Worse than getting kicked in the stomach

I was checking my hives weekend before last and I was pretty certain that I found American Foulbrood just starting in one of my hives. I called the state inspector and when he came out he said that I'd either caught it earlier than anyone he'd ever seen, or that wasn't what it was. Unfortunately, I was right. Here's the treatment for it:





Worst part is now I think it's spread to 2 other hives sitting next to the infected one.

I'm assuming you light it up bees and all?

damnittman, sorry to hear(and see) that.

Yep, bees and all. Taped it shut and together with duct tape to make sure none could get out. I know they're just bugs but they're livestock to me. Sort of sad to hear them all fanning trying to cool the hive off after I set it on fire.

I am so sorry. That is so sad. I hope you're wrong about the other two.

Wow! That really is awful...was not sure about exactly what that meant so I read up on it and that is a nasty disease for the bees. So sorry you lost those hives.

Dang I hate that

Thanks for all the condolences. One bright spot today, is that a swarm moved in a trap I have at the shop, so I hopefully am gaining the start of a hive back. They should stay, but they may not. Too early to tell.

I'm about to go test the other two. I don't have much hope that they'll be clean. If they're not, they'll get burned tonight.

I had never heard about that stuff. There is a LOT more to bees than just buzzin. Sounds like you would have to completely change to new equipment and locations for the hives if what I read is correct.

The two other hives that I suspected of being positive, show up being postive according to the Holst Milk test. It's been a long day and I don't remember if I posted this in the original post but the USDA lab that tests for AFB in Beltsville, MD is closed indefinitely due to a staffing cut, I guess. There's no way that I can get a 100% definite yes or no, so I've just got to go off gut instinct, inspectors experience and an old timey test using powdered milk.

Another, bigger bonfire tonight. This is getting very expensive in a hurry.

The test tube on the left contains rehydrated powdered milk with the brown goopy larvae swirled in it. The test tube on the right is my "control" with the original milk solution in it. It's supposed to take 15-20 minutes for the solution to clear if it's positive. I could tell in 10 minutes it was headed that way. Picture was taken 20-25 minutes after innoculating.

Changing equipment won't help with AFB. It will help considerably with European Foulbrood. AFB is a burn the hive situation. EFB is a shake them out onto new frames and treat situation.

Oh man, I really feel for you.....so sorry you are experiencing this!!

I sure hate that Fur. I know how pricey it is but I understand the attachment as well. When you spend all that time watching the grow into a full hive it sure hurts when you lose one that way.

Nothing worse than to work so hard at something then have to destroy it. Sorry to hear about this.

Those spores sound a little like CWD, one site said they might be viable for 40 years. That is what I meant about changing locations, I wouldn't think you could put another hive in the same area again.

CWD is caused by a prion, AFB is caused by a spore forming bacteria. It only lives in beehives so when the infected hives are burned so when the equipment is gone, it's gone. Only problem is that I don't know where it originally came from.

One of the snippits I read indicated it might stay in the grass or ground, I have no idea.

What does it look like? Did you take pictures? What do you look for?

If'n I can get photobucket to cooperate, I'll post some pictures. I've been trying to load some pictures on to photobucket since Friday night.

Man i sure hate all that's going on with you bee's fur. Hopefully you can find the cause. Good luck bud

This is the middle frame of brood in my strongest hive. No problems, right?

This is the next frame to it, outward towards the side of the box. All the larvae had hatched from this one, except a few. The unhatched larvae had perforated caps, a hole in the capping and the caps were sunken in. I did a "rope" test and you can see the brown decayed larvae strining out. That is called being ropey. Bad sign. Tale tale symptom of AFB.

This is the treatment for it. Two more hives, and I went ahead and burned 2 hives that I had stored, where the bees died out this winter. The comb in one of the dead outs had perforated caps on some old brood. Ants probably did it, but with Beltsville lab being closed, it wasn't worth the risk.

I figure I'm out between $2500-$3000 in potential income from those hives. I said a prayer, right there at the fire that this was done and over. When I got back in the truck to come up to the house after covering up the ashes when the fire died down Friday night, "It is Finished" was playing on the CD player in my truck. I know that my prayer and AFB wasn't what the song was written about, but I'm hoping that's the answer to my prayer.

Oh man, I hope your prayer is answered! That was rough!!!

That is amazing you caught that. I don't think I would have a chance of finding that. How does it progress? I lost two hives last year and I've wondered what happened to them.

It just gets worse, and worse. There won't be any solid frames of capped brood within a few weeks after finding it. The first hive I found it in, looked just like the pictures I posted. 10 days later, anybody could have found it, or at least noticed a problem.

Spotty brood frames can be caused by other things, but they should always be cause for alarm. Something isn't right.

Dang it brother. Sorry you have to deal with AFB but hopefully you caught it in time. I've stayed out of the brood boxes the last few weeks but I think I will take a look now.

And I thought losing a swarm from the same hive I was adding a super to was bad. I'm laughing at that now compared to your situation.

Thanks Wade.

I've lost a swarm for sure this year, first year in the past 2. I like the way the Frost bees build up but I don't like their swarm tendencies. I suspect I've lost or will lose at least one more.