Diseases of Honeybees

Cleanliness is next to Godliness...............It also helps to keep your Bees Healthy.............

There are a number of serious diseases that the honey bee suffers from, some which affect the brood and others that affect the adult bee. Of the former AFB (American Foul Brood) and EFB (European Foul Brood) and Varroa are the main ones. All three diseases are notifiable and must be reported to MAFF. Of the three only Varroa can be treated by the beekeeper without permission from the ministry. Serious cases of AFB must be investigated by a ministry Bee officer and the colony ,including frames and honey must be destroyed. The hives can be saved by flaming them with a blow torch and cleaning throughly. EFB can be treated but must only be done by a ministry Bee Officer, this is at his discretion if he co nsiders that it is only a light infection, otherwise he can order the colony destroyed.

VARROA is a reddish-brown mite that lays its eggs in the brood cell just before the cell is sealed over, the mite progeny then hatch out and feed upon the larvae in the cell, The resulting bees that hatch are affected in their life expectancy and in some cases their physical properties. The mites that hatch out feed on the adult bees and in doing so prompt the growth of viruses, which it is thought are the main distructive agencies towards the bees.

The adult bee is also plagued by internal parasites one of which is NOSEMA, a parasite that lives within the digestive cells lining the mid-gut of the adult bee, where it passes the active reproductive phase of its life cycle.Infected worker bees, have their brood-food glands and their average length of life shortened , than healthy unaffected bees. The brood rearing and honey producing capability of the colony is thus reduced to an extent which depends upon the number of bees infected.

ACARINE. Acarapis woodi is a small mite that lives in the thoracic trachea of the honeybee. The fertilized female migrates into the trachea and lays its eggs soon after the bee emerges from its cell, it does not do this to older mature bees, seeming to prefer the young adult bees.These eggs hatch in about five days and the little larvae d evelop into adult mites in about nine days later. These mites feed by piercing the walls of the trachae and sucking the blood of the bee.

CHALK BROOD. This disease is the result of larvae eating the spores of the fungus Ascosphaera apis. These germinate in the larvae and the mould like strands,(mycelium) grow until they have completely interwoven the body of the larvae. Though fluffy looking ,the bodies of the larvae are little hard white mummies. Though not a great problem ,if there are too many, then it is best to requeen with a queen that is not susceptible to the fungus. Stress is thought to trigger it off, so treat the hive gently and keep it clean,

WAX MOTH. Though not technically a disease the wax moth can be very troublesome as it moves through the brood combs damaging them and leaving a trail of old cocoons, silk and dust. They also hollow out shallow hole for the larvae to pupate in. The main damage is to stored combs especially brood combs as these have faecal remains and old cocoon which it seems is a part of the wax moth caterpiller diet. There are two species of wax moth, the Greater Wax Moth (Galleria mellomella) and the Lesser Wax Moth (Achroia grisella).

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