THIS is a great presentation and your photo references are excellent! I'll be sending keepers to this video for your great explanation of AFB. In my part of the U.S. AFB requires complete destruction of the colony/hive with no option for treatment. EFB is permitted (by our Dept. of Ag) to be treated. Many keepers simply refuse to register their apiaries, I hope that they will eventually change their mind and register as may be required by their home State. State inspections serve to alert all of us about problems our bees may be facing and a visit with an inspector can be a very important learning experience for beginners. Thanks again... I hope I never ever find this in my colonies.
That is a good point. I didn't think to mention that it is important to check state regulations, even though I've read it a thousand times. Thanks for bringing it up! I'm glad you like the channel...and I hope I never see AFB in my hives ever again, either! So far, the colony looks fantastic, so good in fact I might make a follow up video to show my subscribers how a hive can really recover using this method (if it's allowed of course). I've never had the occasion to try it because this is my first hive with AFB although I've seen it in other BK'ers hives.
Honey Bee Honey In a perfect world it could be eradicated completely, but as you've clearly pointed out, it lies dormant much like the common cold ready to rise when resistance is low. We are shoulder to shoulder trying to improve the honey bee survival rate.
i also liked the presentation. I want to comment on the practice of shaking the bees onto new equipment. Over the past 20 years I've done about 15 shakedowns with 100% success. I don't use antibiotics. I've read studies that suggest the failure rate for the procedure is about 5%. Hard to understand why it isn't encouraged more.
Hi Stephen: This is way overdue, but I just saw your post, sorry. I have only had the one case of AFB and the result was fantastic I have to say. None of my other colonies contracted the disease and the bees did great. I think that older beekeepers that were bombarded with how bad this disease was and the importance of destroying it, preventing it, etc. in turn preached the same thing. We weren't here when AFB really destroyed colonies around the world at a time when they really had no idea what to do. So, I think that fear drives people to do drastic things, this being one of them. Better to be safe than sorry. Fortunately, people like you and I, Ross Conrad have been more curious than fearful and found that this is a great solution! Thanks for commenting.
Our state inspector is a great guy but he really doesn't want to inspect a real apiary. He pokes around in the hives of bee havers unannounced and leaves little notes on hives saying he's been there. Suppose you're rearing queens. Is it permissible to let a state guy look? While at it he may as well tear apart your incubator just to be safe. He should look thru all the cell builders and mating nucs. Who cares if he's in a big hurry and kills half your bugs?
This is incredibly well thought out, presented and backed with perfect visual examples. This could well be part of a set of commercial training DVDs. I tip my hat to you good sir. RU-vid should have more content like this.
Outstanding info, especially for a new beekeeper like myself, to really know what to look for. Thanks so much, really appreciate the sources you mention as well!
Thank you so much for making these videos. I have my first two hives this year. Your videos are very good and I really appreciate the time and effort you put into bee education. Sound in the videos is now perfect.
Thank you, this helps clarify some things definitely. Awesome video, no worries about the audio. It is what you said what is important. Hello from Serbia! :)
Thank you so much for your lecture. Well presented, intelligent and informative in an easy to understand format. I've learned much about AFB & EFB. In other sites the information was confusing.
boy I am so happy to have found this. I will have to go find every clip he has made. Finally someone that know what he it talking about. I hope you keep it up because I am going to follow you. My bees deserve the best treatment. thank you MR honey bee huney
Raising bees can be a blast and very rewarding. But the complexity, disease, infestation and control can be so overwhelming sometimes. So much can go wrong, but so much can go right :) my first year beekeeping i got 21 pints of honey and had very little problems
I am so grateful I stumbled upon your videos ! What a great conversation with a great delivery ! I was so immersed with your input and knowledge, The technicalities can be so confusing at times, yet you have such a wonderful easy way of making one understand the complexities of the technicalities ! your a treasure trove of knowledge ! Thank You ! enjoyed listening to you and in the future !
No idea why I'm watching these, I have had two experiences with bees, yeah, stung twice. I love the smell of honey, but don't like the taste. Yet these videos are strangely interesting. Your photos you use at the beginning are beautiful though. They would make a gorgeous calendar.
In a hospital environment spore forming bacteria are notoriously hard to control but most only cause problems when the immune system is weakened from antibiotic overuse. Yes I know bees are not humans.
