AFB
- Thread starter nikki watts
- Start date
That's interesting. There has been several cases of hives with AFB dumped at a tip and been robbed.
I expect tomorrow, you will find informative & interesting. All the v best. You might look back, & find it was an enjoyable day!
we sort of had that this year.
a certain beek moved house, dumped some bee gear on the neighbours burn pile (which happens to be cuz's farm). we get two hives with afb.
@Alastair i went to talk to the tip crew today. there were bee boxes tossed in the dump face in december. 🤫
Just found AFB in one of my hives today. Can happen to anyone, any time.
Shows why it's important to AFB check when removing honey. The hive is a 5 decker jammed full of honey. Going to be a pig to burn, but still better than if I had taken those boxes without checking, then next season possibly infected a whole bunch of hives with the infected frames.
Shows why it's important to AFB check when removing honey. The hive is a 5 decker jammed full of honey. Going to be a pig to burn, but still better than if I had taken those boxes without checking, then next season possibly infected a whole bunch of hives with the infected frames.
Actually yes. However in a case like that most of the honey will run off into the dirt, which is why it's important to dig a deep hole.
######.
that’s 💩.
i want to give you a like and a sad emoji at the same time.
You have to turn that honey thats run into the dirt over while the fire still going., It can form a skin on top of ash and not burn up properly, and if fire pit left open rain/wind can wash top layer off. I have seen bees gathering unburnt honey residue from a AFB fire pit that was left open, about a week after the person had burnt afb hives near his shed, the hives around his shed kept getting afb. I reckon it takes 2hrs to completely burn all the melted honey and hardware turning the ash over to completely get rid off all traces.
We burn our diseased hives in a drum. start it off up right, then tip it over onto a hive lid , which catches any honey/wax that might run out.
Then turn the drum and on the l;ast leg when most of the wood'n'wax'n' honey is gone ....throw the lid in.
Clean burn, no spilt honey or wax, an hey presto , all yer left with is ashes and wire that you can plant a rose on in remembrance of the good times.
Then turn the drum and on the l;ast leg when most of the wood'n'wax'n' honey is gone ....throw the lid in.
Clean burn, no spilt honey or wax, an hey presto , all yer left with is ashes and wire that you can plant a rose on in remembrance of the good times.
Foulbrood - A Bee Disease
Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4341, 27 July 1885, Page 2
"Never should bee farmers neglect to bury at least a foot deep every article of brood which they do not return fresh to the bees."
I'd agree with the first concept, but remember this was from 1885 so not surprised at the second...
Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4341, 27 July 1885, Page 2
"Never should bee farmers neglect to bury at least a foot deep every article of brood which they do not return fresh to the bees."
I'd agree with the first concept, but remember this was from 1885 so not surprised at the second...
Yeah sure, that's what I do. And I would never think of leaving an AFB fire pit uncovered. In fact it never takes me less than 4 hours to do an AFB burn because I spend the time turning everything over, until every last scrap is 100% vaporised.
Perhaps the difference between you and I is that when burning a hive with more than 100 kilos of honey in it, I am not going to pretend that at least some of that honey does not soak into the dirt.
Accepting that reality means it is factored in and precautions taken. IE it gets buried deep, and robbing at one of my AFB burns simply does not happen.
Burning in a drum? No. Recipe for disaster, not to mention illegal. Any honey that does escape ends up on the surface ready to be scooped up by the first bee to come along. I have seen a burn being done in a drum, with molten honey and wax running out the bottom, straight onto the dirt. It's also harder and more work, than burning in a hole.
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Burn I did a few months ago, someone elses hives. Try that in a drum.
In cases where you get more than one AFB it is always either your fault because you have spread it amongst your own hives or someone else has done some really bad beekeeping and you have got it from your bees robbing out a neighbour. When you only get one and there is no other AFB found then most of the time I believe it is caused by contaminated gear that has often been in use for many years and I have had several AFB hives from boxes that had been scorched (an old and for many years now illegal practice). Those boxes were probably scorched over 40 years before . These odd cases are always going to occur . Well done on finding it and stopping the problem going any further.
The scenario of finding one AFB and not really knowing where it comes from is quite disturbing but nowhere near as bad as finding six like I did this year and knowing exactly how someone else's incompetence caused the problem.
The scenario of finding one AFB and not really knowing where it comes from is quite disturbing but nowhere near as bad as finding six like I did this year and knowing exactly how someone else's incompetence caused the problem.
About what. There are several points @Alastair made.
So far the AP2 hasn’t found any more, not even in the hives on the same pallet as the infected one. (a massive relief !!) I think the infection has most likely has come from gear put on the hive in summer. A box had been held on the site from a dead out (with the brood frames autopsied and then taken to the shed for melting down)
In our shed is a pallet with all the boxes removed from that site. They took a sample of wax from those boxes and will see if there are spores present in which case we’ll be ordered to burn all the boxes. I’ve also been asked to burn the other hives from the infected pallet.
We also need to consider what we do with all the frames stored in the shed for scraping down and rewaxing. the one’s removed from the site won’t be too hard to locate, they were full depth and everything else is 3/4.
heres my more modest pyre.
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Hmm I think burning the other hives on the pallet is a little over the top. Me, I'd quarantine them and watch them. If all good in 2 years they come out of quarantine.
But if you've been requested to do that and you don't have an issue, guess I can't argue.
But if you've been requested to do that and you don't have an issue, guess I can't argue.