Foulbrood is a dangerous disease of bees, widespread everywhere and not dependent on environmental conditions. May affect larvae, pupae, and adults. The disease is important to recognize in time and take the necessary measures to eliminate it.
General characteristics of the disease
Foulbrood of bees cause spore-forming bacteria. The disease is divided into two main types: European and American. There is also a false foulbrood, which in science is usually called a parabut.
When young animals become infected, holes arise in the lids, and after the death of the larvae a sharp unpleasant cadaverous smell appears. In most cases, insects notice the beginning of the spread of the disease earlier than beekeepers, and try to overcome the cells infected with the rotten fox on their own. But most often, the health of the bees quickly wanes, and they do not have time to cope with the disease without human help.
In a short time, the disease can affect all bee families and even spread to neighboring apiaries. If you do not notice the beginning of the development of the disease and leave the hive with sick larvae for the winter, then by the summer period all families are likely to die.
Infection process
The main cause of the onset and development of infection is the death of an already infected brood. Ants, moths, mites, and wasps carry the decay. Among the main causative agents of the disease, there are:
- streptococcus;
- staphylococcus;
- bacteria Orpheus and alway.
Infection of other families and apiaries that are nearby, possibly through:
- pollen;
- old infected hive;
- the framework where the sick larvae were;
- beekeeper's hands;
- theft between neighboring hives;
- a wax without special heat treatment.
In most cases, the infection process begins in the summer months, when the air heats up to 37-40 degrees. At first, the antibodies that are in the milk cope with the disease, but after 10-14 days, the defenses are exhausted, and the bacteria infect insects.
A spore-forming bacterium that provokes the development of the disease is extremely resistant to physical and chemical effects. She can live for several years in a protective shell, in downloaded honey - up to a year. The bacteria can be killed only after 15 minutes of boiling in water or after heat treatment of honey for at least 40 minutes.
Symptoms of rotten bees
Symptoms of the disease directly depend on its variety. There are two types of foulbrood:
- American;
- European.
Dark larvae are a sign of damage by their rot
European foulbrood
The disease carries a lesser threat, but can also lead to the death of families and infection of bees in neighboring apiaries.
Among the features of the European foulbrood, the following distinguishing features are distinguished:
- Most often, an infection of an open brood occurs, having an age of up to 5-7 days. Adult individuals get sick much less frequently.
- Foulbrood pathogen is resistant to most chemicals.
- Disputes can live in all weather conditions for up to 15 years.
- The incubation period is 3-5 days.
- The smell is sharp and unpleasant, but less pronounced than in the case of the American foulbrood.
- When infected, the larva turns from light to grayish, and then darkens and turns brown. It is the European foulbrood most often affects the larvae in the spring-summer period.
- The disease spreads quite quickly due to the transfer of bacteria by workers. Also, people and animals can act as carriers.
- Honeycombs become variegated, as one part of the cells is infected, and the other is completely healthy, empty. Sometimes the bees cope with the infection on their own and defeat the disease. But even in this case, it is still necessary to disinfect the entire apiary.
Suspecting the infection of bees with European foulbrood is easy. Larvae begin to behave too actively, often change their poses, darken and lose their elasticity. After his death, an unpleasant odor arises. Removing dead larvae becomes possible only after they have completely dried.
American foulbrood
The disease is one of the most dangerous for bees, as it affects an already closed brood. An infected family will die out completely in 2 years.
Diagnosing the disease without special studies is difficult enough. Only after the death of the larvae, the cells infected with the rotten rot become visible, but by this time the infection usually affects the entire frame.
Spores of the American foulbrood can live on the equipment and tools of the beekeeper, on plants and animals for 10 years. They are resistant to almost all adverse conditions. On the dried corpses of larvae, spores live for about two more years.
Among the distinguishing features of the disease, the following can be distinguished:
- Infection occurs after an insect eats an infected feed. In this case, the larvae of working bees get sick, much less often - drones.
- This type of foulbroke is ubiquitous and immune to any temperature. An outbreak of infection occurs in the summer, when the air temperature reaches its maximum value.
- Contaminated wax, honey, honeycombs and bee bread become unfit for human consumption. Bacterial spores without heat treatment remain in beekeeping products for decades.
- Honeycombs become variegated as diseased cells darken. The incubation period takes about a week. The destruction of the larva occurs only on the 10-16th day of its life.
- A distinctive feature of American decay is the sharp and strong smell of rot. In advanced cases, it may resemble a cadaveric one.
- When infected with American foulbrood, the larva becomes viscous, loses its elasticity and sticks, sticks to the honeycomb. When trying to remove it, a thin thread stretches behind the wand, therefore, such a honeycomb only has to be burned.
Diagnostics
The characteristic pungent smell and appearance of infected and dead larvae are the main sign of infection by rotten bees. To confirm the presence of the disease in insects, special studies can also be carried out in the laboratory, where the type of pathogen and its resistance to various medications will be determined. Such studies will help the beekeeper choose drugs that can quickly cope with the source of the disease.
