BEE NEWS & VIEWS

MDAC
P.O. BOX 5207
MS. STATE, MS 39762

Beekeeper's Association Newsletter
HARRY R. FULTON, Editor
January 2007

Dear Beekeepers,

I trust that everyone had a great holiday season, with all the time off and some warm weather. How many of you took time to briefly check on your bees? It was tempting, but knowing my hives all had plenty of stores in November, I decided not to pry off lids just to look. It’s not a good idea to loosen them during cold weather because the bees can’t glue them back down tight soon and wind or varmints can remove them.

So what can a beekeeper be doing now and what should be done in January and February. Well, for now, repairing and building bee hives and frames is a much needed affair for many of us. The time is now becoming critical to insure that your hives have adequate stores for survival and early spring brood rearing. You do not have to actually remove the lid to check. Simply lift the rear of the hive to judge the weight. A two story hive in North Mississippi should weigh at least 85 lbs. if it has enough stores to last. The two brood chambers with empty combs should weigh about 20 lbs. each. There should be 6-8 lbs. of bees which would leave 40 lbs. of stores. Mississippi is a rather long state (north to south); therefore, what one does in January will vary accordingly. The general rule is that for every 60 miles north the spring buildup is delayed a week due to temperatures and availability of nectar and pollen. Let’s look at January, February and March at several locations in the state (Gulfport, Hattiesburg, Meridian, Starkville and Tupelo). The attached tables, I hope, will give you an idea of what to be doing each month and what plants will be providing nectar and pollen. In February, I will complete the tables for April and May. (See Tables I – V.)

As you can see, as for tasks to be done, I was very brief. Swarm control is involved and would take a whole month’s space just to explain it as I’ve done in the past. That, along with disease and mite control is the most critical factor that could prevent a honey crop if not done. Other tasks of making splits, requeening, feeding (if needed) could also be listed. Following is Dr. Collison’s report on American foulbrood:

American foulbrood (AFB), a serious disease of honey bee larvae, is caused by a bacterium, Paenibacillus larvae. The severity of the problem is enhanced by two basic reasons: (1) the disease-causing organism produces highly resistant spores, and (2) house bees are unable to remove dead spore-laden remains of diseased-larvae (scales) from the cells. Each scale may contain as many as 100 million spores. As a result, when colonies become infected with the disease, the equipment serves as a reservoir of infectious spores.

The disease is spread within the colony by nurse bees feeding spores to larvae less than 3 days of age. Honey becomes contaminated with spores when it is stored in cells with scales. If American foulbrood goes unnoticed, it can quickly spread to healthy colonies. As infection weakens a colony, the colony cannot defend itself from robber bees from strong colonies. The disease is further spread by contaminated equipment (gloves, hive tool) and exchange of combs or other equipment between diseased and healthy colonies.

A recent inquiry was concerned with how long it would take for a disease free colony to become badly infected with American foulbrood after being exposed to it by robbing or other means? In this particular situation, two-single story hives had been purchased in early May. Inspection prior to sale had found these colonies to be disease free. By the first week of July, both colonies were infected with AFB. Would it be possible for colonies to contract and show symptoms of the disease in eight weeks, assuming the equipment was free of spores at the time of purchase?

In seeking an answer, I quickly discovered that an answer was not readily available. Most articles on AFB were concerned with recognition of disease symptoms, prevention through drug feeding, and control with apiary inspection and burning. Persistence paid off, however, as a paper was found that provided the needed information. Park (1953) inoculated 928 healthy colonies in Iowa over a 10-year period, and found the average time lapse between inoculation and first positive diagnosis of AFB was 12.5 days. Symptoms suitable for field diagnosis seldom appeared before the 11th day. Inoculations were made by removing a 2 by 2.5 inch rectangle of comb from the brood area of a healthy colony and replacing it with a similar rectangle cut from an infected comb containing a minimum of 75 AFB scales.

Other information and research has shown AFB spores remain virulent for at least 40 years. The spores are extremely resistant to sunlight, desiccation, and germicidal action of honey. Freezing apparently has no deleterious effect, and spores have been known to survive boiling in water for as long as five hours, autoclaving at 15 pounds pressure for 25 minutes, dry heat at 98° C for 46 hours, and in melted beeswax at 100° C have survived for nearly five days (Burnside 1938).

Gochnauer (1981) studied the distribution of AFB spores in heavily infected colonies of bees. Honey extracted from combs had the highest spore count, followed by wax and trapped pollen in that order. Relatively few spores were recovered from the hive wall and none from a sample of soil in front of a diseased colony.

AFB spores are microscopic and visible only under high magnification. Since transmission of these spores spreads disease within and between colonies, it is imperative that beekeepers learn to recognize the symptoms of AFB and how to deal with it properly.

Burnside, C.E. 1938. Some characteristics of Bacillus larvae in culture after exposure to lethal agents. Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash. 40: 107-109.

Gochnauer, T.A. 1981. The distribution of Bacillus larvae spores in the environs of colonies infected with American foulbrood disease. Am. Bee J. 121(5): 332-335.

Park, O.W. 1953. Determination of the incubation period of Bacillus larvae White, causal organism of American foulbrood in honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci. 60: 707-715.

(Paenibacillus larvae = Bacillus larvae)

Clarence Collison
January 2007

The Mississippi Beekeeper’s Association now has its 2007 Directory available free for those of you who are members. Please contact me if you would like a copy. A cost of $10.00 will be charged to non-members.

Until next month,

Harry R. Fulton
Secretary/Treasurer

Table 1 - Gulfport

Table II - Hattiesburg

Table III - Meridian

Table IV - Starkville

Table V - Tupelo