It did for many years, that is true, and when I started keeping bees that was my practice. However, AFB has become somewhat immune to Terramycin in those years because of prophylactic treatment, i.e. treating bees for prevention. It is no longer recommended as a prophylactic treatment, only when there are signs of the disease, AFB or EFB. The same thing is happening in humans. Because so many people are given antibiotics when they don't need them, for instance virus infections such as Influenza or Coronavirus, some bacteria have become resistant to anti-biotics. Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) is a good example.
Great videos. Very informative and concise. What is your background? Do you do this commercially? Did you study entomology? Thanks for the excellent videos/camera shots/etc.
I don't do this commercially, but have about 23 years experience with beekeeping. For a large part of that time I was involved with other beekeepers and helped run about 110 hives or so, 63 of which were my own. I can't get enough Honey Bee literature and because of that, I consider myself a life-time learner in the arena, so I just try to learn as much as possible. I have a lot of experience to draw from as well, so the experience plus the literature makes for a more complete understanding...at least in my opinion. Thanks for asking!
Some states allegedly offer gamma ray treatment of the hive body and frames. With value of a double deep hive approaching $1,000.00, an apiary of 30 hives represents some serious money! If a beekeeper went to check on a remote site and found half of his hives with probable AFB infections, after confirmation with the State inspector and lab, this might be worth discussing with the inspector or Lab pathologist.
Question. If a colony that has been infected with EFB, cured by treating with antibiotics, and becomes immune to EFB and AFB alike… 9:09. Are people not able to pay for a sample of EFB to proactively immunize their colonies via that treatment?
Nice video.... Interesting stuff. Got a question, and maybe you could make a video on this but whatever happen to the African bee invasion that was suppose to invade the US from Mexico around 2000. What happened?
Africanized bees are here but so far they are sticking to the south...Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, Southern California, New Mexico and I've heard a report or two in Colorado and Utah. However, they first made North America in 1985 and since then beekeepers have been able to corral the gene pool. Anymore, there isn't really a true pure bred Africanized honey bee in the U.S. There are traces in a lot of the gene pool however, because some popular queen breeders in Texas (and probably other southern states) sold queens that had AHB genes (years ago), thus spreading them across the U.S. When a hive becomes overly aggressive without cause (e.g. stress, loss of queen, starvation) the queen is usually replaced with a European queen, so the spread has significantly slowed. Hope that helps!
I know this is a few weeks late, but there has been some interesting research at Arizona State University with Africanized bees. Both for hygienic behavior (which seems to be natural to them) and tameness. I went there, and there are some hives you can open up without a suit that are 100% descended from vicious hives.
Mustrum Ridcully Sounds similar to the Russian Domesticated Red Fox experiment. Where foxes where breed into dogs. Both are proof Darwinism / evolution is occurring.
Very informative, thank you. I'm hoping to be ready (have enough knowledge/confidence) to get my first hive next year so you are one of my honoury tutors :) Have they found cases in 'wild' honeybees and if so, what have they done about it if anything?
They have. AFB was THE disease that led to the employment of bee inspectors, but in the last couple of decades most states have gotten away from any type of formal inspection, not all of them, but most of them. Currently, there is nothing done for feral hives with AFB. However, diligence with beekeepers is where the rubber hits the road. If all managed colonies are inspected and treated (one way or another) it definitely strengthens feral colonies as well.
Well shit. i wanted to get into bee keeping but now it seems like i would just spend a couple hundred dollars and end up with dead bees or just an empty hive. ive been researching bee keeping and everywhere i look its horrible incurable diseases and mites and the bees being raided by hornets or the entire colony up and leaving because its to hot or to cold or you open the box to much or not enough flowering plants in the area. hellfire and brimstone everywhere i look. all i wanted was to have one hive in my treeline and maybe get some honey at some point damn.
It's not all that bad, so long as you do a good job actually beekeeping. Most of that information is coming from "hands-off" beekeepers. Don't become one of those! Some of that is false as well. Going into the brood chamber too much will not cause the hive to abscond, nor will temperature (bees regulate their own temperature). You just have to make sure they have a source of water!
So "hands-off" guys basically shell out a few hundred dollars for all the equipment and bees then set it all up and go "whatever happens happens"? i see what you mean why would anyone invest so much time, money, and effort then do nothing to ensure good results. seems like a lot of bee keeping is elbow grease to. are they just lazy? And thank you so much for clearing that up. i was completely convinced beekeeping was an expensive shot in the dark with little chance of things going your way. Also one more question will the bees leave the hive if there inst enough flowering plants in the area? i live in the middle of the woods with a decent amount of cow pasture about two miles down the road. some clover grows there but mostly gets trampled and eaten by the cattle. we have some flowering trees but they only bloom once in the spring. i know they make those pollen bricks you put in the hive but if i am going to have to keep buying that then it may not be worth it at all to keep bees for me. ive been trying to do my research before i go asking real bee keepers like you questions so i dont go in knowing absolutely nothing but its just raising more questions. sorry and thanks for taking the time to help me out.
