Diseases of Honey Bees

1
Diseases of Honey Bees

• Presented
• By
• The Ohio State Beekeepers Association

2
Diseases

• Based upon date provided by the Ohio Department
  of Agriculture -- 2005

3
Brood Disease

• American foulbrood

4
Brood Disease

• Good healthy brood
• American foulbrood
• 2005 Apiary Statistics
• From ODA
• Colonies Inspected 21,389  
• Number with AFB
• 388
• That doesnt seem like many but this is a serious
  disease spread very easily and at some time or
  other beekeepers will experience it.
• American foulbrood

5
Brood Disease

• American foulbrood
• Young larva ingest the bacterial spores when fed
  by nurse bees.  The spores then germinate and
  begin to grow rapidly.  Death to the larva
  usually occurs as the pupae stage is reached.   
  Larva that die turn a coffee brown and begin to
  melt down into a gooey mass.   Housecleaning bees
  then try to remove the dead larva and in the
  process become contaminated with the bacterial
  spores that are now dormant.  The house bees then
  carry the spores to other bees, and the spores
  end up either in the honey stores or are fed
  again to new larva.  Thus the disease is spread
  within the colony rather rapidly.

6
Brood Disease

• American foulbrood
• Robbing is one of the ways that American
  foulbrood is spread.    Robbing bees will take
  back contaminated honey to their own hives which
  will result in larva being fed with spore laced
  honey.  The disease will spread to many colonies
  within several miles from the infected hive.
• You should always check for American foulbrood
  when examining your hives.  If you are able catch
  this disease early,  further spread can be
  prevented. 

7
Disease

• American foulbrood
• The way to test for this disease is to place a
  thin stick, twig, straw into a cell with this
  coffee brown gluey substance. Stir and draw the
  thin stick out. If the gluey substance sticks
  and ropes, it is most likely AFB.
• You can also take a sample of comb from this
  frame and have your bee inspector send it in for
  confirmation of AFB.

8
Disease

• American foulbrood
• Treatment
• If diagnosed as AFB, the colony and bees can be
  treated in Ohio with Terramycin or Tylan. This
  must be used and consumed by the bees at least 4
  weeks prior to a honey crop. These only mask the
  disease. The spores are not killed and can
  re-infect the hive
• The only sure way to get rid of it

9
Disease

• American foulbrood
• Treatment
• Burn This is the only way to effectively
  destroy the disease. Other chemical treatments
  only mask the symptoms and it can return at a
  later time.
• However, this is a disease you must always
  realize is in your hives at some point in time
  some bees have built up a resistance to AFB. If
  you burn and your neighbor doesnt which is legal
  in Ohio if he treats with chemicals, have you
  gained anything by burning?

10
Brood Disease

• European foulbrood

11
Brood Disease

• Good healthy brood
• European foulbrood
• 2005 Apiary Statistics
• From ODA
• Colonies Inspected 21,389  
• Number with AFB 13
• European foulbrood

12
Brood Disease

• European foulbrood
• Cause
• European foulbrood (EFB) is a brood disease of
  honeybees caused by the bacterium Melissococcus
  pluton.. Larvae are most susceptible to infection
  when they are less than 48 hours old, and usually
  die while still in the coiled state. Poor
  nutrition and severe stress, for example
  insecticide poisoning, often cause this disease
  to break out. The larvae first turn yellow then
  brown in color. The disease is usually noticed in
  early spring, and to a lesser extent in autumn.

13
Brood Disease

• European foulbrood
• Multiplication and spread
• The bacteria multiply vigorously in the gut of
  larval bees which have been given food
  contaminated with M. pluton.. As with American
  foulbrood, EFB can also be spread by
• bees robbing infected hives
• transferring infected honey supers and combs to
  clean hives
• using contaminated beekeeping equipment
• feeding infected honey and pollen.

14
Brood Disease

• European foulbrood
• Treatment Good beekeeping hygiene will keep this
  disease in control, however, if a hive should be
  found with EFB it is important to prevent any
  robbing of the hive and frames from this hive
  should not be transferred to any other hive.  
  Treatment with terramycin A colony recovers
  rapidly. The effect of EFB is to reduce a
  colonies bee population and thus reduce a honey
  crop.  Also consider requeening if the bees are
  not cleaning up the disease.

15
Brood Disease

• Chalkbrood

16
Brood Disease

• Good healthy brood
• Chalkbrood
• 2005 Apiary Statistics
• From ODA
• Colonies Inspected 21,389  
• Number with Chalkbrood 596
• Chalkbrood

17
Brood Disease

• Chalkbrood
• Identification A fungal disease caused by
  Ascosphaera apis .  It is now found throughout
  the United States.  It is a disease of stress in
  the early spring to early summer.  Severe cases
  can be found in the comb later in the year. 
  Often the bees will try to remove the mummy larva
  -- it is called chalk brood because the mummies
  are chalk like in appearance and touch.  These
  mummies can often be seen at the entrance of the
  hive.  

