Content
Bee diseases cause serious economic damage to beekeeping. If the disease is not detected in time, the infection will spread and destroy all bee colonies in the apiary.But even without infections, a beekeeper may face a seemingly inexplicable extinction of bees. Such extinction may occur due to certain non-communicable diseases or intoxications.
Classification of bee diseases
Unlike other branches of livestock farming, in beekeeping infectious diseases can completely destroy an apiary. The situation with bees is generally strange. One individual costs nothing, but a colony is a fairly expensive unit. At the same time, the approach to diseases of bees and chickens in poultry farming and beekeeping is similar, as are their methods of treatment: quickly destroy them all.
Diseases that affect bees can be divided into 4 large groups:
- viral;
- caused by microorganisms;
- invasive;
- non-contagious.
Diseases differ not only in symptoms, but also in the season of occurrence. Although the division into seasons is arbitrary. In a warm winter, bees may well get sick with “spring” diseases.
Symptoms, especially for viral diseases, are often the same or look very similar. Therefore, laboratory testing is required in most cases to make a diagnosis. On the other hand, many diseases are treated with the same drugs.
But this is only if the plans include selling products. When choosing between preserving the colony and generating income from the hive, it is better to preserve the colony.
Diagnosis
With the exception of rare cases when it is possible to say for sure what kind of disease has affected a bee colony, diagnosis must be carried out in the laboratory. The beekeeper himself will probably only be able to determine the presence of macropests in the hive: varroa mites or wax moths. There are other people who like to eat honey or larvae. But these are all quite large insects.But even in this case, novice beekeepers often cannot understand what kind of spots appeared on their bees: whether it is varroa or pollen. Therefore, in any doubtful cases, bees should be submitted for research.
Inspection of bee colonies: what you should pay attention to
When inspecting hives and assessing the health of colonies, you need to pay attention to some signs of disease:
- the presence of a large amount of drone brood (problems in the queen);
- a large number of ugly bees (mites);
- too much death (bacterial and viral diseases);
- inability of bees to fly;
- gnawing of sealed cells by workers;
- change the color of the cap;
- caps falling through;
- formation of holes in the middle of the caps;
- diarrhea.
These are all the first signs of illness. If they appear, you can try to make a diagnosis yourself, but it is better to submit the material for analysis.
When is it necessary to do laboratory diagnostics?
In fact, with the exception of very obvious symptoms, laboratory diagnosis will have to be done for any signs of disease. Very similar to each other:
- amoebiasis And nosematosis;
- conopidosis And false myiasis;
- foulbroods.
An accurate diagnosis of virosis can often only be established in the laboratory. For analysis, depending on the type of disease, dead or living bees are collected. With myiasis, the dead are needed. In case of virosis - live ones, which are previously filled with a preservative substance.
Infectious diseases of bees and their treatment
Infectious diseases include:
- viral;
- bacterial;
- caused by protozoa.
Those diseases that arise when bees are parasitized by other organisms are called invasive.
Of the infectious diseases, only bacterial ones and those caused by protozoa can be treated, since they can be treated with antibiotics. In the case of viral diseases, preventive measures are taken. In case of severe infection, in all cases the colonies are destroyed.
Viral
Any viral diseases differ from bacterial ones in that they are caused by a self-copying section of RNA. A virus cannot even be called a living organism. Therefore, biologists and doctors usually talk not about destruction, but about deactivation of the virus.
Once the virus appears in bees, treatment is no longer useful. Families can only be supported by symptomatic treatment. But it is better to prevent viral diseases using preventive measures.
In most cases, the virus in bees results in some type of paralysis:
- chronic;
- spicy;
- viral.
Signs of paralysis in bees and treatment of the disease will depend on the virus that affected the colony.
Viral paralysis
Pupae and adults become ill. During illness, the bee changes color, damages the nervous system, and dies. The most common cases of viral paralysis are in the spring and summer. The occurrence of the disease is facilitated by a lack of beebread in the hive and sudden changes in weather from cold to hot and vice versa.
The virus is unstable. In the most favorable conditions for it, it remains active for no more than a month. Infection occurs through contact of a sick individual with a healthy one. The incubation period of the disease is 4-10 days.
Signs of viral paralysis:
- inability to take off;
- lethargy;
- trembling of wings and body;
- impaired coordination of movements;
- lack of response to external stimuli.
Since the bees have time to return home, all these signs of the disease can be observed at the landing site or near the hive.
