Major Chalk brood Issues.

[simplyhoney]

I have heard thata large number of commercial beekeepers are having serious chalkbrood problems. The past two summers I too have been having chalkbrood problems. I know there are several theory's on the causes of chalk brood, from lack of vitamin E to old crappy chemical infested comb. But for this many beekeeper to be experiencing this kind of problem at the same time is odd. Has anyone heard of any new diseases? Virusus, perhaps?
The odd thing about the chalkbrood the past couple of years is that it hasn't cleared up with treatment and a good honeyflow. I have tried both terimicin and tylan with limited sucess. Any info would be great.

[loggermike]

The overwintered hives I have been seeing the most chalkbrood in also were carrying the biggest varroa loads.Maybe just a coincidence-maybe not.I think the mites are spreading other things besides viruses.The other case we see is nucs recently made in the spring that try to overexpand the brood nest during marginal weather.These invariably get chalk,but it clears up after the nuc gains strength.

[This message has been edited by loggermike (edited September 26, 2004).]

[simplyhoney]

Well that is the weird thing. I treated with check mite late in the fall last year. This past spring I ether rolled several colonies (25) and didn't find a single mite. The chalk brood hit my nucs hard but they didn't clear up with a good honey flow. which leads me to believe that something else is causing it.

[Michael Bush]

I've never had enough chaulbrood to notice before this year. I have had some this year, enough to notice, but not a lot. It seemed to me to be the unusually wet spring we had. When it dried up this summer it went away. Most of it went away when I increased ventilation in the hives.

[Robert Brenchley]

Chalk is a fungus which, like most fungi, likes damp. Keeping hives dry, on screen bottoms, for instance, should discourage it. When I first had hybrids, I got a bit of it, which disappeared as soon as I used Apiguard; thymol is an effective fungicids as well as a miticide. Or try requeening; I live with low levels of it now, since I keep A.m.m., which is notorious for suffering from chalk. If I ever get a bad infestation though, that queen will lose her head like a shot!

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Regards,

Robert Brenchley

RSBrenchley@aol.com
Birmingham UK

[loggermike]

I had this bookmarked.It has some interesting observations on Chalk: http://www.beesource.com/pov/usda/abjoct1976.htm

>>thymol is an effective fungicids as well as a miticide. Or try requeening;

I wonder if thymol in syrup(Manley formula)might help clean it up ?Seems likely.
I have tried re-queening many times with persistent cases.Most of the time it didnt help.Either ALL the queens I used were susceptible or more likely the combs are just too contaminated with spores.

[This message has been edited by loggermike (edited September 26, 2004).]

[Robert Brenchley]

I wonder why it seems to be more serious over on your side of the Atlantic; could it be something to do with the supposedly restricted genepool over there? Variable broodnest temperature is a known characteristic of A.m.m., which probably explains why they tend to be susceptible. The disease remains at low levels though.

------------------
Regards,

Robert Brenchley

RSBrenchley@aol.com
Birmingham UK