My 1st Beekeeping Club Meeting and a little bit about Chalkbrood.

Yesterday, I attended my 1st club meeting with the Richmond Beekeeper's Association. It started at 1pm but I only got there at 1.40pm. I got a little lost in UBC Campus. I asked the bus driver of the C20 bus if his route goes to UBC farm, he said yes but he dropped me in front of the Totem Pole park. I got directions from the friendly staff at the Botanical Gardens and relied on my Blackberry Google maps to walk to UBC farm. It was a 20min walk on a beautiful sunny day. On route to UBC Farms, I noticed that UBC seeds their lawn with white clover and its everywhere. I was walking downwind and the sweet scent of the clover filled the air. And I was thinking, the bees Allen Garr keeps in UBC has excellent forage in clover.

Meeting other beekeepers is always a comforting feeling. I don't feel I'm alone and I can share what is going on in my hive and I get to hear what is going on in the hive of others. It is always nice to learn from others. Especially, when I had problems identifying problems such American/European Foulbrood, Chalkbrood or Apis Ceranae. I was never sure if I had any of these problems. Yesterday, Allen showed me what chalkbrood looked like. I always thought those dried up larvae was just one of those larvae among the thousand other larvae that was forgotten to be fed by the nurse bees and dried up. Chalkbrood is actually a fungi that is present in the brood frames. This is what I found out about chalkbrood.

The spores of Ascosphaera apis are ingested with the brood food as the larva feeds itself. The germination of the spores and proliferation of the fungus, breaks out of the larva and covers it with a white mycelium.
Spores of Ascosphaera apis remain viable for years. Consequently, the infection source could
be present in the cells used to rear brood. Chalkbrood appears to be most prevalent in the
spring when the brood area is expanding, and the weather is cool and unsettled. Generally,
the disease is found in those areas of the brood nest where sufficient nurse bees are
unavailable to maintain the brood nest temperature.
Chalkbrood normally does not destroy a colony. However, it can prevent normal population
build-up when the disease is serious. No treatment is presently available for the control of
chalkbrood. In severe cases, re-queening is helpful, as well as the addition of sealed brood to
the weakened colony. The disease usually disappears or is reduced as the air temperature
increases in the summer, and pollen and nectar flows begin. (Vermont Agency of Agriculture, n.d.)

The white looking chalk is a larvae that has been affected by a fungus that dries it up.Click the picture for a closer look.

I will write more about how I manage health in the hive in the next few postings.


We had someone speak about Beekeeping Safety. Never knew that roll on deodarant actually helps in taking away the pain in bee stings. Interesting. Will try rolling on some deodorant on the sting spot the next time I get stung. Spot heating also helps. She said that heat actually deteoriates and breaks down the bee venom in the sting.  Here are some pictures at the bee club meeting and completing the frame making "competition". I had good fun yesterday.

References

Vermont Agency of Agriculture: Plant Industry Division (n.d). Chalkbrood Disease. Retrieved from : http://www.vermontagriculture.com/ARMES/plantindustry/apiary/documents/Chalkbrood07rev.pdf