Brood Disorders

Question 1

What is the name of the causative organism of Chalkbrood?

Answer 1

Ascosphaera apis

Question 2

Describe the lifecycle of chalkbrood?

Answer 2

1) It is given to developing larvae from contaminated food
2) The fungus germinates inside the gut and produces hyphae
3) Larvae looks fluffy white as they become covered in fungus
4) Larvae dry out and turn to chalk mummies
5) workers remove thee and infect workers

Question 3

How long can spores be infectious for with Chalkbrood?

Answer 3

15 years. The black grey mummies are those producing spores.

Question 4

What disorder causes pellets that you can crush?

Answer 4

Chalkbrood

Question 5

What disorder causes the larvae to form pellets that cannot be crushed?

Answer 5

Stonebrood

Question 6

What is the impact of Chalkbrood?

Answer 6

The colony gets weaker as it is expensing resources on brood that it is not getting back.

Question 7

How do you treat for Chalkbrood?

Answer 7

• Feed 1:1 syrup as this frees up foragers from getting nectar to forage for pollen
• Remove and destory badly affected comb
• Consider what else is going on in the hive and stressing the colony
• Add a frame of emerging bees to help bolster the colony.
• Remove excess space to help the bees cluster more tightly, maybe put in a nuc box
• Keep equipment clean and regularly change combs

Question 8

Why is Chalkbrood referred to as a stress disease?

Answer 8

It often happens when something else is going wrong with the colony.

The germination of spores needs a temperature drop and a rise in CO2 which is a sign the colony is struggling.it is believed to be endemic as spores are already in the hive

Question 9

What causes chilled brood?

Answer 9

When there are too few adult bees to cover the brood.

Can occur in spring when the queen is laying more eggs than there are bees. Making splits too frequently can also cause this.

Question 10

What is the causative organism for Sac brood?

Answer 10

Morator aetetulas

Question 11

How can sacbrood be spread?

Answer 11

It can be spread by varroa mites, honey bees feeding larvae, the beekeeper transferring material from infected colonies.

Question 12

How do workers become infected with sac brood?

Answer 12

They will remove the infected larvae and the sacs can split leaking virus particles which have to be cleaned up. The virus accumulated in the hypopharyngeak glands so is fed to new larvae

Question 13

Describe the lifecycle of sac brood

Answer 13

1) Larvae fed infected food
2) The larvae fails to pupate (failure to perform the 5th moult)
3) Fluid builds up between the body and the unshed cuticle
4) Larvae looks like a Chinese slipper and goes a pale yellow colour

Question 14

What is the impact on the the honey bee adult of being infected with sac brood?

Answer 14

• shorter lives
• start foraging earlier
• stop feeding larvae

Question 15

How to stop sac brood?

Answer 15

A shook swarm could work as lots of the disease reservoir is in the sacs in the cells.

Question 16

What is bald brood?

Answer 16

When wax moth tunnel through the workers will open up the cells. Larvae continue to develop in the exposed cells.

Can also be a sign of poor beekeeping practice, if the frames are too close together

Question 17

What is the name of the causative agent of Stone brood?

Answer 17

Aspergillus flavus

Question 18

How do larvae get infected with stone brood?

Answer 18

They can ingest spores or if their lavrval cuticle is penetrated they can become infected.

Question 19

Why do you need to be careful when dealing with stone brood?

Answer 19

Aflatoxins are produced by the fungus which can be carcinogenic if ingested or inhaled.

Question 20

What is neglected drone brood?

Answer 20

When a colony faces challenges such as disease or stressors then the workers may neglect drone brood and favour worker brood. It may be in completly sealed and could be dying larvae

Question 21

Describe how to carry out a Bailey comb change?

Answer 21

Equipment needed: a new brood box, entrance block, frames of foundation, 1:1 syrup

1) Add the new brood box above the current one, begin to feed them.
2) The next week move the queen into the top box and insert the Bailey board with the entrance open.
3) Close the entrance at the bottom of the hive.
4) The next week, check for queen cells in the bottom of the brood box. Make sure there are eggs in the top box. Swap the frame the queen was on with a new clean one.
5) Two weeks later remove the old brood box and replace the floor

Question 22

What are the pros and cons of a Bailey comb change?

Answer 22

Pros:
- Doesn’t shook the colony
- Doesn’t squish bees so spread the nosema spores
- Doesn’t lose any of the brood

Cons:
- It does take a long time
- It does allow some transfer of disease from old comb to new comb
- Requires you to find the queen

Question 23

How can you change a Bailey comb change for a weak colony?

Answer 23

The weak colony may not be able to leave the colony to go into the top box to draw comb.

Place the queen into the top box on a drawn comb to help them out.

Question 24

How do you carry out a shook swarm?

Answer 24

Equipment: Clean floor, Clean brood and frames, extra Queen excluder and lots of 1:1 syrup.

1) Move the current colony to one side and in its old position place the new hive. Place queen excluder under brood box and add in a few frames.
2) Find the queen in the original hive and cage her
3) Shake in the frame of bees one at a time
4) Return queen to new hive and add in new frames.
5) Return in 5 days to ensure they are drawing out comb and top up with food.

Question 25

What reasons would you prefer the comb changing methods to the other?

Answer 25

Bailey comb change:
- when a colony is weak
- when you just want to replace old comb
- there isn’t a nectar flow on

Shook swarm
- when moving bees from feral colonies or colonies of unsure origin
- when dealing with EFB
- moving bees from different sized frames
- reducing varroa load in summee