Infectious diseases of bees Flashcards
What are general health principles of bees?
- Regular inspection especially during swarming season
- Clean equipment between hives and between apiaries
- Comb can be the source of / build up disease
- Swap old comb out regularly
- Shook swarm to separate bees from all comb
- Bees can drift between adjacent hives
- Disease may hide from treatment in sealed brood cells
– treat when colony broodless - Bee strains may show some resistance – re-queen to
alter genetics
How do you know bees have disease?
- Regular inspection of colonies
- Removal of larvae from cells to inspect
- Government bee inspectors risk based surveillance visits
- Sentinel apiaries
- Microscopy – beekeepers learn themselves via courses
When doing inspection of bees what should you check?
*Weekly in summer months
*Look for eggs / healthy brood
*Confirm presence of queen
*Remove unwanted queen
cells/control swarming
*Look for diseases/pests
What are the notifiable diseases of bees in the UK?
*EFB - European Foulbrood
*AFB - American Foulbrood
*Tropilaelap mite infestation
*Small hive beetle infestation
*Varroosis
What are the notifiable bacterial diseases? (Species names)
*American foulbrood - Paenibacillus larvae
*European foulbrood - Melissococcus plutonius
How is american foulbrood treated?
Infected Bees + brood have to be destroyed by incineration + hive disinfected with fire
What are the signs of american foulbrood?
*Sunken, greasy/perforated, darkened cappings
*Roping, sticky larval remains
*Dark scales, difficult to remove from cells
What is the brood pattern of american foulbrood?
Pepper-pot brood pattern
What is the brood pattern of european foulbrood?
Erratic brood pattern
What are the clinical signs of european foulbrood?
*Yellow larvae - wax like
*Unpleasant sour odour
*Loosely attached brown scales
*Larvae with creamy-white guts seen through body wall
What is the treatment of european foulbrood?
*Oxytetracycline
*Hive box flamed to disinfect / soaked in disinfectant
What is the species of small hive beetle?
Aethina tumida
What does the small hive beetle do?
*Eats brood, pollen, honey
*Destroys honeycomb
*Causes honey to ferment
*Colony destruction
What is the notifiable mites?
Varroa destructor
Tropilaelaps clareae
Tropilaelaps koenigerum
When is varroosis likely to occur?
Winter - when brood rearing restricted
