European Foul Brood

[Bryang]

Just been notified that Foul Brood has been found by Bee inspector in two hives in Bridgend Beekeeprs apiary. Hives and bees have been destroyed. Just giving an "eyes up " to beeks with hives in that area.

Bryan

 

[itma]

Bess and frames (but not hives) are required to be destroyed for AFB, not EFB.

Colony destruction for EFB has been pretty rare. Hive destruction for EFB?

 

[REDWOOD]

My commiserations to all involved, just remember this can happen to anyone

 

[Bryang]

Bess and frames (but not hives) are required to be destroyed for AFB, not EFB.

Colony destruction for EFB has been pretty rare. Hive destruction for EFB?

Report sais "Dead bees, frames, varroa floors and queen excluders were burnt" There was no mention of the boxes, but they are arranging a demo how to scorch the boxes.

Bryan

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

Sad but sometimes necessary. I would think more necessary where several hives are close together as cross contamination is more likely. Its difficult to barrier nurse bees.

 

[itma]

Control
Ther are three options available to the beekeeper in the UK who has colonies infected with EFB;

1. The colonies may be treated with the shook swarm husbandry method. In trials conducted by the National Bee Unit showed that Shook swarm is more successful than OTC for the control of EFB in England and Wales. In the Spring following treatment, shaken colonies were three times less likely to test positive for M. plutonius. This finding appears logical since OTC treatment does not remove the etiological agent present in the hive. In contrast, the Shook swarm method provides the bees with M. plutonius-free material. In addition, OTC treated colonies were five times more likely to show recurrence of EFB the following year than Shook swarm treated colonies. A full copy of the project report is also available.
2. The colonies may be treated with the antibiotic oxytetracycline (OTC, as the formulation Terramycin®).
3. The colonies may be destroyed, as for AFB. This will be carried out if the colony is too small for other treatment methods, is too heavily infected to respond to treatment, or at the beekeepers request.

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/index.cfm?pageid=89



Compare with AFB -

Control
All infected colonies are destroyed. The first stage is to destroy the adult bees and brood combs by burning, then the hives and any appliances are sterilised by scorching with a blow lamp.

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/index.cfm?pageid=159

 

[BeeJayBee]

Colony destruction for EFB has been pretty rare. Hive destruction for EFB?

I've been surprised to see that colony destruction seems to be happening quite a lot, so far, this year. In England 26 destroyed out of 56 positive diagnosis; 2 out of 2 (100%) destroyed in Wales.

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/public/BeeDiseases/colonyReport.cfm

 

[VEG]

Report sais "Dead bees, frames, varroa floors and queen excluders were burnt" There was no mention of the boxes, but they are arranging a demo how to scorch the boxes.



Bryan

They burned the lot

 

[Chris B]

I've been surprised to see that colony destruction seems to be happening quite a lot, so far, this year. In England 26 destroyed out of 56 positive diagnosis; 2 out of 2 (100%) destroyed in Wales.

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/public/BeeDiseases/colonyReport.cfm

It's not a hard and fast rule but if the colony is too weakened already there is little point in trying to save them. Not enough young bees to prosper going forward. Also a shook swarm in the vicinity of other hives creates a greater risk of spread to neighbouring colonies. So very much down to individual circumstances. However, I'm sure FERA will prefer destruction in a borderline case - certainly less work for them as no follow-up inspection needed.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

They burned the lot

Was this the perrenial problem apiary you've had issues with locally by any chance Craig?

 

[VEG]

No this is a new one JBM

 

[Arfermo]

I've been surprised to see that colony destruction seems to be happening quite a lot, so far, this year. In England 26 destroyed out of 56 positive diagnosis; 2 out of 2 (100%) destroyed in Wales.

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/public/BeeDiseases/colonyReport.cfm

None in Shropshire which is very good news.

 

[oliver90owner]

Seems like symptomatic of FERA.

Destroy rather than cure. Badgers last year, bees this. Cutting costs in this area, one may feel, by reducing return visits.

Paterson trying to save more pennies to slaughter more badgers? Or maybe for the environmental crew to drain the Levels properly?

Be a bad day when the NHS does it regularlyas a policy.

 

[Swarm]

I spoke with Frank Gellatly (sp?) about the foulbrood stats at a recent meeting; things like non notifiable on the continent and such. This had been considered apparently but when studying the confirmed stats, it showed a steady rise in incidents. In fact it was like a reverse of the AFB graph. He put this down to the different approaches and stated that clearly there is evidence that hive/colony destruction is far more effective in the long run.
Perhaps they are going in a new direction?

 

[Hivemaker.]

He put this down to the different approaches and stated that clearly there is evidence that hive/colony destruction is far more effective in the long run.

Same effective approach as dealing with foot and mouth, burn them all, i think they should also do the same with people when they get things like bird flu etc.

 

[VEG]

They may have used a different approach in this case as it is an association apiary. Used for teaching, so they have dealt with the problem rather than it have the chance of spreading to other beeks sites.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Perhaps they are going in a new direction?

There was talk of it in the WBKA trustees meeting last year, but when I spoke to Frank about it a few months later he said the policy was the same - unless terminal or the beekeeper requested it, it was shook swarm and scorch old box.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Bess and frames (but not hives) are required to be destroyed for AFB, not EFB.

Colony destruction for EFB has been pretty rare. Hive destruction for EFB?

well the EFB treatment here is a pint of petrol and a box of matches for the frames on almost every out break then the broods are torched to black char inside

 

[Chris Luck]

No one takes any notice of EFB on the continent and there doesn't appear to be an issue with this approach - there's still no shortage of bee colonies everywhere both managed and feral.

Chris

 

[Finman]

well the EFB treatment here is a pint of petrol and a box of matches for the frames on almost every out break then the broods are torched to black char inside

Most scientific advices say that change the queen to EFB resistant strain. That works very well, even better than with chalk brood..

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