Seeing as I am answering this personal email, I thought I might as
well post the response, since I seem to have to keep repeating this
(about using TM) every so often...
 
> Also, do I understand you correctly when you say you have cleaned up
> AFB-contaminated equipment using Terramycin to the point where bees
> could be kept in the equipment without requiring Terramycin
> treatment?
 
I wouldn't consider running *any* hives, regardless of history, *on
a commercial scale* around here without using a few TM treatments a
year.  So they do get a regular shot of TM in the spring and in the
fall, if I get around to it.
 
> If so, that would be news, as it goes against everything
> I have ever heard on the subject.  How do you go about consistently
> getting such good results?
 
As I have said many times, just double the dose that the government
recommends, and make sure that the frames with honey or scale are
cleaned up before cutting back on dosage.  Of course, frames with
more than a few scales are too much work for the bees, so I hesitate
to use them -- except to amuse doubters ;)   If I do give full frames
of scale, I half-flatten the cells with a hive tool to damage trhe
cell walls enough that the bees are forced to remove the scale.
 
This was years ago when I bought some AFB infested equipment.  I
seldom see much AFB anymore.
 
> Anyway, I don't feel that we are being asked to give up something
> that was useless to begin with, or even something that can be
> easily replaced with something simpler and safer.   All the
> equipment decontamination methods that I am aware of fall into the
> "Do not try this at home - special training and equipment required"
> catagory.
 
Well, ETO is not all that safe. A beeekeeper might come up with one
cost/benefit anaysis, a dispassionate outsider might arrive at another.
 
For some reason ETO is not popular around here, although we had the
best setup in North America -- if not the world -- and let it go.
Regards
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                                         VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0
Internet:[log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask]
Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>