chalk brood

[spitzstick]

Hello there,
New to your forum, looking for advice.
I'm in Tasmania and having hassels with Chalkbrood.
It seems to be quite a problem here. I have followed all sorts of advice with no improvement.
I have been applying Canesten cream, available from chemists to treat fungal infections on intimate places on humans, to the landing board. After 3 weeks I seem to have beaten the blighter. May be a fluke but looking for info from others concerning this treatment.
Roger

 

[REDWOOD]

Changing your queens is the only way. First sign of chalkbrood and she's replaced.

 

[Poly Hive]

There is no cure except as Redwood says re-queen. More there is no point in raising a queen from a line proven to be susceptible.

PH

 

[spitzstick]

As I said in my post many things have been tried including changing queens with out success.
Roger

 

[Finman]

As I said in my post many things have been tried including changing queens with out success.
Roger

You must change the genepool. Get qenes from such stock which is immune.
There are lots of immune bee stocks.

I bred off chalkbrood so, that I had contaminated dirty mating nucs. When new queen got brood, and if brood area was porous, I killed the queen. It took 5 years to weed off the disease.

I bought queens from several places and so I got new genepoool.

Some new queens were totally sentivie.

You should work together in Tasmania to breed it off.

It is a sign of chalk brood too, that drone brood area is porous, but not the worker brood.

Nowadays my drone brood areas are very even.
.
.

 

[spitzstick]

As I also said in my post I am now chalkbrood free after 3 weeks
Roger

 

[user 6228]

Hello there,
New to your forum, looking for advice.
I'm in Tasmania and having hassels with Chalkbrood.
It seems to be quite a problem here. I have followed all sorts of advice with no improvement.
I have been applying Canesten cream, available from chemists to treat fungal infections on intimate places on humans, to the landing board. After 3 weeks I seem to have beaten the blighter. May be a fluke but looking for info from others concerning this treatment.
Roger

There is a lot of lore around chalkbrood. If you prefer research rather than lore you will find some answers here .
http://www.uco.es/dptos/zoologia/Ap...mperature_and_climate _chalkbrood_disease.pdf

you will note that temperature is the biggest factor... try adding insulation to allw better temperature regulation by the bees I see Tasmania is quite cool in winter.

other reference:
Flores, J.M., Gutiérrez, I. & Espejo, R., 2010. The role of pollen in chalkbrood disease in Apis mellifera: transmission and predisposing conditions. Mycologia, 97(6), pp.1171–1176.

Flores, J.M., Gutierrez, I. & Puerta, F., 2004. A comparison of methods to experimentally induce chalk brood disease in honey bees. Spanish journal of agricultural research, 2(1), pp.79–83.
Flores, J.M. et al., 1996. Effect of temperature and humidity of sealed brood on chalkbrood development under controlled conditions. Apidologie, 27, pp.185–192.

 

[Finman]

There is a lot of lore around chalkbrood. If you prefer research rather than lore you will find some answers here .
[

you will note that temperature is the biggest factor... try adding insulation to allw better temperature regulation by t 97(6), pp.1171–1176.

Fl 192.

Derekm, you give wrong advices. So simple.

Summer heat heals the disease, but it comes back again.

.

 

[user 6228]

Derekm, you give wrong advices. So simple.

Summer heat heals the disease, but it comes back again.

.

try not drilling holes in the front wall of the hive.

 

[Finman]

.
You can know exatly the cycle time of brood, but you do not know when those are layed.

Not at least practical beekeeping to count minutes or hours.
.

 

[Madge]

The spores of chalk brood remain infective for at least 15 years (Celia Davis - The Honey Bee - Around and About) - so, apart from what people have already said, I think the management of your colonies is very important: don't share infected combs between colonies, and regularly replace frames with new, clean foundation.

 

[Poly Hive]

Very informative file derekm though it does not seem to explain why a re-queen works so well.

When I have done it and moving polys back from the heather I could hear the mummies rolling across the mesh and so would load the hive unstrap and mark the record card. On changing the queen the problem vanished and that with no comb change so there is still more to this than is instantly obvious.

PH

 

[user 6228]

Very informative file derekm though it does not seem to explain why a re-queen works so well.