Due to the accumulation of watery contents in the intestines, the abdomen swells. The hair on the chest and abdomen, which gives the bee its color, falls out, and the insect becomes shiny and black. It smells like rotting fish. 1-2 weeks after the onset of symptoms of the disease, the bee dies.
The diagnosis is made in laboratory conditions. To do this, 15-20 living individuals with signs of disease are collected in a jar, filled with glycerin or petroleum jelly and sent for analysis.
Treatment for viral paralysis in bees has not been developed. Prevention is carried out with various drugs depending on the time of year when the outbreak of the disease occurred:
- in summer they feed with vitamin preparations and antibiotics;
- in early spring use protein feeding;
- at any time when paralysis occurs, bees are sprayed with pancreatic ribonuclease. Course 4 times with a break of 7 days.
Viral paralysis can be chronic or acute. These are not different forms of the disease, they are two different types. And different strains of the virus cause paralysis.
Acute paralysis
This type of disease affects only adults. The flow is acute and always ends with the death of all adult bees in the colony, manifesting itself in early spring. Sometimes an outbreak can occur at the end of winter. In this case, as with nosematosis, you can see worn out frames and dead bees in the hive.
A mixed type of disease may occur if another infection is “joined” with the viral paralysis. The diagnosis is made in the laboratory. The beekeeper himself will not be able to determine from the appearance of the frames and dead bees what disease the colonies need to be treated for.You don’t have to contact the laboratory only if you are sure that the bees have some strain of paralysis. All types of viral paralysis are treated with the same drugs.
Chronic paralysis
Because of the strain that causes chronic paralysis, all forms of this disease are called “black disease.” The outbreak usually occurs in the spring. The disease of chronic paralysis during the winter can manifest itself only as an exception. Due to the spring development of the disease, other names are given to it:
- May;
- forest bribe disease;
- black baldness syndrome.
The virus affects not only adults, but also pupae. The symptoms of the disease are common with acute paralysis. If treatment is not taken, the family quickly dies. When treating chronic paralysis of bees, the same medications are used as for acute paralysis.
Cloud wing
The scientific name of the disease is virosis. An airborne viral disease. Bees can get sick at any time of the year. The virus is localized in the chest and head of bees. In queens it was found in the abdomen.
A sign of the disease is clouding of the wings and inability to fly. Moreover, the second symptom is constant, but the first does not always appear. The diagnosis is made in the laboratory. The virus leads to the death of bees 2 weeks after the appearance of clinical signs. There is no treatment.
Filamentovirus
Another type of virosis, often found in conjunction with nosematosis. The disease is caused by a large DNA virus. It affects the ovaries and fatty tissue of bees. Families affected by the virus do not overwinter well and often die in late winter or early spring. The routes of transmission of the virus are poorly understood. The disease is believed to be carried by the varroa mite.
The main sign of a colony being affected by filamentovirus is the attempts of sick bees to crawl out even in cold weather. Healthy bees remain in the hive during this time. During flights, sick bees crawl on the ground, unable to rise into the air.
There is no treatment.
Sacbrood
Seasonal illness. It develops in case of a lack of bee bread and honey, as well as in the presence of unfavorable conditions. In southern Russia, signs of the disease can be observed as early as May. In more northern areas, the disease develops in the early summer months.
Adults do not show signs of the disease, but carry the virus for several seasons. The maximum shelf life of the active virus is 9 months in honeycombs. Honey lasts for 1-2 months, depending on the storage temperature of the product. Found on all continents.
Symptoms
The first sign of the disease is sunken caps of sealed honeycombs. This may also be the first sign of foulbrood. The signs of decomposition are also similar. With sac brood, at the first stage the larva does not disintegrate into a homogeneous putrefactive mass, but remains lying on its back. The larva is flabby, matte in color. Later, the tissues disintegrate into a granular liquid, and the skin thickens and becomes white. The larva can be easily removed from the cell.
Signs of the disease disappear by July and return in the autumn months. The next season the cycle repeats. The guardians of the virus are apparently healthy bees. If one larva is infected, the disease will quickly spread throughout the entire hive.
There is no treatment for the disease. If a virus is detected in an apiary, a quarantine is declared. Queens are temporarily removed from infected colonies.For preventive purposes, bees are fed with sugar syrup with Levomycetin or Biomycin.
Caused by bacterioses and mycoses
In addition to viral ones, bees also have bacterial diseases. Due to the lack of ventilation and high air humidity, mold often grows in hives. Mold spores constantly fly in the air, so you can protect yourself from mycoses only if your hives are properly constructed.