18
Brood Disease

• Chalkbrood
• Treatment There is no chemical approved
  treatment for this disease.  The best management
  plan would be to strengthen a weak hive with
  more brood and bees, replace the queen
  (literature indicates that it might be genetic
  characteristic) with a queen of known hygienic
  behavior.   To avoid spreading chalkbrood, you
  can avoid using pollen from a chalkbrood hive for
  supplemental feeding and avoid mixing  frames of
  comb from a chalkbrood hive with other hives you
  may have.

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Insect pest in hives

• 2005 Apiary Statistics
• From ODA
• Colonies Inspected 21,389
• Varroa Mite 6,720 colonies
• Tracheal Mite 41 colonies
• Small Hive Beetle 539 colonies
• Wax moth n/a

20
Insect pest in hives

• Varroa Mites
• 2005 Apiary Statistics
• From ODA
• Colonies Inspected 21,389
• Varroa Mite 6,720 colonies
• The greatest threat to all beekeepers in Ohio.
  It has been responsible for more beekeepers
  leaving the hobby than anything else. This is
  the honey bees 1 enemy.

21
Insect pest in hives

• Varroa Mites
• Identification This mite is known as varroa
  destructor.    Varroa mites can be found in the
  United States except Hawaii.  The mite is small
  but can be seen with the naked eye.  Mites are
  about the size of a pin head and are
  reddish/brown in color. 

22
Insect pest in hives

• Varroa Mites
• They can be detected by several methods. 
• One is with varroa screens and a sticky board. 
  Mites fall through the screen onto the sticky
  board where then can then be detected and counted
  to determine the infestation level. 
• The second method involves checking drone brood
  for mites.
• The third method  involves scooping up 100 or so
  bees and subjecting them to a sugar roll or ether
  roll test.  The sugar roll test does not kill the
  bees and is preferred.  The method is simple. 
  Scoop up the bees into a pint jar, add powdered
  sugar (a tablespoon will do) and shake and roll
  the jar. 
• Varroa mites will drop off the bees to the
  bottom  of the jar where they can be counted.

23
Insect pest in hives

• Varroa Mites
• They can be detected by several methods. 
• Most common is the sticky board test. A
  protective screen is placed over the sticky board
  and the sticky board is left in the hive for a
  period of 24 hours. The mites on the sticky
  board are then counted. A sticky board can be
  made easily by taking a sheet of wax paper and
  coating it with vegetable oil. Lay it on the
  bottom board and place screen over it. This will
  also detect chalk brood.

24
Insect pest in hives

• Varroa Mites
• They can be detected by several methods. 
• Second method involves checking drone brood for
  mites like shown in the picture. You can check
  individual capped drone cells -- use your hive
  tool or a cappings fork to remove pupa from the
  drone comb.

25
Insect pest in hives

• Varroa Mites
• They can be detected by several methods. 
• Third method involves scooping up 100 or so bees
  and subjecting them to a sugar roll or ether roll
  test.  The sugar roll test does not kill the bees
  and is preferred.  The method is simple.  Scoop
  up the bees into a pint jar, add powdered sugar
  (a tablespoon will do) and shake and roll the
  jar.  Varroa mites will drop off the bees to the
  bottom  of the jar where they can be counted.

26
Insect pest in hives

• Varroa Mites
• They can be detected by several methods. 
• Remember that more than 85 of the mites in a
  colony are in capped brood cells and not visually
  detectable. If a bee inspector see one mite, he
  or she will indicate on inspection report that
  all hives in your bee yard are infected.

27
Insect pest in hives

• Varroa Mites
• Treatment
• I can not tell you exactly what will work. A
  number of products are available for the
  beekeeper. Some work at times and at other times
  have no apparent effect.

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Insect pest in hives

• Varroa Mites
• Treatment
• In general use
• Apistan strips (10 fluvalinate)
• CheckMite (Coumaphos)
• Formic Acid
• Sucrocide
• Apiguard (Thymol)
• Powdered sugar
• Also no chemical means such as drone comb capture
  frames.
• Dont ask me which is best!

29
Insect pest in hives

• Tracheal Mites
• 2005 Apiary Statistics
• From ODA
• Colonies Inspected 21,389
• Tracheal Mite 41 colonies
• Still a problem. Introduced in the mid 1880s.
  A real problem in the early 1990s in Ohio.

30
Insect pest in hives

• Tracheal Mites
• Identification  This mite is named Acarapis
  woodi .  It was first identified as the Isle of
  Wight Disease.  This mite has become well
  established in the United States except Hawaii. 
  These mites can be observed under a microscope. 
  They are found in the tracheae of adult honey
  bees. 

31
Insect pest in hives

• Tracheal Mites
•   Highly infested hives usually die in the fall
  or winter.  One may find few bees in a dead
  hive.  This is contrary to starvation when most
  of the bees will be on the face of the comb --
  dead.   Early detection is important.  If the
  beekeeper notices a rapid decline in population,
  the situation is already out of hand. 
• Fortunately, breeding better queen bees with
  resistance to the tracheal mite has reduced the
  tracheal mite problem from what it was 10 years
  ago.

