American foul brood

[Griffo]

I have just received a notification that there is an incidence of AFB within 3km of my hives. I'm worried to hell here, not sure what I should be doing, if anything. My bees are strong and healthy, will that help ?

 

[Fritillary]

I expect your local bee inspector will be in touch. - Or you can call them, of course.

 

[Millet]

I expect your local bee inspector will be in touch. - Or you can call them, of course.

What kind of reply was that, the fellow is worried and that is a arrogant reply if you ask me.

 

[Fritillary]

How so?
The only way to really know if your bees are okay is to have an inspection. If the inspector didn't get in touch in this situation, I would be in touch with them. My bees have been inspected here every year since I've had them because of incidences of EFB and AFB close by. So far they've been alright. On the other hand I know of friends who lost one colony earlier this year. What other advice to give? As far as I'm aware, you can't tell from a general overall look at the bees whether they're really in the clear or not.* You can get test kits for your own use, but I would much rather have an inspection anyway.

*Yes I'm pretty sure I would be able to see if mine were afflicted by EFB or AFB on looking through them, but in the initial stages I might well miss signs or, more likely, would just be worrying about anything I saw which looked not quite right.

 

[OXFORDBEE]

Have had EFB and AFB within 3km of my hives several times. I've had the bees inspected and nothing found. it's more than likely you will be OK. Try not to worry 3km is a large area! Bee inspectors of whatever variety know what they are looking for as they see disease in the field and can get lab tests done for verification if in doubt. Get the bees inspected by someone who knows that the are looking for. If it's AFB you are worrying about an apiary inspection should show if you have it or not. EFB is a different matter as clinical symptoms are not always visible.

 

[madasafish]

If you have early AFB, it is unlikely you will detect it so a BI visit is advisable if worried.

If you have AFB and it is easily visible, then you have a bad case - and it is likely more than one hive will be involved. A BI visit is mandatory.

(Been there , done that, it is not pleasant but if the BI and you can handle it well, you can continue keeping bees and not worry about future inspections. My outbreak was in 2015, 7 out of 8 colonies destroyed but back to normal .quickly. Every Inspection since has been clear. It's not that bad .. people are very helpful.)

 

[Griffo]

Bee inspector visited yesterday, my bees are very healthy. I am interested to learn if there is anything I can do to prevent contamination.

 

[BMH]

Im annoyed about this outbreak and think there are lessons to be learned (on my behalf certainly)

Within the past week I moved 16 colonies in total to two apiaries.

I moved them and then updated my beebase apiaries that evening.

BOTH within 5km of suspected AFB!

I had checked the incidence map but the data isnt updated. Its updated retrospectively and quite a while after the area is deemed to be at risk.

The bee inspector wouldnt even confirm if it was AFB only that there was an outbreak of a notifiable disease. A notification popped up on my BKA's FB page about an outbreak but was swiftly taken down for some reason.

Got my inspection booked for Friday afternoon but the BI has mentioned they arent in a priority area and reckons I am free to move them to another apiary if I want. Surely that cant be right? I double checked with him he said im not within 3km and free to move my hives as I please!

Im leaving them where they are until I get a clean bill of health. Im relatively confident seeing as they have only been there a matter of days and are on the outskirts of the affected area.

Bl**dy annoying though.

Good lesson learnt though. Update your apiaries on beebase before you actually move them!!

 

[steve56616]

Reading through this thread made me think.
Around me and a few other surrounding villages there are bee colonies in peoples chimneys. One being in my next door neighbours house which she said has been there many years and they have never caused her concern so has always left them. One street I collected a swarm from last year had bees in every chimney that my eyes could see. I'm always interested as to the health of these bees and they obviously do pretty well without any intervention. Whether they spread disease, who knows

 

[oliver90owner]

What kind of reply was that, the fellow is worried and that is a arrogant reply if you ask me.

