<How long is Fumidil (Fumagillin) safe to use after its expiry date>
Each package has an expiry date on it and advice as to how to prepare and
administer it.  Most expiry dates for drugs are usually well within the
safety limit but unless one has inside information it is wise not to go too
far beyond it, perhaps six months.  When mixing into syrup its temperature
must not rise above 120F (49C).  It should be stored in a dry, dark place
below 65F (18C).  Always check the expiry date when you buy it.
Here in the UK nosema is considered endemic, i.e. it is present in most
hives and shows itself when the bees are under stress due to weather
conditions, shortage of stores or another disease such as our new enemy
Varroa.  It is an insidious disease, creeping up slowly and becoming obvious
only when the stock is clearly weakening.  Infected bees are short lived and
weakened and the stock becomes easy prey to other diseases.  The queen can
become infected, go off lay and die.   Proof of its presence can only be
found by grinding up a few abdomens and putting slides under a high-powered
microscope, not a task for the average beekeeper.  There are several good
books on bee diseases and one should be on every beekeeper's bookshelf.  I
can recommend Roger Morse's Honey Bee Pests, Predators,and Diseases and
Leslie Bailey's Honey Bee Pathology.  Early detection of disease is vital.
Personally, I offer my bees a half-dose in early spring served in weak (1 to
1) sugar syrup and a full dose in the autumn, usually September, when we top
up winter stores with full strength syrup.  It seems to work.  Knowing that
some people are opposed to drugs because they promote resistance may I quote
from Bailey.
"Attempts to select strains of Nosema apis resistant to Fumagillin, by
maintaining infection in bees treated with subliminal doses of the
antibiotic, have failed."
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Sid Pullinger                    Email :  [log in to unmask]
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Alresford
Hants SO24 9HF
England