Brian and others,
Greetings from Tennessee, Nosema seems to be a very common malady. Hope
some of the info below will be helpful to you and your ladies (joke only).
 
John A. Skinner           218 Ellington Hall
Extension Apiculturist    University of Tennessee
[log in to unmask]          Knoxville, TN  37901   (423)974-7138
 
 
On Sat, 11 Jan 1997, BRIAN HENSEL wrote:
 
> Hi everyone.
>     Can someone help me with a problem I am having with my hive? It
> seems due to the bad weather we just got here in California, my bee's
> have come down with what I think is Nosema.
 
One suggestion would be to find out if you have Nosema.
1) Grasp an adult bee by the head and by the tip of abdomen and pull. With
a little prcatice the entire gut will be exposed.  Look at the middle
part, A normal bee's midgut will be darkened and "ringed", it will have
circilar constictions along it's surface.  An infected gut will be
bloated, whitish, and the constrictions will not be as clearly visible.
This technique tells you that the bees have a gut problem, most likely
Nosema. For a definitive id you will need to look for microscopic spores (
see 2 below)
 
2) Remove 10 bee abdomens (the "book" says bees stored in alcohol will do
but I prefer fresh) and grind them with a mortar and pestle (or bottom of
round container placed in a saucer) with an ounce of water until you have
a "disgusting" slurry.  Then put a drop on a microscope slide, add a cover
slip and view at 400x using a compound microscope. You may be able to ask
a science teacher, county agent, apiary inspector, bee specialist, etc. to
loan you a scope or do the slide for you.  You look for numerous slighly
irregular egg-shaped spores in the liquid.
 
Nosema affects the midgut. "bad" weather usually confines bees to the
hive. When confined they don't defacate awy from the hive as usual.  When
they do get out, they release quicker usually leaving a yellow/brown
spotting on the front of the hive. When Nosema  gets real bad the bees
will let go inside the hive, coating the topbars yellow.
 
> I was able to get rid of
> the mites, but the hive suffered greatly.
>      I requeened, and treated them with terramycin. By the time I got
> all of this accomplished, I treated with fumidil b. The instructions
> state that the hive should get two gallons of the syrup, however the
> bee's at that time would only take about 2 quarts.
>      Now after all this rain they were cooped up in their hive for
> weeks, and I have found little brown trails on the front entrance and
> sides of the hive. I also saw many bee's crawling around in front of the
> hive unable to fly. They will climb up the surrounding brush to die.
 
Crawling bees and yellow/brown trails are sometines observed with tracheal
infestations
 
>      I have put their feeder back on with treated syrup. Everything I
> have been able to find in books and the Internet say to use Fumidil B.
> for the prevention of Nosema, but nothing about what to do when they
> have Nosema.
 
My understanding is that Fumadil treats and prevents Nosema.
 The hive has ventilation holes, but I noticed some of the
> combs where they have stored pollen, have a white mold growing over it.
> I have removed some of the frames, afraid that this might be the source
> of the Nosema.
 
Nosema is a very common malady. Surveys conducted preeviously indicate
widespread occurence. Hey, it's not your fault.
 
Some of the frames of capped honey stores have also a
> coating very thin of some white mold. I have wiped lightly across these
> frames, but I don't want to remove them, because I'm afraid of leaving
> them with not enough honey to make it through the rest of the winter.
>      If anybody can give me some tips on what I can do to get rid of the
> Nosema problem I would be grateful. I think that they just did not get
> enough Fumidil B. What can I do if they won't take enough syrup? Is it
> OK to mix Fumidil B. with grease patties?
 
It's not reccomended to mix with shortening. Speaking of mixing, Fumadil
is a biological that is contained in a talc like media athat will not
dissolve entirely in water.  I mix the quantity needed in a one or two cup
measuring cup with slightly warm (not hot) water and stir vigorously for
several minutes. Then I add the water/fumadil solution to the sugar syrup
and mix thouroughly before adding to the feeder.
 
>
> THANK YOU VERY MUCH
> BRIAN HENSEL
> [log in to unmask]
> Santa Rosa, California
>