>
> 1. Commercial wax foundation is irradiated so that AFB is not a worry.
> Home grown foundation may harbor AFB.

This is a common myth that should be busted. I have talked to several 
researchers about this and always come up with the same answer. No one has a 
proven case of AFB from foundations. Not even the trials where foundation 
was made only from the frames with full of AFB larva come up with a deceased 
colony. One trial could measure some spores in bees the next week after 
foundation was put, but not nearly enough to pop up a decease.

So how can this be ? My vision is that to make a young larva sick it must be 
fed spores. The bees producing larval food do not eat ( ingest) wax, and 
therefore do not transmit decease from wax. We do know that there can be 
quite a bit of AFB spores in the wax coming from sick colonies.

So the question is; has someone seen data that shows that foundations can 
introduce AFB to a colony ?

By the way I believe that irradiation of foundations is rare. Beekeepers 
radiate built combs, but foundation ? Never heard of it.

Ari Seppälä

Finland

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