dysentry?

[Haughton Honey]

Seems these days they don't even get much peace in winter either...

Mine do.

I don't lay a finger on them from early October until mid March!

 

[Hivemaker.]

No,i don't think either of the nosema's,apis or ceranae, have ever been anything else,both members of the fungi family.

 

[victor meldrew]

Until recently Nosema apis had been considered to be a single-celled protozoan pathogen of the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera). Nosema apis is a unicellular parasite of the class Microsporidia, which are now classified as fungi or fungi-related.[1] Nosema apis has a resistant spore that withstands temperature extremes and dehydration. In 1996, a similar microsporidian parasite of the eastern honey bee (Apis cerana) was discovered in Asia, which was named Nosema ceranae. There is little known about the symptoms and the course of the disease.
John Wilkinson

 

[Busy Bee]

Well bottom line Thymol syrup feed as Autumn feed and early spring lends to bees being healthy all year unless contaminated or infected by other factors.

Now I bet the big comapnies would'nt want bee keepers returning to nature for cures in bees. I wonder how long will it be before some Dr or Researcher releases a document of study to discredit feeding THYMOL to bees with alternatives supplied by Bayer and the likes .....

Busy Bee

 

[Polyanwood]

Good point.

I think thymol is good news too and I think that thymol in autumn syrup
and not leaving on a super of honey as Winter stores instead (which of course is unthymolised) is a recipe for healthier bees.

 

[Hombre]

The thymol I believe destroys the nosema spores in the hive through it's antiseptic properties.
Fumidol B was a prophylactic, in that having picked up nosema, the Fumidol acted to prevent the spores from breaching the gut wall and multiplying, sort of a spore bypass mechanism if you like.

Once again a pricey option that mitigated the effects of nosema, but didn't actually cure it. As is often mentioned, as the weather warms up bees tend to shake off nosema, or at least the effects of it. Thymol appears to be the answer and big business knows how to package it and get their products approved so that you can empty your wallets in their direction for not using the generic product.

 

[Moggs]

I was beginning to miss my bees. But they didn't miss me! OA treatment today. Two colonies looking very strong (but one with considerably fewer bees, say 6 or 7 seams against 3, I'm concerned about this one).

7 degrees C and just about right for them to take to the air and dive bomb me with unspeakable pay loads of bee poo. Oh, and I got stung on the chin (I got a bit too close to the inside of my veil).

Here's a picture of the poocam. Bless 'em. Cattle farmers - be very thankful that cows can't fly.