Treatment
One of the main measures aimed at treating the foulbrood is to establish a quarantine regime in infected hives. If possible, at the time of exacerbation of the disease, neighboring apiaries should be closed. Selling bee products and feeding them healthy bees is also prohibited.
Bee families need to be treated with antibiotics (Penicillin, Chlortetracycline, Erythromycin, Streptomycin) and drugs that are introduced into the feed from the syrup. The exact dosage of medication should be determined by the veterinarian. It is worth remembering that these drugs accumulate in honey, so you should not resort to them too often.
Honeycombs should be treated with any agent that favorably affects the microflora and does not contain an antibiotic. In case of infection of the uterus, a new one needs to be planted in the family. If more than 50-60 larvae are affected, it is necessary to resort to radical measures and get rid of the whole family immediately.
You can not use the same antibacterial drug for a long time, since bacterial spores can adapt to it and the drug will not have a positive effect.
To quickly deal with rotten in the apiary, you should resort to the following algorithm of actions:
- Relocate healthy insects to a clean hive, as far as possible from the main site of infection.
- Get rid of all the frames in which the infected bees were.
- Clean, disinfect and reinstall the rest of the frame and wax.
- Transfer sick insects to a blank sheet of paper with medicines, and then drive them into the hive with smoke, burn the paper.
- Reorganize infected hives and all equipment.
- In case of successful rescue of a healthy brood, take care of placing it in an incubator.
For best effect, the hive should be treated 3-4 times with a whey spray with an interval of 7-10 days. Irrigation can be carried out not only as the main treatment, but also for the prevention of infectious diseases.
Pollination using a rubber bulb and a gauze bag will also help. To do this, you need to prepare a solution of the drug Biovetin, which is mixed with powdered sugar, starch and flour. The composition can add antibiotics. Do not use the medicine more than 4 times a week.
Prevention
To avoid becoming infected with the disease, it is worth following certain methods of prevention:
- It is necessary to disinfect the beehive, tools, equipment and clothing of the beekeeper as often as possible. To do this, items need to be treated with a solution of hydrogen peroxide, acetic acid or liquor.
- An apiary should always be kept clean, since pathogenic bacteria multiply much faster under unsanitary conditions.
- It is strictly forbidden to feed insects with products that were previously in the infected hive.
- Do not use old blackened honeycombs.
- Inspect the framework at least once every 10-15 days. In this case, the development of the disease can be seen in the early stages.
Subject to the above tips, the apiary will be protected not only from rotten rot, but also from other equally dangerous infectious diseases of bees.
Watch a video about the symptoms and methods of dealing with European and American foulbrood:
Paragnite
The paragniter is the so-called false decayor, which represents one of the varieties of the disease. The main source of infection is considered to be infected bee larvae. The disease affects about 6-9 larvae in open and closed brood. The incubation period takes from a couple of hours to several days.
The causative agent of the disease can persist in food for up to 3 years. It is resistant to many physical and chemical factors. It is more common in countries with cold climates in the spring and summer.
Sick larvae act as the main carrier of the disease. The infection also spreads through the feed, tools and clothes of the beekeeper.
Affected larvae are characterized by unnatural activity, mobility. Most of them die before the moment of sealing, the rest - after, turning into a brownish mass with a sharp unpleasant odor. After a while, the larvae begin to resemble dark crusts, which can already be easily torn from the cells. Infected pupae are dark in color and have an unpleasant odor, and are greatly underdeveloped.
To combat the disease, the bees seal and thicken the lids of the cells. During the inspection, they look like sunken and greasy caps without holes. The paragnite is less dangerous than the American and European foulbrood, so the bee family can cope with the disease on its own.
Distinctive features of a parabench:
- Outbreaks of infection occur mainly in May-June;
- the disease can occur both independently and together with a more dangerous species;
- most often affected brood, whose age is a week;
- the symptoms of the disease are poorly expressed: the larvae darken a little, acquire a slight smell of rot and dry out;
- rotten odor does not occur even with prolonged infection;
- the bacterium is resistant to different conditions, it can persist in honey for up to 3 years;
- infected larvae are much easier to remove from the honeycomb, while the surface of the cells resembles a hard crust.
Healthy bees cannot be fed honey obtained from infected families. Infected brood in honeycombs should be melted into wax, which will later be used for technical purposes.
The treatment of the disease should be prescribed only by the veterinarian after the diagnosis. Most often, serological and bacteriological studies are sufficient for this. Equally important is the differential diagnosis.
To combat the parasite, sanitation of tools and equipment, hives is carried out. Therapy is similar to exposure to American foulbrood. Before starting to solder the bees with antibiotics, a thorough disinfection of all the hives is recommended to avoid re-infection. Prevention is carried out as with the ordinary foulbrood.
Foulbrood in bees is a rather dangerous and widespread disease. Often the infection leads to the death of the entire apiary, but with timely treatment, the loss can be minimal. In order not to miss the first signs of infection with rot, you should regularly inspect the hives, observe cleanliness in the apiary, and carry out the prevention of the disease.