How common is foulbrood?

[amzar123]

As above

 

[Chrisfnvs]

A lot more that the official figures would suggest i bet

 

[itma]

A lot more that the official figures would suggest i bet

Well, it wouldn't be lower!

The known instances are reported here => https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/public/BeeDiseases/diseaseIncidenceMaps.cfm

AFB is pretty rare. (2013 19 colonies in the whole UK)
EFB is much more common. (2013 389 colonies) And 'hygienic' bees, for most of the year, can deal with it (so you likely would stand very little chance of spotting it).
But we are approaching the point of the annual cycle when brood can outnumber adult bees. At this time, the bees are simply too busy to chuck out the infected larvae - so you can spot the problem.

There's a lot of good info in the Beebase download booklet on "Foul Brood Diseases of Honeybees" - see => https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/index.cfm?pageid=167

 

[alanf]

AFB is pretty rare. (2013 19 colonies in the whole UK)
EFB is much more common. (2013 389 colonies)...

Not disputing FB is rare, but those are the diagnosed cases in England https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/public/BeeDiseases/colonyStatistics.cfm?year=2013

Scotland and Wales are counted separately down the page. Could also be worth noting that 2013 was below average historically, 2012 was higher, 37 AFB, 897 EFB in England. At least one RBI has said they suspected the higher colony mortality in the 2012/2013 winter had culled the weaker infected colonies. To put numbers in context, the NBU estimate 137,000 registered colonies in England in 2013, plus another 20 or 25% unregistered. Foul Broods are in a small percentage.

 

[oliver90owner]

AFB - rare but may depend on where you live. Living close to a honey packer/importer or near to any i d i o t that carelessly, or even blatantly, discards open containers with honey residues (particularly those containing foreign sourced material.

EFB can be fairly common locally once an infection occurs, as it seems to be more easily spread. Not so likely to be spread nationally, but there have been instances where supposed suppliers of nucs have distributed them far and wide, and the multiple cases in Scotland a few years back where diagnosis of a particular strain of EFB was apparently difficult, initially.

 

[itma]

Not disputing FB is rare, but those are the diagnosed cases in England

Absolutely. My late night mistake!

 

[Midland Beek]

Check out the Bee Base disease incidence maps, available online.

 

[VEG]

In my area in the past 7/8 years very common all from the same beek. They are now destroying any colonies of his that turn up positive and about time too.

 

[Hivemaker.]

In my area in the past 7/8 years very common all from the same beek. They are now destroying any colonies of his that turn up positive and about time too.

Why have the bee inspectors not been able to get on top of the problem in eight years?

 

[VEG]

They have tried shook swarming for years and reduced it, but have now decided to kill any colonies of his with it.

 

[Erichalfbee]

In my area in the past 7/8 years very common all from the same beek. They are now destroying any colonies of his that turn up positive and about time too.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr
How demoralising for you!!!!

 

[jd101k2000]

Why have the bee inspectors not been able to get on top of the problem in eight years?

According to a recent talk I went to:
He says that he has lived with AFB for many years (decades) and thinks that it is not much of a problem.
He keeps on setting up new apiaries in the local area without registering on BeeBase(!)
He is obstructive towards the inspectors and won't tell them where his apiaries are and tries to prevent them inspecting.
In consequence there is a hot spot for AFB in Pembrokeshire.

The speaker was very careful not to identify the guilty individual, but if you look on BeeBase you can see where the outbreaks are. I am sure if you are from Pembrokeshire you know exactly who it is.

Absolutely terrible!

If we were able to eradicate that hotspot, South Wales would have a very good record (like the North - no AFB in Anglesey).

 

[Hivemaker.]

They have tried shook swarming for years and reduced it, but have now decided to kill any colonies of his with it.

He says that he has lived with AFB for many years (decades) and thinks that it is not much of a problem.
In consequence there is a hot spot for AFB in Pembrokeshire.

They are not supposed to be doing shook swarming for AFB, they destroy colonies with AFB, so does anyone really know what they are talking about here? Do the bee inspectors there know that it is AFB they are dealing with and not EFB.

 

[VEG]

I know what I am on about EFB

 

[Hivemaker.]

I know what I am on about EFB

I thought you would, Craig.

 

[jd101k2000]

They are not supposed to be doing shook swarming for AFB, they destroy colonies with AFB, so does anyone really know what they are talking about here? Do the bee inspectors there know that it is AFB they are dealing with and not EFB.

At the talk I went to, they were talking about AFB and only talked about destruction of colonies in the context of this individual.

... and it is AFB that shows up in Pembrokeshire on Beebase.

 

[Hivemaker.]

At the talk I went to, they were talking about AFB and only talked about destruction of colonies in the context of this individual.

... and it is AFB that shows up in Pembrokeshire on Beebase.

So your individual is a different one to the one i was replying to Craig about with EFB, when you quoted my reply to him. So we have two individuals that don't give a toss about foul brood in Wales, one EFB, one AFB...yes.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr
How demoralising for you!!!!

we have a similar problem in our area of london,

there is a corridor of EFB that runs north south between to BKA areas, out of the 25 cases in that corridor in the last four years but only 2 cases are members of either BKA, so that's 23 cases of EFB from beekeepers who are doing there own thing without BKA support,

And of course our SBI moans to us about the EFB beekeepers and their hygiene and their methods but cannot tell us who they are so we can help

 

[jd101k2000]

So your individual is a different one to the one i was replying to Craig about with EFB, when you quoted my reply to him. So we have two individuals that don't give a toss about foul brood in Wales, one EFB, one AFB...yes.

Looks like it, unfortunately!

 

[Hivemaker.]

And of course our SBI moans to us about the EFB beekeepers and their hygiene and their methods but cannot tell us who they are so we can help

...by going round and setting light to their beehives

That is why they won't tell you.