Paratyphoid
It is also known as hafniosis or infectious diarrhea. The causative agent is a representative of the family of enterobacteria Hafnia alvei. Symptoms of the disease:
- enlarged abdomen;
- yellow-brown diarrhea;
- unpleasant odor;
- the bees are weakened and cannot fly.
The causative agent of the disease enters the intestines with contaminated food and water. The incubation period is 3-14 days. When a colony is infected at the end of winter, the collapse of the club, agitation of the bees, and the exit of working individuals through the entrance barrier are observed.
Treatment is carried out with Levomycetin and Myocin. For an accurate diagnosis, it is necessary to submit the bees to the laboratory.
Colibacillosis
Or escheheriosis. Symptoms of colibacillosis are similar to paratyphoid:
- enlarged abdomen;
- diarrhea;
- loss of the ability to fly.
Laboratory analysis is again required. To treat eschecheriasis, antibiotics that act on the intestinal microflora are also used.
Melanosis
A fungal disease that most often affects queens. Queens lose their ability to reproduce as the fungus attacks the ovaries and spermatic receptacle. The initial stage of the disease is asymptomatic, but later the female loses the ability to lay eggs and becomes inactive. The abdomen also increases.
For treatment, a course of antibiotics is given.
Septicemia
Bacterial disease.Popularly and when applied to humans, this disease is called general blood poisoning. In bees, the hemolymph is the first to suffer, which replaces human blood with these insects.
Septicemia can occur in two forms: acute and chronic. In the first case, the symptoms of the disease appear quickly:
- activity decreases;
- the ability to fly is lost;
- death with signs of paralysis.
In the chronic form, there are no signs of the disease until the death of the bee. With septicemia, bees usually die in large numbers. There is no treatment.
Ascospherosis
It is caused by the mold fungus Ascosphere apis. The most favorable conditions for mold development occur during rainy summers. Most often, the ascosphere affects drone brood, since it is located closer to the walls of the hive, on which condensation can accumulate if there is poor ventilation.
The main sign of ascospherosis is larvae or honeycombs covered with a white coating. In the honeycombs, instead of larvae, you can find small white lumps that resemble chalk crumbs. Because of this feature, the disease is popularly called “lime brood.”
Ascospherosis is treated with fungicides specially developed for this purpose. But even they only stop the development of mold. If a family is heavily infected or if the colony is weak, treatment is not carried out. The swarm is destroyed along with the hive.
Aspergillosis
The culprit of the disease is the infamous black mold. Aspergillosis affects any living organism with a weakened immune system. In bees, sedentary larvae are most susceptible to disease. But sometimes mold begins to develop on adult bees. This happens when the members of the colony are weakened by winter hunger strike.
At the initial stage of the disease, the bees experience strong agitation. Later this state gives way to weakness. The insects die. When examining bees that have died from aspergillosis, you can see black mold on their abdomen.
There is no treatment for aspergillosis. Black mold is a difficult fungus to destroy, so instead of attempting treatment, the hive and colony are burned.
Rotbrood
Bacterial disease of bees. Bees suffer from 3 types of foulbrood:
- American;
- European;
- pararotten.
All 3 types of disease are caused by nonmotile rod-shaped bacteria that can form spores. Such bacteria are usually called bacilli.
American Foulbrood
The bacterium infects adult larvae in sealed cells. It can also affect young pupae. Unsealed brood is resistant to disease.
The danger of American foulbrood is that spores can persist for decades. Even when boiled, they die only after 13 minutes. This resistance greatly complicates the treatment of the disease, as well as the processing of hives and equipment.
American foulbrood is easiest to spot in the fall after egg laying has stopped. Symptoms:
- cell covers are flattened;
- holes form in the lids;
- the color of the larvae changes from white to light brown and subsequently darkens;
- the larva's segments disappear;
- at the last stage it turns into a homogeneous dark mass with a putrefactive odor;
- the remains of the larva dry out at the bottom of the cell.
Treatment
The main treatment measures are to reduce the percentage of bacteria per unit area of the hive. When foulbrood appears, families reduce and insulate nests. It is better to replace infected queens with new ones. If this is not possible, the queen is kept in a cage for a week.
If the infection is severe, the bees are moved to a new hive.At the end of the day, when all the individuals return home, they are swept into a box and kept for 2 days without food. Then the bees are moved to a new disinfected hive.
For treatment, bees are fed with sugar syrup with the addition of antibiotics and sodium norsulfazole.
European Foulbrood
The most common disease on the Eurasian continent. European foulbrood infects both bee and drone brood equally. Signs:
- the presence of gaps in the combs with brood or cells with eggs and young larvae in the middle of the sealed brood: this is the first sign that should alert the beekeeper;
- change in color of the infected larva from white to yellow;
- decomposition of the larva and its transformation into a dark slimy mass.
