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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: tcrutch <tcrutch AT gmail.com>
  • To: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [ocba] Testing Bees for Disease
  • Date: Mon, 2 May 2011 21:08:00 -0400

If you have lost bees this year, you may want to have them tested.

This email below is from my friend Debra Roberts, who is a well known beekeeper in Asheville.  I suggest you keep this
email for future reference.  It contains information on how to get your
dead bees tested if you suspect a serious problem.  Believe it or not,
this testing service is FREE (but you must pay for shipping to the lab).


Trisha

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Debra Roberts <debra AT fifthworldwomen.com>
Date: Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 1:55 PM
Subject: Honey Bee News - January 31
To: Debra Roberts <debra AT fifthworldwomen.com>

There have been some losses in bee yards this winter.  If this has
happened in your yard and you want to have the bees tested, here is
what you can do.  I talked to Bart Smith at his Beltsville Lab today
because I want to send him some bees and I said I would pass all these
details along to you.  Please spread this info around to anyone you
think might want to know.  Following all these steps makes his life
easier.  It is a busy lab,  this is a free service and he's a nice
guy.  Here is what Bart  shared about how to submit samples to his
lab:
Put your dead bees in alcohol so they do not disintegrate / mold.
Mine are in the freezer right now, one bag of bees per deceased hive.
This is fine, but before I submit them to Bart, I will take them from
the freezer and immediately put them in alcohol (my mentor says 100
proof vodka; when I asked Bart if rubbing alcohol was fine, he said
yes; I will do the vodka path).  You will need to send him at least
100 bees per sample.  When it is time to ship, pour off the excess
alcohol and put them in a double zip lock bag (so there is definitely
no leaking of moisture) or put them in a jar that is then in a
ziplock. The remaining moisture from the alcohol is enough to continue
to preserve the bees.  This is an essential step because the post
office will not want you to send liquids in the mail.
Bart said his preference re labeling the samples is not to use magic
marker or even sharpie on the outside of the bags / jar.  He said that
if the alcohol seeps out, it will obliterate the words (even sharpie).
 He prefers that we insert a piece of paper, labelled in pencil,
inside with the bees, and he said that works.  Me being me, I would
probably do both (but I'd use a sharpie on the outside of the second
bag or jar lid and not magic marker because for sure that rubs off).
It is easiest on Bart if you just send each speciman labelled Sample
1, 2, 3, 4, etc.  People submit samples with the names of the hives or
with words like "third hive from the east, second row" but that is not
his preference. Make your own notes at home so you know exactly which
hive is Sample 1, 2, etc, and keep his life simple.  Turnaround time
at the lab is generally just a few days (and a bit longer if the
weather is warmer when more folks tend to mail samples in).
Also, in the package, include your name, return address / contact info
so he knows where to send the report.  This service is for free, and a
blessing.

Send the bees to:
Attn: Bart Smith
Bee Research Lab
Building 476, BARC-E
Beltsville, MD  20705


You can send the bees by regular mail or UPS.  To keep your
relationship with the post office sweet, remember to be attentive to
three things:
1.  Do pour off that excess alcohol so you are not mailing a "liquid".
2.  Be sure you do the double packaging thing so nothing leaks.
3. Sometimes the post office may say "that's not a street address" but
it is - Bart says that it is exactly their address. Thousands of
samples get sent there annually.
Bart's lab tests for tracheal mite and Nosema spore counts (not
varroa, which you can do by your own inspection - if you need info on
this, just ask me).  Before you send bees out, have a good close look
inside the hive (easiest on a warmer winter day).  Your inspection
will tell you if the bees starved, had too small a population (do you
know what size the colony was going into winter?), was too moist
inside the hive (inadequately ventilated), were poorly situated, etc.
Those are not reasons to send the bees out for testing.
Once you get your report in the mail, I would also make this info
available to your circle of beekeepers and your club.  We need to
understand what is going on when bees die and the sharing of
information is essential so we can all learn how to best support our
beloved bees.
If a hive of yours dies, I strongly recommend doing your best to find
out why. Get help from Beltsville lab if applicable.  Get help going
into a dead hive if you need another pair of eyes to help do a
"post-mortem".  If we don't know what is happening and just "get more
bees", we aren't adding to the pool of wisdom on the challenges bees
(and we) are facing.   And please don't give up and lose hope, if you
lose a hive.  It is a disheartening thing when it happens, but if we
can try and figure out the cause, we help our future bees and
everyone's else's colonies.

blessings
Debra

"A soul must never be pushed or driven, but allowed to unfold naturally, like a flower blossoming bit by bit in the sunshine".--Unknown




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