Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[What Now?]

Our friendly and very helpful bee inspector came around and inspected.

One of the hives has chalk brood. All I was told is that I should consider 're-queening' in the spring

What do natural bee keepers do?

Thanks.

[Barbara]

I have chalk brood in pretty well all my colonies and always have.... the oldest colony with it is 17 years.... ie my original colony.... if it hasn't killed them off in that time then I don't think it's worth worrying about. There are times when it is hardly noticeable and other times when it's worse but it's very unlikely to be terminal. I see it as being similar to eczema or hayfever in the sense that you/they learn to manage it. It's a fungal disease and as with most fungi, it thrives in damp conditions

[David43]

The strong colony will be healed without any treatment.

[ingo50]

What type of hive do you have?

[andy pearce]

Don't worry about it...all my bees have it, some more than others.
A

[AugustC]

I realise this may be controversial and is entirely unsubstantiated but I think chalkbrood is more an issue of hive environment rather than queen. I have only ever seen it when colonies haven't had sufficient bee numbers to support the frames/comb they have.
I suppose a queen with a high lay rate would sort this out but then so does allowing the colony to find it's own size.

[biobee]

Replacing the queen is the usual treatment, on the grounds that there is a genetic trait behind a susceptibility to chalk brood. I have no idea if this is indeed the case, although it would seem to be a reasonable hypothesis, given that the 'treatment' appears to work.

CB is not regarded as a serious problem, but given the choice, I would not want to breed from a queen with this tendency unless she had several strong, redeeming traits.

[alexg]

Strong colonies will be cured without requining.