Treatment is the same as for American foulbrood.
Paragnilets
Another name is “false foulbrood”. It is caused by the paraalvey bacillus. Spores persist in beehives, combs and honey for up to 1 year, in bee bread for up to 3 years. Larvae become infected in open and sealed honeycombs. In the chronic course of the disease, the pupae are also susceptible to infection. The route of infection and symptoms of the disease are similar to other types of foulbrood. Symptoms of false foulbrood when infecting open brood:
- increased motor activity of larvae;
- unnatural position in the cells;
- smell from larvae that died in open honeycombs;
- transformation of larvae into crusts.
With pararot rot, the age of dead larvae is greater than with European rot.
Signs of pararot with sealed brood:
- convex caps on sealed brood;
- darkening of the lids;
- the formation of a cone-shaped depression in the middle of the lid, but without a hole;
- transformation of the larva into a viscous dough-like mass with the smell of rot;
- the formation of dark crusts from dried larvae that are easily removed from the honeycomb.
Pupae affected by pararot rot stop developing and darken. Inside the pupa there is a cloudy gray liquid with a putrid odor.
Treatment of the disease and preventive measures are the same as for American foulbrood.
Invasive diseases of bees and their treatment
Invasive diseases are diseases that arise as a result of attacks by parasites. Bees are parasitized by:
- flies;
- mites;
- nematodes;
- intestinal parasites from protozoa;
- bee lice;
- some types of blister beetles.
Diseases caused by flies are called myiases. Myiasis can occur not only in bees, but even in humans. The parasitic flies that cause myiasis are different.
Myases
Myiasis occurs in the body of an animal due to the penetration of fly larvae into soft tissues. In the case of bees, such parasitism cannot be called myiasis, since normally the animal survives. A bee infected with maggots always dies.
One of the beekeeping pests, the hunchback bee (Phora incrassata Mg.), lays eggs in the larvae of honey bees. The fly maggot develops in the bee larva for 5 days. After this, the future fly comes out, falls to the bottom of the hive or to the ground and pupates. The fly completes its development outside the host. The bee larva dies.
There is no cure for the parasite. As a preventive measure, systematic cleaning of the hive from dead and other debris is used.
Conopidosis
Other pests that cause myiasis in bees belong to the family Conipidae of the genus Physocephala. Of the 600 known species, 100 live in Russia.
Bees become infected with conopid maggots during flight. The fly lays eggs in the spiracles or simply on the body.The larva moves into the trachea and through it into the abdominal cavity of the bee. In the process of development and nutrition, maggots destroy the internal organs of the bee. After stage 3, the fly larvae pupate.
In conopids, the pupa remains to mature inside the skin of the larva. Maturation lasts 20-25 days, but most flies remain overwintering in the pupa and emerge only the next year.
Signs of infection:
- loss of ability to fly;
- greatly enlarged abdomen;
- near the hives there are many dead bees lying in a characteristic position: on their backs with a fully extended proboscis and a filled, elongated abdomen;
- through the segmental membranes in the abdomen you can see a white larva or a dark pupa;
- sharp weakening of the colonies.
Due to the presence of a living maggot in the abdomen, it can be mobile even in a dead bee.
Diagnosis of the disease is carried out in the laboratory, since there are flies that parasitize dead insects and cause false myiasis. Only a specialist can determine which larvae are in the abdomen of a bee in a laboratory setting.
Treatment for the disease has not been developed. As a preventative measure, the areas under the hives are regularly cleaned and sticks soaked in insecticides are placed near the hives. Flies are poisoned by landing on these sticks.
Cenotainosis
The disease is caused by the larvae of the parasitic fly Senotainia tricuspis. This insect looks like a common housefly. Similar to Wohlfart's. But he is only interested in bees. The fly is viviparous. It lives in the southern regions of Russia on the edges of forests.
Cenotainosis is not contagious. It is provoked only by a fly, which attacks the emerging bees and lays maggots at the junction of the head and chest.
The main sign of the presence of a parasite is bees crawling with their wings spread and unable to fly. This is due to the fact that maggots parasitize the thoracic region of working individuals and eat away the muscles. A minor infestation of larvae may not be noticed. If the infection is severe, there will be many such crawling bees.
There is no treatment. Instead of treatment, preventive measures are used to identify flies in the apiary and destroy them. But the insecticides used to kill flies also kill bees. The use of insecticides is carried out according to certain schemes. The presence of flies is detected by placing white plates of water near the hives. Flies prefer to land on white.
