A bad day at the association apiary

[Neils]

As the first thing I did was scurry off to read up more on PMS as I was scrabbling to recall much about it, it would appear that general consensus seems to have it as possibly displaying symptoms very close in appearance to EFB but lacking the odour (which as we know might not be present in all cases of EFB), so I'd say that was better news than first appeared and not much reason to feel silly especially when you've had inspectors there also running tests on the Lateral Flow Devices to suggest that it's (thankfully) not EFB.

[Jon]

Plenty of dodgy larvae samples taken and some sent off to the lab for confirmation ... but ... the test kits used on the spot were negative!

Even the melted down larvae?

[gavin]

Yup, even the melted-down larvae.

Who'd have thought it. Unless of course the lab tests come up with a different answer which isn't likely.

What would we do without the inspectors, eh? Thanks guys ... I hope that your day continued with a string of blanks.

[AlexJ]

Who'd have thought it. Unless of course the lab tests come up with a different answer which isn't likely.

Gavin,

Not sure if it's related to your incident but I received an email from the NBU indicating an outbreak of EFB not too far from my apiary. Whatever the final outcome it's good to see the system in action, even if it proves negative later - or perhaps is linked to another site in the area.

I'll send you a PM to discuss distances... No I can't - your mailbox is full.

Alex

[Calum]

I notice that much more often than not collapsed colonies (for whatever reason) seem to be on very old frames.
Is that just me, or is there more at work there (spore build up,,)?

[gavin]

Sorry about that - I'll clear it in a minute.

Did hear about a positive in Fife. There was some debate about one in 2009 and the final decision was that it wasn't EFB. Seems to be true this time though. Reading between the lines, I suspect this is unconnected to the source of bees mentioned in this thread.

G.

[gavin]

BeeBase currently has two EFB positive apiaries in Fife with a total of three colonies affected. They are in quite different parts of E Fife.

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/maps/map.cfm

Calum - not sure, but possible!

[gavin]

The lab tests came back today on the extra larvae taken away by Steve and Angus. They too were negative. Back to business as usual, including getting some more queen raising under way ...

[Neils]

Excellent news.

[mazza]

My understanding is that the early signs of EFB (the discoloured, twisted larvae) are basically identical to those of starvation as the EFB bacteria kills by competing with the larva for it's food supply. This would mean that a colony with PMS (and so fewer healthy adult bees) is likely to struggle to look after all of the brood, and the starving larvae effectively mimic "EFB" type symptoms. The only difference at this stage would be the absence of the bacteria within the gut of the larva, so don't beat yourself up about mistaking it for something more serious. The most important thing is that you called the inspectors, had the colony checked out and got an all clear :-) Happy ending!