Diagnosing the Foulbroods

Both European Foulbrood and American Foulbrood are notifiable diseases here in UK. This means that cases MUST be reported to the Beekeeping Inspectorate, who will then inspect your bees and, if there is a positive diagnosis, will tell you what you should do next.

The Inspectors will then inspect all known colonies within the nearby area, and support those other beekeepers whose colonies are also infected. The aim is to restrict the spread of the disease.

There is no shame in admitting that your bees are infected, the greater shame would be trying to hide or ignore either of these diseases and hope they will go away on their own. They won't! All you would achieve is to let foulbrood spread throughout the local honey bee population, with potentially catastrophic results for both other beekeepers's bees and feral colonies.

Please, learn how to recognise these diseases, and ask for help if you think you spot either in any of your colonies.

Basic Assessment notes - Part 5 : Disease and Pests

The last section of the syllabus is important, but these notes are brief - mainly because the information is readily available online at Beebase and it seems a bit pointless to paraphrase the experts.

If you are researching bee pests and diseases please follow the appropriate links and read more. Take your time to learn this subject, your bees deserve to be kept safe and healthy.

Beekeepers should, once they are sure the colony has a laying queen, inspect for brood irregularities and the condition of the bees they can see, rather than concentrating solely on the what is right. They should also be able to recognise symptoms of the most common diseases of adult bees.