Obviously there has been a lot of energy in this thread. I guess beekeepers
have to get through the winter somehow. Do I smell an underlying premise
that Nosema Ceranae just arrived and needs special attention? 

I know we thought this at first but later evidence showed that it's been
here for years and moves hand in hand with Nosema Apis. Randy has written
about how hard it is to tell them apart even when you are looking for it.
(When we weren't looking it could slide past easier, no?) Much of what we
know of Nosema in this country may well be the  symptoms of the two
travelling together. A bee containing both sorts, as Randy has pictured,
could easily defecate in the combs due to N.apis with the N.cernae spores
along as a passenger. A lot of our US bees can fly all year. I'm wondering
about this feces in the comb as a given.

 

Dick Marron


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