Once a hive is established, they will not leave...they will swarm when they are strong, but leaving a hive completely is pretty unprecedented. Hives will abscond, i.e. leave the entire hive, if there is disease or parasites at uncontrollable levels. But, bees can travel up to 12 miles, radius, to obtain food. I can't imagine a place in the middle of the woods that couldn't support a hive. You'd be amazed at how many very small plants actually bloom in the woods that support honey bees and native bees. That being said, the first year you will have to invest in some sugar syrup and watch the front of the hive to see how much pollen is coming in. When you get closer to the spring, keep in touch and I'll try to help you get a feel for what to look for!
if you make your own foundation. You cut the wax out and render it. if their was spores will the heat kill the spores or will they live and be in that new foundation??
+Ryan Morehead Honestly, I don't know for sure. I don't know what temperature floor will kill the spores, but here is what I do know; beeswax melts at 140 degrees F, which I am almost certain will not kill the spores. The flash point (the point where it will flash but not burn is around 204 degrees F and the fire point, which is where it will burn continuously is around 400 degrees F. It isn't safe to go beyond 204 and my best guess to kill bacterial spores is over 240. Personally, I wouldn't take the chance.
You could try it and then send it to a lab where they can test for AFB spores. I have no idea what it would cost but I doubt it would be too expensive, or if you're handy with a microscope you can identify the spores in an infected hive, melt down the wax and then check for the spores again.
Also try Cinnamon Bark Essential Oil, it's said that this essential oil *has* been tested against bacteria, virus' and fungus. So... *Maybe* it might kill off this horrendous bee killer, if either of you are willing to try out the testing. I don't own hives yet, but I do know a good bit about EO's. 😊
I hoe a probiotic for bees would be developed. The symbiotic bacteria strengthen the immune system of insect and also can suppress the disease in two ways, by competing with it as well as production of antibiotics.
Can you please let me know what your opinion is on the information that burning the equipment doesn't get hot enough to kill the diseases and simply puts the spores onto the wind to infect anywhere within the reach of the smoke from that fire? Thank you, I just worry about giving information that causes spread of disease instead of stemming the flow of it.
The stringiness you show is not that much and could be EFB. My hives have looked like this and we fight a lot of EFB, I have even had the holst milk results look like yours over the course of 12 hrs time, AFB test kit negative. Microscopy suggests EFB, sent to the lab, came back as EFB. Did you actually send a sample in to confirm AFB?
what is the relationship between Drone brood and mites. I read this " be aware that the presence of drone brood means that the Varroa mite population will start to grow more quickly and now is the time to find out if the colony has any problems in this direction"?
Drones develop from egg to larva for 24 days, which is three days longer than the workers at 21 days. Drone cells are also larger than worker cells as are the drones themselves. This means that the mites have an extra three days to develop and more mites can live off of the same drone, which basically means that the varroa laying the eggs can lay them more efficiently. So, checking drone pupae (when they are still white) is an easy way to see if you have a mite problem. It can't tell you how bad the problem is except as an estimate, but if you start to see many varroa on drone pupae, definitely use a sticky board or some other method to find out how bad the infestation is and decide if you need to treat!
i know this is an old video but out of so many bee videos I have watched this guy seems he really knows alot about bees. I'm looking at building a couple hives out of a couple 4ft diamenter locust but logs I have because I have 5 acres that I grow vegetables on and I want bee colonies on the property but I permanent ones I have a guy that brings in 2 sometimes 3 hives every summer a I don't think they are the same colonies from the year before there for I'm getting uneven pollunation of my vegetables where 2 permenant colonies would be a better solution, I'm not looking to retrieve honey or wax I just want bee colonies on property as if mother nature put them there. My question is do I buy bees or is there something I put on or in my log hive to bring in the honey bees from nature. My concern with buying bees is how do I know if I'm getting good ones and not releasing Africanized bees loose on the property that is gonna cause a headache down the road and cost money to get rid of. I'm also in upstate N.Y. If that matters. I'm not sure where to start but I've seen some log hives in person that a few people have made for small orchards.
