3rd year beekeeper, American, living in Asturias in the far north of Spain. I have been lurking here for a long time, just realized I was supposed to post within two weeks, oops. :-P
First year I bought two nucs already installed into full deeps, they did very poorly, second year I caught a swarm, did a cutout, built up to four hives, then lost three to AFB, had to burn bees and equipment, broke my heart. It was too late to catch more swarms (though I tried).
My surviving hive never showed signs of AFB, overwintered in three deeps full of honey and pollen, now very strong. I added four supers April 1 to avoid swarming. Nevertheless today I am going to take one deep off and split into two nucs (one with old queen) and let the other nuc and the parent hive make new queens.
I also did a cutout last week when a friend called after remembering I keep bees. Unfortunately he had already tried to kill them with bug spray and had also destroyed a lot of the comb. Nevertheless, I think they are going to make it. I will give them a frame of honey and maybe a frame of capped brood today when I make up the two nucs.
I have 9 traps out, today I am going to rotate out the three deeps from the big hive and make those into traps as well.
I am foundationless and treatment free, a fan of Michael Bush, Tim Ives, and others...
Greetings from Tineo, Spain.
:)
Greetings Forrrest, glad you decided to join in with us.
Wecome to the forum. Sounds like you are doing very well.
Jim
Welcome Forrest :)
Welcome to the forum, Forrest.
Joe
Hello from Greece,
I have to report, again, that AFB is treated fine by "shaking" the bees. During last 3 years i had 7 hives heavily infested with AFB. Last one treated last week and now is working crazy to re-establish. I am 100% sure that this colony is the healthiest in my apiary. I have never lost a colony from disease or wintering ( Although winter loses was high, even in Greece this year). Burn the equipment, not the bees.
I strongly believe that swarming is not happening only for reproduction, when a colony rebuild the nest has a great possibility to survive after a disease.
Quote from: ThomasGR on May 09, 2014, 04:56:23 AM
Hello from Greece,
I have to report, again, that AFB is treated fine by "shaking" the bees. During last 3 years i had 7 hives heavily infested with AFB. Last one treated last week and now is working crazy to re-establish. I am 100% sure that this colony is the healthiest in my apiary. I have never lost a colony from disease or wintering ( Although winter loses was high, even in Greece this year). Burn the equipment, not the bees.
Yeah, I was close to doing that, but then I read someone on the forum say, "before deciding to shake the bees, ask yourself, 'if someone offered me a swarm infected with AFB, would I want it?'". And I thought, no, if they weren't MY bees, I wouldn't be interested in trying to sanitize them and introduce them into my beeyard.... in other words, my desire to save them came from the fact that they were MY bees.
If anything, it was worth the peace of mind, because on this forum for every person who says you can save them, another will say it is too risky. :lol:
AFB is a spore forming bacterium. It is the spores that spread the disease. A bees body is designed to attract and hold pollen. The spores are going to bee held to the bees body also. This is why AFB is so deadly to an apiary. One hive gets it and due to drifting and robbing it is spread through out the apiary. I do not see how shaking out a hive would end up with a AFB free hive.
Jim
Greetings from North Carolina. Let's learn lots about bees!
Welcome Forrest, glad you quit lurking!