> > >Shaking adult bees from diseased colonies onto new
> combs has often
> > been tried but the method is unreliable.

Shaking of bees onto new combs would not be effective, because the procedure requires that you induce the bees to build comb to consume the spores by not shaking them onto comb and eliminating the comb, replacing it with foundation or starter strips.

Secondly, the shake method for foulbrood originally described by Mr. Quinby also requires a “fasting” of the bees.

With AFB, we ‘blame the comb’ and we ‘blame the disease’, but often neglect putting blame bees where 'blame also lies'. A policy that I adhere to is not to keep bees that are failing in AFB resistance, and add the additional procedure of requeening.

> The shake method is not magic!  Spores drift quickly
> between colonies, and
> it may take years to get infection out of your operation. 
> However,
> countries that burn all diseased combs report very low
> incidence of the
> disease.

Lets think this over for a minute,,,
* The shake method allows the reusing of contaminated equipment.
* The burn method does not.
Perhaps, the very low incidence of AFB in countries that burn should not be credited ‘solely’ to the elimination of drifting  spores, but to a higher degree, the destruction of the contaminated hive parts so they are never reused. 

Best Wishes,
Joe 


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