Mermitidosis
If there is an intestine, there will be worms. Even if the intestines have a relatively primitive structure. The most common helminthiasis in bees is caused by nematode larvae. This disease in bees is called mermitidosis. The name nematosis is not entirely accurate, since nematodes are a type of roundworm. Not all of them are parasites.
According to the classification, mermitids are 2 categories lower than nematodes. They parasitize insects, arthropods, earthworms and other similar organisms. Each species is specific to its host.
Mermitid larvae parasitize the intestines of bees. Adult nematodes live in the soil. Favorable conditions for the disease are created by the presence of a large reservoir near the apiary and high humidity.
The larvae penetrate the bee while it collects pollen and nectar. Or insects bring them to the hive along with water. It would be more correct to call the larvae predators, since the parasite is not interested in the death of the host. If infected with mermitids, the bee dies.The nematodes that emerge from her body continue to live independently in the ground, laying thousands of eggs during their lives.
Symptoms of the disease are expressed in the loss of bees' ability to fly and the subsequent death of insects. The diagnosis is made after examining the bees' intestines under a microscope in the laboratory. When infected with mermitids, larvae will be found in the bee's gastrointestinal tract.
Treatment for mermitidosis has not been developed. Sick families are destroyed. To prevent disease, the apiary is moved to a dry place.
Bee diseases caused by protozoa
There are also diseases of bees caused by protozoa that parasitize the intestines of insects. The most common ones are:
- nosematosis;
- amoebiasis;
- gregarinosis.
Due to external signs, different diseases can sometimes be confused. Because of this, laboratory tests will be required for an accurate diagnosis and successful treatment.
Nosema
During the spring relocation of families to new hives, it is recommended to remove worn out frames. The term “stained” means that the frames are stained with liquid bee droppings. Diarrhea in bees in winter occurs due to infection with Nosema. The disease begins to develop at the end of winter. Nosema infection reaches its maximum level in April-May.
All adult members of the colony are sick. Nosema enters the body of bees in the form of spores along with contaminated water and food. Can be preserved in honey and honeycombs for many years. Therefore, it is recommended to change hives and frames annually.
Bees are treated for nosematosis using a solution of fumagillin in sugar syrup.Preventive measures are standard: compliance with the conditions for keeping bees and systematic disinfection of all equipment and supplies in the apiary.
Amoebiasis
The disease is caused by amoebas of the species Malpighamoeba mellificae. Amoebas parasitize the digestive system of bees, eating away soft tissue. The main symptom of amebiasis is a sharp reduction in the number of colonies. With this disease, bees do not die in the hive, but during flight, so there will be few dead individuals in the hives.
In addition to the decrease in numbers, you can observe:
- enlarged abdomen;
- diarrhea;
- There is a strong unpleasant odor when opening the hive.
The most favorable period for the life of amoebas is the spring-autumn period. The “main time” for nosematosis is winter or early spring. Diarrhea in bees in summer most likely indicates a bee disease with amoebiasis.
Amoebas remain in the body for more than 6 months. In queens, the disease is sluggish and difficult to diagnose. Amebiasis in queens is more noticeable in winter.
To treat the disease, contact and systemic tissue preparations are prescribed. The former are designed to stop the spread of amoebas, the latter kill parasites in the bee’s body.
Contact drugs:
- etofamide;
- paromomycin;
- clefamide;
- diloxanide furoate.
The drugs are used to treat parasitic infections and against intestinal parasites.
Systemic tissue amoebiacides include:
- secnidazole;
- metronidazole;
- tinidazole;
- ornidazole.
Treatment is based on the fact that the drugs penetrate the tissues, and when fed, the amoeba dies.
Gregarinosis
The disease is caused by single-celled intestinal parasites – true gregarines. Not found in all countries. But in Russia they are found in warm climates. In cold and temperate climates, gregarinosis is rare.Bees become infected by consuming gregarine spores in water.
With intensive feeding of gregarine, fat bodies are destroyed, and the lifespan of bees is sharply reduced. Infected queens die in the spring.
The diagnosis is made taking into account the epizootic situation in the region, after laboratory tests. For diagnosis, 20-30 individuals from a family suspected of gregarinosis are required.
Bees are treated for gregarinosis in the same way as for nosematosis.
Entomoses
These are diseases caused by external parasitic insects. The difference from myiasis is that with entomosis the parasite does not penetrate the bee’s body.
