Should I be treating for mites and FBD even if I don't have any signs of it?
Mites. Everybodies got them. There is no question of that. There are no bees here that do not have them. There was a good write up in Bee Culture last month on whether to treat or not. Treat them in the fall regardless. I went a couple of years without treatments and my winter losses were 50%. That got hard after a while. I treated this year without checking mite counts. It is hard to keep a sick hive going after the mite counts have become overwhelming to save the hive. I think it is like the flu shot for my bees.
FBD? Foulbrood? It's usually AFB (American Foulbrood) or EFB (European Foulbrood). Last time I used antibiotics for prevention of any kind of foulbrood was 1974 and I feel foolish for doing that...
Ahh yes AFB is what I ment. Thanks from both of you