32
Insect pest in hives

• Small Hive Beetles
• 2005 Apiary Statistics
• From ODA
• Colonies Inspected 21,389
• Small Hive Beetles 539 colonies

33
Insect pest in hives

• Small Hive Beetles
• Identification  The SHB is found primarily in
  the Southern states of the United States is now
  found in many other states especially states that
  import bees for pollination.  It is called
  Aethina tumida . 
• The small beetle is black and can be found
  moving rapidly inside the hive when exposed to
  sun light.
• The Larvae may be mistaken for wax moth larva but
  they do not spin cocoons as the wax moth larva
  and leave a slime trail within the hive.  They
  can make a complete mess of a hive which can
  result in the loss of comb in the frames and loss
  of honey crop.  This beetle seems to prefer weak
  hives especially queen less hives to do its
  damage.

34
Insect pest in hives

• Small Hive Beetles
• Treatment  Several treatments are available to
  the beekeeper for SHB. 
• First, a ground drench - SHB larva crawl from the
  entrance of a hive and pupate in the ground
  around the hive stand.  The product is called
  GardStar.  Always read label directions for the
  use of the product. 
• Second, CheckMite - TM a strip which controls
  both SHB and Varroa mites.
• Third , various trap designs. This is the trap
  designed by Mike Hood.

35
Insect pest in hives

• Wax Moths
• 2005 Apiary Statistics
• From ODA
• Colonies Inspected 21,389
• Not reported in data collected by ODA.

36
Insect pest in hives

• Wax Moths
• Identification      There are two general types
  found in the United States Galleria mellonella
  L. the Greater Wax Moth and Achroia grisella F.
  the Lesser Wax Moth.
• Both do considerable damage to bee hives that
  are in weak condition and to stored comb in
  supers.   It is the Wax worms are a serious
  problem in warm weather and dark conditions. 
  They can do a lot of damage in a very short
  period of time.

37
Insect pest in hives

• Wax Moths
•   Treatment  Wax moths attack weak hives. 
  Strong hives will kept them under control.  
• Wax moths do not like light.  Exposing equipment
  to light, closing up equipment tightly and
  fumigating with "Para-moth" (Para-Dichlorobenzene
  crystals) a product available from most bee
  suppliers, and using biological control such as
  Bacillus thuringiensis.
• See Ann Harmans article in February 2007 Bee
  Culture Magazine. A good investment in
  beekeeping is to subscribe to the bee magazines.

38
Other Minor Diseases

• Nosema  A protozoan disease caused by Nosema
  apis.   Although most beekeepers do not consider
  this a major disease, I am going to list it as
  such.  It is very damaging to colonies of bees
  that over winter in the north.  It  kills more
  hives of bees than it is given credit for.  You
  can not see this disease because it is caused by
  spores which germinate in the midgut of the honey
  bee. Symptoms include shortened life span, fecal
  deposits on the inside of the hive and often on
  the outside of the hive.  One way to check for
  nosema is to pull the digestive tract out of a
  honey bee.  Healthy digestive tracts are tan in
  color.  If it is white, the bee is usually
  infected with nosema.   Treatment   The
  antibiotic Fumagillin sold as Fumidil-B mixed
  with sugar syrup and fed to the bees in the fall
  and spring.  Literature suggest 1 gal. of syrup
  per hive.  0.5 grams are mixed with 6 gallons of
  syrup to feed 6 hives.   This is an adult bee
  disease.

39
Other Minor Diseases

• Sacbrood
• Identification  It is a viral infection of the
  larva and is named after the sac-like appearance
  of dead larvae.  The skin of the larva is tough
  and rubbery and if pulled from the cell with a
  pair of tweezers, will look like a thin sac
  covering the dead larva.    It is not a common
  bee disease. Treatment    There is no treatment
  for viral diseases.  Just use good sanitary
  beekeeping practices while working with bees and
  if you find a colony with this disease, do not
  mix other hive frames etc. with this colony.  
  Replacing the queen with a queen from less
  susceptible stock may help.  
•  

40
Other Minor Diseases

• Paralysis
• Identification  It is a viral infection of the
  adult bee.  Often the beekeeper will notice that
  the bees are hairless or very glossy as in old
  age.  One might notice a number of bees crawling
  on the ground around the hive entrance, or
  trembling on the landing board unable to fly.   I
  should point out that the trembling could be a
  symptom of pesticide poisoning as well.   In some
  cases the bees just disappear or dwindle away.
  Treatment  No treatment for a viral disease. 
  Requeening with good stock may help.
•  

41
General Treatments

• The following chart is from the 2007 Dadant
  Catalog. If you dont have a copy of this
  catalog, you should request one from Dadant.

42
General Treatments

• From Dadant catalog 2007