Braulez
The common people have lice. The disease is caused by brawl insects. Externally, bee lice are very similar to the varroa mite:
- red-brown color;
- round body;
- similar location on the bee’s body;
- combined areas.
Brawls are most often found in the Far East and Transcaucasia.
Brawls infect bees by walking on a healthy bee. Lice feed on wax and at first glance do not harm bees.
When breeding, a braula lays 1 egg per cell. Having emerged from the egg, the larva, in the process of development, manages to gnaw a passage up to 10 cm long in the caps, after which it pupates.
Signs of braulosis:
- restless behavior of the colony;
- reduction in the lifespan of working individuals;
- decreased egg production in the uterus;
- bees bring less supplies;
- deterioration of colony development in spring;
- hard winters;
- in case of severe infection, the swarm leaves the hive.
Provoking factors for the disease: old honeycombs, dirt, warm winter. Brawls can also end up in another hive along with frames, when catching other people's swarms or introducing infected new queens.
Treatment of braulosis is carried out in the same way as when a family is infected with varroa. These parasites are often found together.When carrying out preventive measures, not only the number of brawls will decrease, but also varroa.
Meleosis
The disease is caused by blister beetles of the species Meloe brevicollis or short-winged blister beetle. Adults feed on flower nectar and do no harm. The larvae parasitize in the nests of earthen bees. They can also be found in honey bee hives. The larvae gnaw through the intersegmental membranes on the abdomen and suck out the hemolymph. The bee dies. A severe parasite infestation can kill the entire family.
Treatment for meleosis has not been developed. The means to combat the disease is to treat the surrounding area with insecticides, but this will also lead to the death of the bees.
Arachnoses
The general name for these diseases was given to arachnids, that is, mites. At least 2 types of mites parasitize bees: large varroa and microscopic acarapis (Acarapis woodi).
Varroatosis
Varroa mites feed on the hemolymph of bee larvae. The female mite lays her eggs in an unsealed brood cell. The mite prefers drone brood, since drone larvae are larger. Brood infected with mites does not receive sufficient nutrients and the bees emerge from the cells small and weakened. If several mites have parasitized one larva, the adult insect will be disfigured: with underdeveloped wings, poorly developed legs, or other problems. The larva may die if the female tick lays 6 or more eggs in the cell.
Treatment is carried out with specially developed drugs that cause little harm to bees. As a preventative measure, drone brood is destroyed in the spring.
Acarapidosis
The disease is also called acarosis, but this is a more general name. The causative agent of the disease is the Acarapis woodi mite.A fertilized female mite lays eggs in the trachea of bees. Ticks bite into tissue and feed on hemolymph. In large quantities they can block the path of air. From the upper trachea, the mites gradually move downwards. Adults attach themselves from the inside at the base of the wings. Once fertilized, the female emerges through the spiracle.
The main time of infection is winter. The tick does not live either at too low (up to 2 ° C) or at too high summer temperatures. In a warm hive, with close contact between healthy individuals and sick individuals, optimal breeding conditions are created for the mite. One bee can carry up to 150 eggs and adults. Signs of an Acarapis mite:
- loss of ability to fly due to lack of air;
- many dead bees with their wings spread at different angles at the end of winter;
- dented walls.
You can try to make the diagnosis yourself. To do this, the bee is frozen. Then they cut off the head with the prothoracic collar and examine the exposed trachea. Black, yellow or brown trachea indicates an infestation with the Acarapis woody mite.
Treatment is difficult due to the fact that mites burrow deep inside the host's body. For treatment, fumigation with special acaricidal preparations is used.
Brood diseases
Virtually all brood diseases are infectious:
- all types of foulbroods;
- ascospherosis;
- sacbrood;
Some of these diseases can also affect adult bees. Even if the disease is asymptomatic, a sick bee is a carrier of the infection.
There are non-infectious diseases of the brood associated with improper maintenance and inbreeding: freezing and fading.
Cold Brood
The disease is not contagious and affects only pupae and larvae. Usually the brood freezes out in the spring during return frosts. The second risk period is autumn. At this time, the bees gather in a club and expose the honeycombs with brood. If autumn is cold and the hives are standing outside, the brood may also freeze.
Dead brood is discovered when the bees begin to open and clean the cells with dead larvae. The difference between this disease and infectious diseases is that there are no healthy larvae among the dead. During infection, healthy and diseased larvae are mixed together.
No treatment is required here. All we need is prevention. To prevent freezing of the brood, it is enough to insulate the hives in a timely manner and place them in a room equipped for wintering.
