Bee Diseases Pests and Parasites Honey Bee Brood Diseases and Pests American foulbrood European foulbrood Chalkbrood Sacbrood Varroa mites Small hive beetle Learn what is normal 1
American foulbrood AFB prepupa AFB Ropiness test Pupal tongue symptom AFB cappings early stage Ropiness test AFB cappings advanced stage 2
AFB scale AFB scale AFB scale formatio n Checking for scale AFB scale AFB - How Does it Spread? Robbing diseased colonies Beekeepers feeding honey containing spores Beekeepers moving combs from diseased hives to healthy colonies Beekeepers moving diseased colonies from one location to another Feeding honey from diseased hives Abandoned apiary Robbed colony 3
Heat therapy European foulbrood Cleaning hands and tools EFB Treatments with oxytetracycline Terramycin soluble powder TM-25 To treat one colony one time, mix one teaspoon TM-25 with 5 teaspoons powdered sugar Mix larger volumes 1 part TM-25 to 5 parts powdered sugar and apply 2 tablespoons per treatment Treat 3X in spring 7 days apart and 1X in fall after removing surplus honey Stop treatments 6 weeks prior to adding surplus honey supers Strains of AFB that are resistant to terramycin Tylosin can be used if you have a strain of AFB that does not respond to terramycin Tylosin tartrate is available as a soluble powder Do not use the injectable or other forms of Tylosin. Use only the soluble form Tylosin treatment instructions Mix 10g of Tylosin tartrate with 2.2 pounds of powdered sugar Apply 20g of the mixture to each colony 3 times about a week apart 20g of the mixture contains 200 mg Tylosin Stop treatment 6 weeks before applying surplus honey supers How to apply TM 4
Sacbrood Sacbrood Chalkbrood The small hive beetle life cycle Beetles fly into colonies Eggs laid in protected places Chalkbrood mummies Young beetles hatch after 3-4 weeks Larvae leave hive to pupate in soil Eating phase of larvae Adapted from Otto Boecking, Ceile Germany 2005 The small hive beetle larva Urogomphi Stigmata Two rows of Three pair of dorsal prolegs spines Small Hive Beetle Brood Abnormalities Confused with Diseases Failing queen Laying workers Starvation Chilled brood Pesticide poisoning Toxic plant poisoning Wax moth injury Mite injury 5
Drone layer Chilled brood and/or starvation Laying workers Neglected brood due to pesticide injury killing nurse bees Wax moth tunneling Adult Bee Diseases, Pests and Parasites Tracheal mite Tracheal mites Varroa mites Nosema Honey bee viruses Varroa mite 6
Mite Population Growth Commonly used detection methods American Association Of Professional Apiculturists, 1997 When to treat In the spring, take action to reduce mite populations if they are detectable using the sugar roll technique Sample again in mid-august. If you detect 3 or more mites per 100 bees (9 mites on a 300 bee sample), remove crop and suppress mite populations In mid-november, colonies with up to 12 mites per 100 bees will over winter without a reduction in spring brood and bee populations 7
Treatments for reducing Varroa populations Apil-Life Var (thymol) Api-Guard (thymol) Mite Away II (formic acid) Mite Away Quick Strip (formic acid) Apistan (fluvalinate) Checkmite+ (coumaphos) Hop Guard (Hop beta acids) Oxalic acid (not yet available in U.S.) Apistan Api Guard Api Life-Var Hop Guard Checkmite+ MAQS Mite Away II http://www.mannlakeltd.com/hopguard/ http://www.miteaway.com/ Apiguard thymol in a gelatin-based formulation Oxalic acid trickle 50 ml of a 3.5% solution in sugar syrup onto broodless colonies Not approved yet, but inexpensive and effective Management practices for reducing Varroa populations Drone brood removal Screened bottom boards Resistant queens Starting new packages Powdered sugar dusting Powdered sugar dusting 8
Dysentary high moisture honey or Nosema Nosema is a microsporidian parasite that attaches to the midgut to feed and produce more spores Skunk damage Mixing fumidil-b Mice can severely damage colonies in winter Pests of stored equipment Greater wax moth Small hive beetle Almond Pollination and Honey Bee Health Value of honey produced in the U.S. in 2007 = $175,000.000 Dollars paid to U.S. beekeepers for almond pollination in 2007 = $175,500,000 Almond crop = $3 billion All crop pollination = $15 billion 9
Almond Growing Area of California Almond-Bearing Acreage and U.S. Honey Bee Colonies 1999-2010 Average Almond Pollination Fees, 1995-2010 Source: California Agricultural Statistics Service, National Agricultural Statistics Service California State Beekeeping Association Pollination Survey Symptoms of CCD Biotic stress - introductions Rapid loss of adult worker bees Brood to adult bee imbalance with excess brood and a queen remaining in hives with few adult bees Remaining bees predominately young bees Acarapis woodi 1984 Varroa destructor 1987 Apis mellifera scutellata - 1990 Athenia tumida 1998 Nosema ceranae 2007 Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus - 2007 Abiotic stress Nutrition and habitat conservation 1984 A. woodi 1987 V. destructor 1998 A. tumida IAPV 2007 1990 AHB In hive miticides Out of hive chemicals Nutritional stress Supplemental feeding Nutrition issues Poor foraging conditions prior to and after shipping Syrup products and potential problems (HMF in HFCS) Monocultures and nutrition Mega Bee diet (USDA, Tuscon) N. ceranae 10
Colony Collapse Disorder CCD something new or déjà vu? 1897 American Bee Journal Report 1970 s Disappearing Disease Reports Sporadically has affected individual beekeepers Scale, extent and value to almond industry have made losses prominent 11