chalkbrood

[burch]

my hive seems to have developed chalkbrood the queen is last years queen. what is the best way of dealing with this.

 

[BKF Admin]

Is it a weak colony Birch ?

What about re-queening ?
and maybe a shook swarm.
Maybe a more experienced beek can jump in and help me out here.

 

[Metamorphosis]

Hi burch,

Chalk brood is an extremely common brood disease caused by a fungus Ascosphaera apis This fungus creeps upon the larvae after the cell has been capped.
The adult bees remove the capping's and will try to remove the 'mummy' which is inside the cell.

Unfortunately there is NO recommended treatment for this disease.

If possible get the infected colony to rear as much brood as possible, and at the same time check the bees for signs of becoming hygienic. If all else fails try re queening with a shock swarm method.

Best of luck

 

[burch]

no admin i dont think it is a week colony lots of brood and loads of bees although they do not seem to be drawing out any frames i place in a super. they will however draw out frames if i swap 1 out in the brood box

 

[burch]

my bees are removing the chalkbrood they are very house proud

 

[Finman]

.
Only good way is to change the queen which is chalkbrood tolerant.
I suffered 15 years chalkbrood and then I start to find stock which is tolerant. I reared queens and discarded all which showed sign of disease.

I kept mating hives contaminated with chalkbrood.

One level of disease is that chalkbrood is only in drone brood area and worker brood is perfect. After selection brood areas healed too.

 

[BKF Admin]

Burch have you only just purchased this hive ?

 

[Metamorphosis]

Sorry Finman but I do not think along your lines that is to say and you quote

Only good way is to change the queen which is chalkbrood tolerant.

Easier said than done as it took you 15 years.

One level of disease is that chalkbrood is only in drone brood area and worker brood is perfect

I find that the disease chalkbrood is in worker brood and not drone brood.
You kept mating hives contaminated with chalkbrood! Come on Finman stop telling porkies.
No one in their right mind would keep chalkbrood going especially in mating hives.
Sorry mate.

Yours;

 

[Finman]

Sorry Finman No one in their right mind would keep chalkbrood going especially in mating hives.
Sorry mate.

Yours;

Hey Meta. You don't much undestand beekeeping, or disease biology, do you?

"Sorry Finman but I do not think along your lines that is to say and you quote" - I have not asked, stupido.

 

[BKF Admin]

Please keep it clean kids !

I think this is the first time I have ever had to step in before a thread gets out of hand.

 

[Finman]

.
Meta should sheck his medication.

 

[Metamorphosis]

Hey Finman your absolutely right in everything you say and do.

You will not have to put up with any more from me as I think differently than you and will not copy any of your recommendations.

This is my last post.

Good luck to you all

 

[Polyanwood]

I lost my glasses and thought I had chalk brood late last autumn and on closer inspection it turned out to be solidified white ivy honey. They had started back filling the brood nest as the queen slowed down laying for Winter. I know no-one would be so daft to make the same mistake.

 

[burch]

ive had the hive about 5 weeks got it from the lbka auction was certified desease free. ive been trying to get them up onto new smith frames but with no joy

 

[BKF Admin]

.
Meta should sheck his medication.

Thats out of order Finman.
Please respect other members points of view in future.

 

[mikethebee]

try salt water spray??
all the best mike

 

[Finman]

try salt water spray??
all the best mike

Don't work. It has been researched many times that there is no chemical cure against chalkbrood.

Only is try to change the queen's genome.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Spraying with thymol does work,as its a very strong fungicide,but it comes back at a later date.

A novel approach for the management of the chalkbrood disease infesting honeybee Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colonies in Egypt.
Mourad AK, Zaghloul OA, El Kady MB, Nemat FM, Morsy ME.

Faculty of Agriculture, Saba Bacha, Department of Plant Protection, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.

Except for, very few articles regarding the influence of some organic acids on the causative pathogen, Ascosphaera apis Maassen, no other studies pertaining to the management of the chalkbrood disease were performed, so far in Egypt. Laboratory investigations indicated that the fungicides, i.e (Galben C 46%, Radomil gold pluse WP 42.5% and Daconil 2787) at their recommended rates did not exert any effect on the mycelical growth of the fungus. Therefore, these fungicides were completely excluded from the subsequent apiary trials. As to the Mycostatin, it was found clearly that this mycostatic compound was effective at the rates of 50.000 and 100.000 IU. Regarding the essential oils (ceder, clove, peppermint, parsley, black cumin, garden rocket, and ricin), ceder oil surpassed the other oils and materials in controlling the subject disease. It is peculiar that no studies on the efficacy of ceder are available in the literature, so the present work using ceder oil is recorded for the first time worldwide. Thymol substance at the rate of 2% showed also a great success in managing the CHB disease. Baised on the obtained results, the promising materials in controlling the disease could be arranged according to their efficacy in a descending order as follows: ceder oil>thymol>mycostatin and oxalic acid, so these highly effective materials were again tested under the apiary conditions. Outdoors (apiary) studies revealed that ceder oil 4% gave 100% reduction in mummies numbers. Reductions in number of fallen mummies ranged from 63.22 to 96.94, 18.93 to 81.74, and 10.11 to 68.16%, on average, for thymol, mycostatin, and oxalic acid, respectively. From the practical point of view, thymol could be recommended for controlling the CHB disease, as it is the cheapest material and proved to increase the brood nest as well. In addition, thymol has other uses in the field of apiculture.

 

[grizzly]

I bet you always win the games of Trivial Pursuit at christmas Hivemaker !!


Getting back to it, interesting post.

 

[BKF Admin]

Good post Hivemaker,very informative,thank you.