Frozen brood
Although frozen brood and cold brood sound similar and occur under similar circumstances, there are important differences between the two diseases. The disease is usually observed after the apiary has been exposed from wintering to the street.
The brood freezes at different stages of development: from egg to pupa. Although frost acts as a catalyst, the real reason for the appearance of frozen brood is different: the queen produces non-viable offspring either due to inbreeding or due to poor quality food.
Signs of frozen brood:
- uneven appearance;
- the absence of the odor characteristic of foulbroods in dead larvae;
- the larvae are watery and easy to remove from the cells;
- The pupae have an underdeveloped abdominal part.
After fresh pollen appears and adequate nutrition is restored due to it, the frozen brood disappears.The only method of treatment is to promptly provide the colony with nutritious food. Prevention of this disease consists of timely replacement of the queen with a young one, adequate nutrition of the bees and avoidance of inbreeding.
Non-contagious diseases of bees and their signs, photos
Non-communicable diseases in any animals come down to three groups:
- metabolic disorders due to poor diet;
- poisoning;
- injuries.
The latter does not concern bees, since a single individual has no price for the colony. The first two groups affect the entire colony.
Diseases caused by violation of maintenance rules
If too much honey and beebread is removed from the hive, the bees will face the threat of starvation. Most diseases with metabolic disorders occur precisely due to lack of food. Fasting can be:
- carbohydrate;
- protein;
- aquatic
Due to improper maintenance, only two problems usually arise: freezing of the colonies and steaming.
Carbohydrate
Carbohydrate starvation occurs when there is not enough honey for the colony to overwinter. Carbohydrate and protein starvation lead to exhaustion of bees and brood and subsequent death. Signs of carbohydrate starvation:
- variegated brood;
- small, underdeveloped and sluggish nurse bees;
- a small amount of printed brood;
- absence or insignificant amount of pollen or beebread in the nest;
- dead bees near the hive;
- empty digestive canal in dying individuals;
- many discarded larvae near the hive.
In winter, starving bees make a sound reminiscent of the rustling of autumn leaves. If bees die in a hive, they are always with their heads inside the cells.
The reason for the lack of honey may be:
- crystallization;
- fermentation;
- low-quality honey;
- incorrect socket assembly.
No special treatment is required.To prevent starvation, bees are fed with honey, sugar syrup, beebread or its substitutes. They do this both in summer and winter.
Protein
Protein starvation in bees occurs if there is not enough beebread in the hive. With a lack of protein, bees' resistance to diseases, especially nosematosis, decreases. Treatment of starvation consists of feeding the bees with a substitute for beebread. Prevention here is simple: don’t be greedy and leave the bees enough pollen for the winter. If the year was bad and the colony was unable to store enough pollen, you can feed the bees with a beebread substitute.
Water
Water fasting, also known as constipation, is also popularly called May disease. Occurs most often in spring. But there is no particular seasonality observed here. Signs of water starvation may appear in the fall.
The main symptom of the disease is the hindgut of bees overflowing with dry pollen. You can suspect a problem when young nurse bees are released into the wild. During water starvation, bees appear outside in a state of strong excitement, they try to fly, but cannot.
Treatment must begin quickly, but it consists of providing the insects with water. If the disease has already reached a severe stage, the bees are given sugar syrup to drink. To prevent the disease, a good watering hole for bees is provided in the apiary and moldy honeycombs are removed from the hives.
Steaming
A consequence of improperly arranged ventilation. This is the name given to the rapid death of a colony from high humidity and temperature in a tightly closed container. Causes of the disease: a tightly closed entrance with poor ventilation. The entrance is closed during transportation of hives or when treating neighboring fields with insecticides.Steaming also occurs when the colony is kept in a cramped, poorly ventilated area and when the family is sent by mail.
Symptoms of the disease:
- loud noise from excited bees;
- a barred entrance densely filled with insects;
- then the noise subsides, and the emanating heat is felt from the ceiling canvas;
- honey drips from the bottom of the hive;
- the honeycomb in the nest is torn off;
- bees lie on the bottom, some individuals crawl;
- the insects turned black due to the bristles getting wet;
- wings stuck to the abdomen;
- some individuals are stained with honey.
When steaming, it is not treatment that is carried out, but urgent rescue of the colony. To do this, the nest is opened and the bees are given the opportunity to fly freely. The hive is cleaned of honey, honeycombs and dead insects.
For prevention when transporting an apiary, it is enough to properly ventilate it. When transferring and temporarily isolating, leave a minimum of honey, provide the colony with free space and leave ventilation holes.
