As Bob mentioned I am in the 'never ever use' camp, I think I should make a statement as to why I am personally against ever using antibiotics for bees;
- They don’t always work
- They are not some ‘magic bullet’ that makes everything in the hive better, they only treat bacterial diseases like foulbrood and possibly nosema., and there are a whole host of other non bacterial diseases that beekeepers have to contend with.
- .They make these bacterial diseases more resistant, causing beekeepers to use larger doses, or having to find different and new types of antibiotics.
- They weaken the hive because antibiotics also kill some of the beneficial intestinal bacteria that bees have naturally in their gut, leaving them in a weakened state and less able to fight off the next round of infection.
As tragic as it is, the death of a colony is really a good thing; it is an example of survival of the fittest. Providing you raise your own queens from your healthiest hives, keep the hive as stress free as possible, and see the death of a percentage of your hives every year as an acceptable loss, then nature will always prevail.
All of John's points are valid. Antibiotics do only work on bacterial diseases and a lot of the CCD-related pathogens are viral. So antibiotics simply won't work. I believe strengthening the bees' immune system through looking to their best interests and supplementation through probiotics like kombucha and acidophillus are the ways to go. We can also use physical and biological controls (screened bottom boards and--believe it or not--bacteria that attack mites and other pests but are harmless to bees. Plus we can utilize natural treatments such as menthol and various acids (formic and oxicolic) that work very well against mites without building up in the wax nor build up resistance in mites and pathogens.
ReplyDeleteHere's the kicker: none of these treatments or controls will likely remove 100% of the problem, whatever they are attacking. That's what beekeepers want. Yet they don't get it with antibiotics or pesticides either due to poor application or misguided thinking. But if the bees can develop their own resistances, exposure to pests and pathogens can do exactly what John is looking for: strengthening the bees!
Life is a learning curve and it's usually thrown at us as a curveball: fast and from a direction we weren't quite expecting.