Bee Diseases & Prevention

Bee life-3 days egg;then larva to day 8 for queen & worker;10 for drone,w/4 molts;5th  molt to pupa-6th emerge;16 days for the queen;21 worker;24 drone.

AFB(American foulbrood)-spores are ingested by larva-can kill larva stage or eventually in pupa stage.
        each dead bee leaves 5-10 million spores
        bees try to clean-up mess and spread AFB.
        scale can be thin film-dark in color on bottom cell. Need good lighting to see-45     
        degrees from over the top of the frame.Scale cannot be dislodged without destroying comb.
          larva is discolored-stir w/toothpick-ropy-foul smell
          advance case-cappings sunk and perforated.Break open and use toothpick.
          Before drying,pupa tongue sticking straight up is another indicator.
          even after burning,there is probably AFB in yard-treat!!

Tracheal mites-almost worldwide but in England and other places,not a problem like USA. So based on this,who would you buy bees from,Hawaii,where there are no mites or mainland suppliers? Problem is mites are coupled with other bee diseases,especially bee paralysis and nosema.The mites weaken the bees and make them less able to fight off these lesser problems.Synergistic.
    Spreads from mites hanging on to hair tips attack points-to go from older bees to younger bees.Crawls into trachea(which are just long tubes and lots of them)lay eggs and feed.

Varroa mites-spreads disease like tracheal,but size is huge by comparison.Can see on bee or especially on brood.As big as a volleyball size tick on you.
    Both varroa and tracheal were noticed in USA about 1986-1988 and have spread to all the USA since then.
    Females go into brood cell(prefer drones),lay eggs.Male(much smaller than female) hatches first and mates with sisters.Females feed on developing and emerged bees.They  transfer bee to bee by drifting to another hive;by absconding bees;and even by ambush at flowers-quick little bug.

Nosema-Spores are ingested by adult bee and germinate in mid gut by way of a tube which penetrates the gut wall and the spores travel into the gut cells.Grow and multiply until cells burst and spores either start again inside bee or are voided and enter clean-up bees(if in hive).
Heavily infected bees can not digest food properly,so are weak and susceptible to other bee diseases;main problem is can not digest pollen so can not make royal jelly and bee food for brood. So slow spring build-up or actual decline as infected bees starve in a world of plent

Stress and nosema are directly related-what kinds of stress would you expect in Maine?

Long winter confinement with few or no cleansing flights;mites;low populations of bees;low pollen supply;bad honey(honey dew which ferments or aster and goldenrod which have high particulate content-fiber).
                  Contaminated equipment helps spread it;
                  lowest levels in the fall;highest in late winter,early spring

EFB(European Foulbrood)-remember EEC (European Economic Community),the C is key for that is the usual shape of dead larva.
        no ropyness-has scale but rubbery and easy to remove.
        bees can clean-out scale and dead larva,usually so quickly that you did not know you had EFB.
        EFB stinks like AFB-but fishy smell
        very prevalent on blueberry fields

Sacbrood-key feature is raised head(not tongue like AFB)
          Not ropy-may be very watery
          brittle scale is easy to remove
          if it's not EFB/AFB-it is probably sacbrood

Bee paralysis-actually two viruses and generally no problem if left alone,but almost always is associated with mites or nosema.The bees will  gather near the hive entrance because the bees were thrown out by healthy bees..

Chaulkbrood-first sign is small peroration in cappings.Open up and there will be pupa covered with white stuff.
            Another stress disease-if you have ever had it in a hive,will probably get it again in that hive since spores live for 10-15 years.

Waxmoth-becoming a problem because of mites(my guess).Will not effect a healthy hive,so if hive is weak,wax moths will thrive.Natures way of cleaning up dead and dying hives.