Diseases caused by poisoning
Contrary to any evolutionary logic, bees can be poisoned by pollen and nectar from the flowers from which they collect honey. Due to the use of insecticides in agriculture, chemical poisoning of colonies occurs today. Salt poisoning occurs very rarely. Few people feed their bees salt water.
Salt sickness
To become poisoned by salt, bees must drink a 5% saline solution. Where they will get it is usually not specified. With this type of poisoning, there are two signs: restlessness and the noise of a swarm, and later the cessation of flights. Treatment is simple: in summer and spring, drink sugar syrup, in winter - with clean water.
Chemical toxicosis
The most dangerous type of poisoning.With chemical toxicosis, the entire apiary can die out. The symptoms are similar to those seen with pollen or nectar poisoning.
There is no cure for this poisoning. Preventive measures can be taken:
- clarifying with farmers the timing of treating crops with pesticides;
- closing the hives during processing;
- placement of apiaries away from plantings of fruit trees, vegetable gardens, fields and factories.
Safety radius 5 km.
Pollen toxicosis
Occurs during the flowering of poisonous plants. Signs of pollen poisoning:
- high activity of the individual at the beginning;
- lethargy after a few hours or days;
- swollen abdomen;
- inability to fly;
- convulsions;
- falling out of the nest.
Treatment is carried out by feeding insects with a 30% sugar solution and water. But it is better to keep the apiary away from poisonous plants.
Nectar toxicosis
Poisoning can also be caused by the nectar of some plants. Particularly dangerous:
- belladonna;
- tobacco;
- buttercups.
If the bees have “gone crazy” and attack all living things or, conversely, are apathetic and unable to fly, treatment must be started. Insects poisoned by nectar are given 70% sugar syrup.
Honeydew toxicosis
Honeydew attracts bees with its sweet taste, but it is the excrement of aphids and some other insects. Honeydew honey looks and tastes no different from regular honey, but causes intestinal upset in bees. Sometimes it can be fatal.
Honeydew poisoning can occur at any time of the year. The workers are the first to be poisoned. When honeydew honey accumulates in the hive, poisoning of the queens and larvae begins.
The first sign of poisoning is mass weakness. In many individuals, the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract is upset.The intestines of a dead bee appear dark when viewed under a microscope.
Honeydew poisoning is practically untreatable, so it is easier to prevent it. To do this, when preparing for winter, you need to check honey for the presence of harmful substances.
Prevention measures
It is always easier and cheaper to carry out prevention than to treat bees later without a guarantee of results. The main preventive measures in beekeeping are the correct maintenance of colonies:
- arrangement of well-ventilated and warm hives;
- disinfection of spare cells;
- updating nesting cells during culling or detuning;
- restoration of families after a bribe. It is carried out by raising young bees;
- insulation of nests in case of their additional expansion;
- supplying families with quality food in sufficient quantities;
- centralized pumping of honey;
- keeping winter-hardy bee breeds;
- improvement of winter quarters.
The choice of location for the apiary plays a very important role in maintaining the health of bees. When choosing a windy and well-lit area, thermoregulation in the hives will be difficult. Placing the apiary in a damp, shady place will cause fungi to develop in the hives. The flight of bees for honey will also be difficult. You need to choose a dry area, protected from the wind, where the hives can be hidden in the shade of trees.
Feed base
The owner of a stationary apiary can control the number and types of flowering plants, but for him this is only information for reference. With nomadic beekeeping, you need to choose a place for the apiary so that there are no plants with poisonous pollen nearby. Collecting such food by bees will lead not only to diseases of the colonies, but also to damage to the honey itself. It will also be poisonous.
Winter prevention
First of all, you need to take care of placing the hives in a room prepared for wintering. Be sure to check honey and bee bread. Remove from the hive:
- unsealed honey;
- honey with an increased dose of medications;
- honey obtained from sick bees.
The quality of honey deteriorates greatly if infectious diseases are present in the apiary. This kind of honey cannot be fed to bees.
Bees also need bee bread for wintering. Its quantity in the hive must be at least 18 kg. If the family is large and you need a lot of bee bread, the required amount is calculated according to the scheme 1 kg of bee bread per 4 kg of honey.
The hygienic minimum of beebread per day is 75 g. Whether the bees collect the required amount of pollen is determined during April-July using a control pollen trap.
Bees do not require water during wintering. They have enough of what is contained in honey and bee bread.
Conclusion
Bee diseases are numerous enough to cause trouble for a beekeeper. To prevent diseases, it is necessary to follow sanitary and veterinary rules: prevention is always easier and cheaper than treating a disease.
