First catch your bees- bait hives anyone?

[Phil280]

Hi there.

I find it a little strange that beekeepers the NBU and the BA are so into trying to fight disease and yet beekeepers themselves set bait hives with old comb. It seems contra productive.
If you set up a bait hive with old comb and you have latent AFB or EFB you will without doubt spread the disease far and wide because before the odd scout finds the hive and reports back you will have plenty of other bees randomly flying by and checking the hive out....returning home with a packet of spores.

Looking at the Beebase map there is a serious AFB and EFB problem in the UK and I would not be surprised if it were at least partly due to leaving old comb hanging around...be it in an open hive or outside for the bees to clean after extraction. I consider that bad practice.

The legal situation in Austria is...all unpopulated hives have to be closed (bee-proof), leaving old comb out for birds and bees is prohibited.

I do however think - although I do not do it - that a freshly disinfected hive with disinfected frames and new foundation could be left open with lure. I know that this is not as attractive for bees but I think safety first....for me and the other beekeepers around my apiary.

Greets
Phil

 

[For want of a better word]

a new top bar with a strip of foundation also seems to work

BUT surely any apiary with a known and identified notifiable disease would have had all the infected material destroyed .. disinfected... in UK anyway??

 

[JamezF]

If there's a desire to use old comb as a lure, perhaps it could be in the bait hive but screened off from the main body so the bees can smell it, but can't reach it?

James

 

[jakethedog]

slightly off thread, but here's a link to the latest Australian attempts to warn of feral incursions through the use of baits.

at http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-2011.11.02.08.00.archive.html

 

[victor meldrew]

Hi there.

I find it a little strange that beekeepers the NBU and the BA are so into trying to fight disease and yet beekeepers themselves set bait hives with old comb. It seems contra productive.
If you set up a bait hive with old comb and you have latent AFB or EFB you will without doubt spread the disease far and wide because before the odd scout finds the hive and reports back you will have plenty of other bees randomly flying by and checking the hive out....returning home with a packet of spores.

Looking at the Beebase map there is a serious AFB and EFB problem in the UK and I would not be surprised if it were at least partly due to leaving old comb hanging around...be it in an open hive or outside for the bees to clean after extraction. I consider that bad practice.

The legal situation in Austria is...all unpopulated hives have to be closed (bee-proof), leaving old comb out for birds and bees is prohibited.

I do however think - although I do not do it - that a freshly disinfected hive with disinfected frames and new foundation could be left open with lure. I know that this is not as attractive for bees but I think safety first....for me and the other beekeepers around my apiary.

Greets
Phil

I wonder .Does Austria have a Cull and Burn policy with regards to all AFB and heavy EFB as in the UK? or is the use of antibiotics the practice over there?
VM

 

[Phil280]

Hi Victor Meldrew.

Use of antibiotics to eradicate disease in bees is forbidden in the EU (that includes Austria)...EU law 37/2010, Austrian law TAKG/2002.

The method is: Brush-swarm in new swarm box and place in cool dark place for 3 days - then feed with syrup. In the meantime disinfect all hive parts, tools and soil around apiary. All equipment that is not worth disinfecting is to be burnt.
Colonies that are too weak to be saved are killed with a strip of sulfur (lit on a dish in the hive) - followed by disinfection according to a disinfection plan or destruction by fire.

Abandoned hives without bees and in a pitiful state are generally burnt as they are a hazard.

All this is done with the help of a bee inspector and/or vet who need to make sure all the measures are taken according to the law.

It's a lot of work and beekeepers that have had to go through this process do their best not to have to go through it again....so abandoned empty hives - if found - are quickly removed and/or burnt under supervision.
If the pile of stuff is large we get the fire brigade to take care of the fire side of things.

Greets
Phil

 

[victor meldrew]

Hi Victor Meldrew.

Use of antibiotics to eradicate disease in bees is forbidden in the EU (that includes Austria)...EU law 37/2010, Austrian law TAKG/2002.

The method is: Brush-swarm in new swarm box and place in cool dark place for 3 days - then feed with syrup. In the meantime disinfect all hive parts, tools and soil around apiary. All equipment that is not worth disinfecting is to be burnt.
Colonies that are too weak to be saved are killed with a strip of sulfur (lit on a dish in the hive) - followed by disinfection according to a disinfection plan or destruction by fire.

Abandoned hives without bees and in a pitiful state are generally burnt as they are a hazard.

All this is done with the help of a bee inspector and/or vet who need to make sure all the measures are taken according to the law.

It's a lot of work and beekeepers that have had to go through this process do their best not to have to go through it again....so abandoned empty hives - if found - are quickly removed and/or burnt under supervision.
If the pile of stuff is large we get the fire brigade to take care of the fire side of things.

Greets
Phil

Similar in the UK . infected hives are scorched with a flame ,bees ,brood honey and frames plus quilts (Quilts are now replaced by crown boards which can also be scorched !
A stop order is placed on the apiary . Every colony within a 6 Km radius of infected apiary are inspected by the bee inspector .
The method of culling the bees is for the bee inspector the supervise the killing of all colonies within the apiary (usually by petrol ) bees being highly susceptible to the vapours)
A pit is dug and the remains of the fire is then buried .
Efb can be treated with shook swarming or an approved antibiotic provided the inspectorate deems the infection light enough for this
The inspectorate having the last word!
Most bee keepers would elect for colony destruction anyway !
Regards VM

 

[drstitson]

Tom seeley didn't think it necessary to add combs (or lures), although having something inside to order comb building before retrieval is a plus.

i think the idea when using old brood combs is that one would only use a frame that one would be happy to put back into a colony.

nowadays no-one should have drawn brood comb over 3 years old around anyway.

 

[victor meldrew]

Tom seeley didn't think it necessary to add combs (or lures), although having something inside to order comb building before retrieval is a plus.

i think the idea when using old brood combs is that one would only use a frame that one would be happy to put back into a colony.

nowadays no-one should have drawn brood comb over 3 years old around anyway.

I have a WBC hive in my front garden, My apiary is some 100 metres North of it .
It has been in situe over 15 years and has never attracted the slightest interest from swarms or individual scout bees (To my Knowledge) .
Access isn't restricted apart for the usual WBC entrance slides . Bees forage on the spring flowers all around it but fail to recognise it as a beehive , then again, why should they?
Tom would have it that it isn't on a ley-line no doubt
VM

 

[For want of a better word]

Similar in the UK . infected hives are scorched with a flame ,bees ,brood honey and frames plus quilts (Quilts are now replaced by crown boards which can also be scorched !
A stop order is placed on the apiary . Every colony within a 6 Km radius of infected apiary are inspected by the bee inspector .
The method of culling the bees is for the bee inspector the supervise the killing of all colonies within the apiary (usually by petrol ) bees being highly susceptible to the vapours)
A pit is dug and the remains of the fire is then buried .
Efb can be treated with shook swarming or an approved antibiotic provided the inspectorate deems the infection light enough for this
The inspectorate having the last word!
Most bee keepers would elect for colony destruction anyway !
Regards VM

And how can you deal with a polyhive?
illegal to burn!

 

[oliver90owner]

And how can you deal with a polyhive?

Read up on it at DEFRA website

 

[victor meldrew]

And how can you deal with a polyhive?
illegal to burn!

I don't have to deal with it, I use cedar wood hives
VM

 

[jakethedog]

rather than start a new thread I thought I'd tack this link on here:

http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-2011.12.08.14.02.archive.html