Apart from the simple fact that nobody was asking you, an antagonistic response without any relevance to the OP. Certainly contacting the bee inspector to enquire how local the incident was to your location or is a sensible suggestion. A bit of a difference 3km or 100m! Seems as though it may have been quite close if he has attended quite promptly (or nobody else had voived any concern (as yet).

If very adjacent to the outbreak, the inspector would like to check at the earliest opportunity, of course. And we don't actually know if this beekeeper is 'on the radar' of the bee inspectorate, do we?

No, everyone can see very clearly which was actually the arrogant reply!

 

[Barbarian]

I'm not up to speed on the latest way of treating an AFB incident.

With the 3km notification, does this include the instruction not to move bees or equipment out of your apiary until the BI gives you the all clear ?

 

[Fritillary]

For beekeepers in/near Wales, please see info below.
And inspectors will be on the WBKA stand at the Spring Festival in Builth this weekend.
(Builth itself has had local AFB outbreaks.) I've heard other complaints, as from lal500, about the Beebase service, but these are opportunities to talk with our inspectors. I've thought the disease workshops were well worth going to in the past.

National Bee Unit Wales : Beekeeper Advice Surgeries in 2017

The NBU team will be getting out and about to local association venues this year and offering new, more tailored support sessions to local beekeepers. The Beekeeper Advice Surgeries in Wales will follow a slightly different format from the familiar workshops in order to offer greater variety and flexibility for busy beekeepers. As the title suggests they will be ‘drop in’ surgeries, allowing attendees to come and go at a time of their choosing, and to focus on the issues of greatest concern to them.

The surgeries will provide an opportunity for beekeepers to meet some of the NBU team in Wales, to get an understanding of the purpose and value of the Inspectorate’s work and, most importantly, to develop their knowledge and diagnosis of the key pest and disease threats to their bees.

We will be bringing our ever popular diseased combs, displayed under special licence, to give attendees first hand and, we hope only, experience of brood disease. We will also be providing stalls of information covering a wider range of pests and diseases and relevant good beekeeping practice, from varroa control to biosecurity and exotic pests.

Welsh Government and the Animal and Plant Health Agency, of which the NBU is a part, are keen that the events are made available to all beekeepers. As in previous years, associations are hosting our surgeries but attendance is not restricted to association members – all beekeepers are welcome to come along. Full protective sanitary wear will be provided and we will require surgery attendees to comply with the biosecurity measures we will have in place.

The surgeries will run from 2pm until 5pm on Saturdays as follows:

DATE Host BKA VENUE

Sat. 27 May Brecon & Radnor BKA Jubilee Hall, Llanelwedd LD2 3TY

Sat. 3 June Aberystwyth BKA IBERS, Aberystwyth SY23 3EB

Sat.10 June Anglesey BKA Rhosmeirch Community Hall LL77 7TW

Sat.17 June Flint & District BKA Edith Bank Mem Hall, Northop CH7 6BQ

Sat.1 July Swansea & District BKA Pontardulais Comp. School SA4 8PD

Sat. 8 July Cardiff & Vale BKA Thornhill Centre, Cardiff CF14 9GA

Sat 15 July Pembrokeshire BKA Picton Centre, Haverfordwest, SA61 1TP

Contact details are available from http://www.wbka.com/member-associations/ or [email protected]

 

[mazzamazda]

I have just received a notification that there is an incidence of AFB within 3km of my hives. I'm worried to hell here, not sure what I should be doing, if anything. My bees are strong and healthy, will that help ?

Strong hives do help!

Thats all you can do really that and I always wear gloves and I'd use an alcohol wash and burn your hive tool inbetween hives.

I wouldnt worry, nothing you can do except check every cell for broken caps, then worry!

 

[madasafish]

Strong hives do help!

Thats all you can do really that and I always wear gloves and I'd use an alcohol wash and burn your hive tool inbetween hives.

I wouldnt worry, nothing you can do except check every cell for broken caps, then worry!

Also check for brown sticky deposits in cells or what looks like dried fish scales..Combined with holes in capped brood, a very strong AFB indicator..