I wrote:

> Shaking the bees onto brand new 
> equipment is not a sure thing at all, 
> in any case. 

James Fischer replies:

Here's a case with data:

"Evaluation of the Shaking Technique for the Economic Management of American Foulbrood Disease of Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)"

Me again: 
In the paper you reference they stay that

> These results suggest that shaking bees onto frames of foundation in the spring is a feasible option for managing AFB in commercial beekeeping operations where antibiotic use is undesirable or prohibited.

This is not a resounding solid endorsement. They use the term "feasible" where antibiotic use is "undesirable" which to me implies that they acknowledge that antibiotic treatment is a valid approach. They go on to say:

> Although we observed the virtual disappearance of spores from colonies after shaking, Hansen and Brødsgaard (2003) found spore levels to increase gradually within the first year after shaking and to persist in 38% of colonies 16 mo later. The persistence of spores in the previous study, however, was not accompanied by the reappearance of disease symptoms.

> It is important to note that the persistence of spores after shaking does not necessarily result in the immi- nent reoccurrence of economic damage attributable to AFB. A similar persistence of low, subclinical levels of spores has been observed among managed colonies that have been encouraged to swarm (Fries et al. 2006) and has lead to the hypothesis that P. larvae does not result in severe infections of AFB when vertical modes of disease transmission among colonies are common. 

Finally, this is not something that Fischer includes in his recommendation (though he should):

> We do not recommend that heavily infected colonies with weak populations be shaken; these bees should be destroyed and the beekeeping equipment burned or irradiated. 

PLB

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