nosema levels went down by almost 80%. We are still working with our 
beekeepers to train them and encourage them to do the microscopic 
inspections. Many commercial beekeepers bought microscopes (The $500 
microscope deal). We trained some of them and we will continue to train 
more for them on how to use microscopes. Beekeepers are moving ahead to 
carry on their monitoring by themselves. It is a good change. I am sure 
that monitoring varroa and nosema and taking action on time, will help in 
restoring bee health. In Alberta winterkill went down from 30% over the 
past 3 years to 17.5%. It is almost the same as the long term average for 
winterkill  (15%) in the past 20 years before 2006/2007.


medhat

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