Use queens of resistant, hygienic stock. Rotate combs on a regular basis, and inspect regularly. If a hive all of a sudden decreases in activity, make sure to do a thorough inspection.
Hi: great video. One question when you shake into new box and frames, would it be prudent to initially shake in box with no frames and lock in with queen excluder on bottom to allow for ventilation For a cpl days. So they use up their honey stores that they have in them, but of course they will get more hopefully uncontamated nectar , then put in new requirement. Thanks for video
Hi John. The honey stores in their honey stomachs when you shake them do indeed contain AFB spores. However, the first thing they do after shaking is to make comb with that honey. Before they can do anything they need comb and it is most likely that in building the comb any AFB spores they may carry are entombed in that comb. When the honey is used to feed the workers, they are too old to be infected by the spores and so are taken out of the hive when the bees defecate outside the hive. I didn't notice any, none what so ever, signs of AFB after the first couple of frames were pulled and then the queen started laying eggs. At this time the hive had honey syrup on and was using that to create the royal jelly diet for the young brood. The bees had to collect all new pollen also, so it is a very miniscule portion of AFB spores that are brought back in and even then, many of them are removed by the midgut of the adult honey bees. If, however, you did as you suggested, the bees would start building comb and bringing in nectar and pollen. However only small amounts of pollen would make it through the queen excluder. After a couple days, cut out all of the comb and give them the foundation frames and syrup. This would definitely yield better results as far as decreased amounts of AFB spores being kept in the hive. My questions is whether or not they need it? I don't think so. HIve #4 has done fantastic since then, although their queen died in the winter of 2018 and they eventually dwindled to the point where they froze. No disease was found in the hive and I have started a new split in their hive, which is doing fantastic!
Just bees, so far as we know. Not harmful to humans at all, or dogs, cats, pigs or horses. Other insects might be infected, but I have never heard if that is known.
Put your hive on a large piece of cardbord and shake your bees onto the cardboard in FRONT of the hive and let them walk in! DO NOT shake them off over the new hive! Burn the frames, cardboard and EVERYTHING USED!
It is impossible to completely remove the AFB spores whether you shake them in front or not. That being said, you have a good suggestion. This hive, which I did a follow up video on, went on to never show signs of foulbrood again and produced a lot of honey the next year.
Why burn all the equipment? Can one not use bleach to clean it, or a mild solution of phenol. I am sure the equipment could be saved. I've used phenol to clean contaminated Lab. equipment where I work, and we are dealing with products used for humans.
My normal relative humidity is 17% and we get to over 100 fairly consistently in the summer, sometimes 90 in January. Damp anything isn't a problem in the high desert. Maybe you should expand on what your saying? If you see rising damp...maybe you should define that and then show me where you see it, otherwise it just seems like you're making a blanket statement with no details, because you have none. This is a very different environment from England and no one should ever judge conditions made a half a world away from them because they are all very different. Also, AFB doesn't necessarily require a damp environment...it is usually caused by conditions that they bees have to keep their hive in for themselves...which is why AFB thrives in a honey bee hive in the first place...all over the world.
On a morning the air is warming the floor is cold this lets a natural process begin that fungi use to grow. We call it Dew also bugs can crawl straight into your hive I just say copy nature the bees normally hang from a tree limb OK :) Mike
Okay, lets make sure we are talking about the same thing. A floor is a man made bottom, and the ground is the earth here in the US. My hives aren't on the ground they are lifted up four inches from the ground, with the exception of four hives in my backyard that are sitting on concrete pavers 1.5 inches thick. Then there is either a bottom board sitting on the paver or a hive stand that lifts it up even higher. Dew is caused by the difference in temperature between the air and the earth. This difference in temperature causes moisture to condense on the ground, which is what we call dew. In my environment, dew may last an hour before the sun warms it up and it dries out. As for the bees, honey bees do not normally hang from a limb on a tree. Rather they inhabit a tree trunk that is either a hole from another animal that has died, or more often dry rot in the trunk. There have been cases where honey bees hang from branches but this was causes by a swarm (swarms do hang from branches until they find an appropriate covered, easily guarded space) that could not find an appropriate nest. Bees also use propolis as an anti-fungal agent to keep any fungus from growing. Despite this, chalkbrood and stonebrood are two fungal invasions into a honeybee hive which are definitely caused by moisture in the hive creating conditions for fungal growth. However, this is caused be relative humidity, moisture produced by honey bee respiration and heat production within the hive and inadequate ventilation of a hive (which is why it is very common to see chalkbrood mummies outside feral hives). In my environment chalkbrood is only seen in the spring when relative humidity is at its peak and only in hives that are furnished with old equipment and have little ventilation...a project I have been working on for a number of years. As to bugs crawling straight into the hive...well, if you keep strong hives, they bees guard the entrance and bugs just can't crawl into the hive without a fight. My environment is too dry and the soil too sandy for Small Hive Beetle to live. So, the only bugs I ever see in my hives (aside from Varroa) are ants...period. However, you alluded to seeing something in my hives when you said "as your hives show". What are you claiming?