When I have done it and moving polys back from the heather I could hear the mummies rolling across the mesh and so would load the hive unstrap and mark the record card. On changing the queen the problem vanished and that with no comb change so there is still more to this than is instantly obvious.

PH

Agreed... the introduction of a new queen might just be signal the colony to step up a gear in activity and hence better temperature control ... but that just hypothesising (guessing) Some good experimental design is needed to fathom out what is going on when a new queen is introduced. e.g. is genetics or just a "new queen"

 

[Michael Palmer]

I battled chalkbrood in my apiaries for a number of years. At one point I had a significant number of colonies that were rotten with chalk. I too tried requeening. Didn't help much until I got some hygienic stock. Once the bees in the colony were daughters of the hygienic queen, all chalk mummies were gone. This change in my bees has carried through to this day. I select breeding stock from colonies that have never shown chalk, and I rarely see any chalkbrood mummies...maybe a handful in the whole operation.

So, yes, I guess you can move the colony into the sun, or give them more ventilation, or whatever mechanical manipulation you feel might help. The real solution is genetic.

I see another thread on the forum about LASI queens being selected for the hygienic trait. If in the UK, look there for a start. If you are buying queens, look for someone testing their breeding stock for hygienic behaviour. It's too simple a test to find good stock. If you're raising your own queens, learn how to test for hygienic trait...liquid nitrogen method.

In Tasmania? Same thing. Insist your breeders are selecting for hygienic stock. You'll be amazed how fast hygienic bees will clean up brood disease.

 

[user 6228]

I battled chalkbrood in my apiaries for a number of years. At one point I had a significant number of colonies that were rotten with chalk. I too tried requeening. Didn't help much until I got some hygienic stock. Once the bees in the colony were daughters of the hygienic queen, all chalk mummies were gone. This change in my bees has carried through to this day. I select breeding stock from colonies that have never shown chalk, and I rarely see any chalkbrood mummies...maybe a handful in the whole operation.

So, yes, I guess you can move the colony into the sun, or give them more ventilation, or whatever mechanical manipulation you feel might help. The real solution is genetic.

I see another thread on the forum about LASI queens being selected for the hygienic trait. If in the UK, look there for a start. If you are buying queens, look for someone testing their breeding stock for hygienic behaviour. It's too simple a test to find good stock. If you're raising your own queens, learn how to test for hygienic trait...liquid nitrogen method.

In Tasmania? Same thing. Insist your breeders are selecting for hygienic stock. You'll be amazed how fast hygienic bees will clean up brood disease.

hygenic? that means they throw the trash out sooner. You could have chalkbrood but the bees quickly get rid of the evidence.

 

[Michael Palmer]

Agreed... the introduction of a new queen might just be signal the colony to step up a gear in activity and hence better temperature control ... but that just hypothesising (guessing) Some good experimental design is needed to fathom out what is going on when a new queen is introduced. e.g. is genetics or just a "new queen"

That investigation has been done in the States years ago. What I just said above is truth. It seems, from what I read on the forums and what I am told by beekeepers in the places I've traveled, the world is lagging behind with their hygienic research. If the breeders would just test their possible breeder queen for hygienic trait, the change would be quick.

 

[spitzstick]

Why has my canesten treatment been so effective then? Has anyone else tried this?
Roger

 

[Poly Hive]

Never heard of it until today.

Steve Taber was the man for hygienic research if I remember correctly although I think his focus was AFB?

PH

 

[user 6228]

That investigation has been done in the States years ago. What I just said above is truth. It seems, from what I read on the forums and what I am told by beekeepers in the places I've traveled, the world is lagging behind with their hygienic research. If the breeders would just test their possible breeder queen for hygienic trait, the change would be quick.

got the references?
it would be interesting to read, sometimes the interesting stuff is in a throw away line or a bit of experimental method ... My MSc thesis (along time ago) was based on a throw away line I found in literature review which then got my first academic paper into print (nothin to do with bees though. Mitchell, D. & Secker, P.E., 1981. A high efficiency passive neutralizer system. Journal of Electrostatics, 10(C), pp.217–222.)

 

[Poly Hive]

Bit here though not direct.

http://beelab.umn.edu/sites/beelab.umn.edu/files/hygienic-behaviour-2.pdf

PH