Focus Bee Pests Diseases 32808 Strong Hives Make

Focus

Bee Pests & Diseases 3/28/08

Strong Hives Make Healthy Hives • Most diseases can be avoided by keeping hives strong. • Frequent examinations • Prevention • Hopefully you will not see many of these in your 1 st year.

Examine Your Hive In order to recognize a disease, you need to know what a healthy hive looks like. For example: • Are the bees bringing in pollen? • Get use to what the brood looks like. • What does it smell like? • Activity at the entrance? • You will learn this at your hive.

Healthy Frame

Stored Honey

Honey or Brood ?

Healthy Brood

Honey Drone cells Brood frame

Good Brood Pattern

Honey Healthy Frame

Spotty brood pattern Brood Honey

Supersedure queen Cell

We have seen healthy… Now: Diseases and Pests

Nosema Dissected bee Hind gut is inflamed by protozoan Bees unable to fly and have dysentery

Dysentery

Nosema & Dysentery - treatment • • Symptom – Dysentery & Lethargy Feed syrup with Fumigilin B 1 teaspoon per gallon of syrup Fumigilin kills parasite and stimulates digestive tract • Preventative feeding in Fall around Columbus day • Feed again in Spring after long confinement. • Feces from dysentery is very potent.

Nosema Update • Reclassified as a fungus. • New variety of Nosema called Nosema Ceranae. - More virulent than Nosema Apis - Prevalent later in summer. - Fumigilin is very effective treatment. - On the short list for CCD

Varroa Mites on Adults

Varroa Mites • Detection – Uncap some Drone cells and pick out the larva – Use a Screened bottom board with a sticky paper and do a two day mite count (<60 good) – Ether Roll, Alcohol Roll, Sugar Roll (< 6 good) • Treatment – Use a screened bottom board – Cycle capped drone frames through freezer – Dust with powdered sugar – Break brood cycle. – Mitecide treatments: Formic Acid, Oxalate Acid, Sachcrocide Api Life Var, Apistan.

Varroa Mites

Wax Moth

Moth Larva tunnel through comb

Wax Moth • Bees can fend off the moth during the summer. • Frames removed from the hive contain eggs which hatch and eat up wax, brood and honey. • Left unchecked they will destroy the comb. • You put nice looking frames away in the Fall and discover they are ruined a couple months later.

Wax Moth prevention • Freeze the frame for two days to kill larva. • Expose frames to daylight. • Fumigate removed frames with PDB Para. Dichloral. Benzene aka Moth Ice Crystals • Place empty frames in stacked supers and place a teaspoon of PDB on a piece of paper on top of frames. Cover the stack of frames. • Air out frames before putting back on hive • Do not use Moth Balls DCB (dichloralnaphthalene)

Chalkbrood - Mummies

Chalkbrood • A mold infection that is non fatal • Symptom – White moldy mummified bees on bottom board • Treatment – Rectify conditions that promote moisture such as a hive that is not tipped forward, spilled syrup – Move hive to a sunny location.

Skunks and Raccoons

Skunks & Raccoons • Symptom – Scratches on landing board, bottom board or front of hive. Muddy foot prints – Bees have become nasty • Treatment – Raise hive at least 6 inches off ground – Drive tacks through shingles and place in front of hive – Roll of chicken wire in front of hive

Mouse Nest

Mice • Mice move in for winter. • The mice eat the honey comb and make a mess. • Bees may kill the mouse and mummify the mouse in propolis • Put on a Mouse guard in early September. • Leave the Guard on until April. • Mouse guard should be metal

American Foulbrood Bacteria that attacks brood – SMELLS BAD!

American Foulbrood -2 Cell cap sunken & open

AFB – Irregular & sunken brood

AFB- Dead pupae with tongue

AFB Larva “tongue” Stick a toothpick into larva cell. You see goo instead of larva.

AFB Foulbrood Treatment • Foulbrood is contagious… practice safe beekeeping. Avoid used equipment. • Strong hives resist bacteria • Frames smell rotten, or foul • You can try Tylon (antibiotic) for mild cases. • For severe cases kill the bees and burn the hive. • Bees can be killed by spraying with soapy water

European Foulbrood

European Foulbrood • Symptoms – Larva die in twisted shapes – Larva are uncapped – Foul odor • Treatment – Treatable with antibiotics – Tylon dusted and fed

Tracheal Mites

Tracheal Mites • Small Mites that live in the tracheal tubes • Symptom – Can only be confirmed by doing an autopsy and a 200 X microscope – Weakens hive and lowers ability to get through winter. • Treatment – Menthol pads – Grease Patties 1/3 cup Sugar 1/4 Crisco see bottom of page 133 of textbook

Small Hive Beetle

Small Hive Beetle • • • Currently not a problem in Northeast. Can come in via a package or Nucleus They crawl in and out of hive. A severe infestation will slime your honey Treatment – West Beetle Trap – Ground drench

Find the queen

Strong Hives Make Healthy Hives • Most diseases can be avoided by keeping hives strong. • Frequent examinations • Prevention • Hopefully you will not see many of these ------------------------- Questions?

Overtime -IPM • IPM (Integrated Pest Management) – Regular measurement. – Establish an economic threshold. – Arrange treatment methods in ascending strengths. – Drone trapping, sugar dusting, break brood cycle, organic acids, strong mitecides. – Escalate to next higher treatment when threshold is reached.

Overtime CCD • Short answer: don’t know the cause. • But probably multiple causes. • Short List: – Varroa Mites – Nosema – Pesticides – Healthy diet.