This is a learning forum, so if you have something constructive to say then say it. It is with that spirit that I gave a thorough answer to your comment...that's all. If I don't quite know what you're getting at then new beekeepers won't either.
Iodine will not kill the spore, which is a dormant form of some bacteria. It can lie dormant for over 100 years. When conditions are right, the spore opens up and the bacteria becomes active, known as the vegetative state. However, it is possible to scorch the inside of all of the hive bodies with a torch in order to keep the hive equipment but this method requires that the entire inside of the hive bodies are scorched down to causing some 'alligatoring' of the wood. I have plenty and want to maintain clean and good looking hives. Also, in my professional career I am aware that scorched wood continues to give off poisonous vapors...probably not good for the bees, though potentially not a problem because of their short life span. I'd rather take the more conservative route.
Well Said and a Big Thank You, much appreciated "even though it was published 4 years ago it was still relevant" and by the way I'm in Australia and it's here too! what a bit#h :(
AFB is known in Europe for a several hundred years. Actually, Petro Procopovich in 1800th was able to illuminate AFB from movable frame hive. Need to improve knowledge of biology of AFB and bees.
Botulism is anaerobic, meaning it can't survive in oxygenated environments like the human body. It's the toxins left behind from botulism that are the problem. However the point is accurate and other "gram positive" spore forming Bactria can exist it honey. Last point: the Bactria can be long and skinny (basilus) or spherical (cocci) and still produce spores. Shape has no bearing on spore formation.
Fascinating topic and excellent information, but I found your presentation with all the fluff and segways and repetition really tiresome to listen to. The information in this 32 minute video could have been clearly presented in 15 minutes.
Ok you were saying something important but your video lead was deceptive I wanted to SEE this event and SEE how to combat it.... not you sitting in an armchair yacking your head off....
Exactly how I felt! If you're interested I have a video I uploaded but is awaiting copyright that is an update on this hive! Just keep looking for it, should be a day or two...or three!
If you had actually watched the video you would have seen that I didn't "burn the poor things (bees, i.e.). In fact, today they are a healthy, strong hive. I burned the equipment. Brood in the frames were already dead because of AFB. Also...honey bees fly, so quarantining them is a misnomer. As they begin to dwindle in late stages of AFB, other hives find the dying hive and loot the honey. This transmits the bacteria to the looting hives, exponentially spreading the disease to other hives. You should consider the long term effects of any decision you make regarding bee disease (or human disease), rather than the short term non-solutions that only endanger more lives. Honey Bees already do this...when they feel sick or know they are dying they leave the hive so as to prevent any other bees in their hive from catching the disease. Also, you should actually watch the video, then you'll see what actually happened and that there is a better solution than the one you proposed, which only leads to other hives, feral and commercial that have to deal with AFB because you didn't exercise your due diligence. Also, in some states burning hives (bees and equipment) is the only acceptable action to take, though thankfully not in my state of Colorado.
Quarantining a colony just involves moving it to an area six miles or so from any other hives. The problem is not so much foragers flying around and spreading disease (though this can happen, especially if you have a communal feeder), it is that diseased hives eventually become weak, which other hives then rob from. It is when robbers come into an infected hive to rob that disease is spread! If you move the hive to an area where there are no other colonies, theoretically they won't get robbed out. With AFB, quarantining is a viable option if you plan on taking care of the problem right away. If, however, you plan on letting them live and nature take it's course...you will find that no hives can actually be quarantined! There are feral colonies, or unknown backyard beekeeper hives around that WILL find that hive. The disease will then spread to those colonies that are within striking distance of other hives...so on and so forth. This is why burning a hive infected with AFB has been the standard approach for a couple hundred (or more) years. In extreme cases, any hives in the same apiary with any hive infected were burned, healthy and diseased hives alike. Anyway, I hope that answers your question!