! assume this is Nosema

[Ruary]

Ruary,have you tested many queens for nosema,if so have you found many to have it.

No, never tested queens but apparently one method of so doing (without killing her) is to allow the queen to wander on a glass sheet and when she defecates (clear drop of liquid) to test that.
Ruary

 

[Ruary]

This was from my notes at the Microscopy Course at Stoneleigh this year.

Well that is the trouble the information given in books must be right mustn't it?????
I suppose they quoted Yates charts of confidence limits for Acarine as well. That is another thing that is just plain wrong as Acarine testing gives a binomial distribution not the 'normal distribution' on which Yates chart is based.
Ruary

 

[Ruary]

perhaps you ought to be advising the university of Minnesota.

Not I, but I attach a summary which I did of the various protocols

Ruary

 

[Hivemaker.]

Tested a few queens,quite alarming the amount that get nosema,i believe nosema is a bigger problem than varroa.

 

[Meg]

Pete,

I have been dosing all my queen rearing colonies, nucs and apideas with vitafeed gold this year. I think it is well worth it as a help on the nosema front. Less Black Queen cell virus than last year too and that is generally associated with nosema, so I think it is doing some good.

Meg

 

[MuswellMetro]

thanks for all the replies thats been a great help

 

[Hivemaker.]

Pete,

I have been dosing all my queen rearing colonies, nucs and apideas with vitafeed gold this year. I think it is well worth it as a help on the nosema front. Less Black Queen cell virus than last year too and that is generally associated with nosema, so I think it is doing some good.

Meg

Hi Meg
not really had any problems for the last couple of seasons,no black cell virus at all,i thank thymol and other essential oils for this,have also tried vita feed in the past, and found it to be almost as good as thymol.