chalkbrood

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I have read all possible from internet about chalkbrood. And the answer is quite clear.

Chalkbrood has become worse during last years and it is said connected to varroa.

If you have chalk weakness to chalkbrood in your apiary genepool, you cannot do nothing. You must get new genes which tolerate the disease. That is only ways because there is no others.

Often people think that some method worked because the heat of summer heals symptoms. If you have 2-3 cold rainy weeks, it hits back again.

In spring the development is slow because much brood will die. Then summer heals the disease and colony start to grow, - but too late. It takes 1,5 month to get the colony to foraging condition.

If 20% of brood die for disease, the colony cannot get surplus. If disease is bad it will not heal during the whole summer.

It took me 4 years to get rid off chalkbrood via breeding. I bought queens from several places and reared queens and tested how they stand disease.
From two famous professionals I for example I bought queens and they were really bad against chalkbrood.

Italians are worse than Carniolans to stand disease. When I changed the stock again to Italian, the disease bursted out again I stated to make my breeding work.

Once I had spended hive and it had no sign of disease. However its daughters 80% had tendency to get sick. I reared and mated about 30 queens from that hive.

I keep queens in mating nucs over 3 weeks to see how they tolerate miserable conditions.

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so how would i spray with thymol


No chemical have affect on chalkbrood. It is better to believe.

http://www.hgsc.bcm.tmc.edu/projects/microbial/documents/review_Chalkb.pdf

Recommendations
Further work needs to be carried out to identify and test candidate chemicals for their ability to
control chalkbrood and to determine whether they leave residues in honeybee products. The
propagation of chalkbrood resistant bees in the beekeeping industry needs to be further investigated.
Beekeepers should also be made aware that they can carry out tests with their colonies to determine
whether their bees have chalkbrood resistance traits. These chalkbrood resistant bees could then be
propagated, provided they also have the necessary production capabilities.
 
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Ahhh but finman our weather is different to yours............
 
I have just ordered some digital scales off Amazon so that I can weigh the thymol more carefully next time.

I think thymol seems to be the new golden bullet against varroa, nosema and now chalkbrood. Wouldn't want it getting into my honey and spoiling the flavour though.

Hivemaker has already told us how to make up the syrup, but I have forgotten! Will you remind us please Hivemaker?
 
Hivemaker has also posted a few other useful thymol recipes. Among them a stock solution.
Read the complete threads for the correct context. File away as "must have" information.
Thymol1
Thymol2
Thymol3
Thanks Hivemaker :cheers2:
 
Ahhh but finman our weather is different to yours............


That again.... You do not want to learn. Don't blaim weather. That research was from Australia.

Chalkbrood does not depend on weather. It is Brasil, in Canada in UK and in Finland. To south Africa it came with Varroa. To Australai it came without varroa.

All those researches has been written in "different" climates, none in Finland.
 
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Hivemaker has also posted a few other useful thymol recipes. Among them a stock solution.
:

That is for nosema and you cannot put thymol in hives when it is nectar flow.
Chalkbrood exits during best honey season.
 
I

I think thymol seems to be the new golden bullet against varroa, nosema and now chalkbrood. ?

Are you able to read English language ?

MAAREC:
Infected larvae, stretched out in their cells in an upright position, are removed by nurse bees two to three days after symptoms first appear. Dead larvae (mummies) are often found in front of the hive, on the landing board, or in a pollen trap. In strong colonies, most of these mummies will be discarded by worker bees outside of the hive, thus reducing the possibility of reinfection from those that have died from chalkbrood. No treatment is presently available for control. In some cases, chalkbrood can be reduced by requeening colonies with a young queen.

http://maarec.psu.edu/pest&disease/SLIDE28.HTM
 
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Actually we do have very different weather but he refuses to believe it.

Chalkbrood is genetic. Always has been and no doubt always will.

PH
 
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Chalk brood.
Chalkbrood is not genetic.
Chalkbrood is a fungus named Ascophaera apis.

This is caused by the spores of A.apis which is present in bee food and is ingested by the larva to germinate in the hind-gut. It can also occur by growth of the fungus through the cuticle.

Larva that is most susceptible are 3-4 day old larva and once the cell is sealed it dies after about two days.

What causes Chalkbrood?
Stress, not enough room, poor weather and confinement to the hive.

How is A. apis transferred?
Very often it is transported from contaminated pollen, then to drifting bees into hives.

It is the queen line genetics that plays a part in the susceptibility to Chalkbrood and not as mentioned that Chalkbrood is genetic, it clearly is not the case.
 
At the risk of attracting more robust feedback (I don't think any of us have thin skins... we could all post rude posts, but we don't! Some people are sometimes rude and at other times charming, and probably they have a better idea of the reasons for this than the rest of us.)

I would like to clarify....We know that some queens are more susceptible to chalkbrood than others (so requeening is a good option).... we are also agreed that chalkbrood is a fungal disease and that thymol is one of the best anti-fungals....I still don't understand what is wrong with what I said!!
 
My plan was to let him cool off for 24 hours.
My plan is also to never have to ban anyone.

Once the number of complaints got above a certain level I decided to let things cool off for a day before the forum started to melt.

Lets hope Finman is not to Vain to return and post.:grouphug:
 
Some strains of bees are more susceptible to chalkbrood and Meta is being a tad precious to state the matter in such a way as to not mention that.

There is a genetic liability to the fungus. If that is not the case then why does requeening sort out the liable ones? That is what I was stating when I said it is genetic, a liability to it.

PH
 
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