Nosema and honey bees

As well as the more familiar Nosema apis our bees now have to cope with Nosema ceranae, the Asian variant. Both of these pathogens can cause a gradual decline in the number of bees in a hive (the 'dwindling syndrome') until the colony collapses completely. There was an interesting article in Bee Craft Jan 2008 on Nosema ceranae written by Giles Budge of the NBU and a copy is available on the NBU website at BeeCraftJan2008nosema

It is possible to test for the presence of Nosema and, if necessary, effective treatment is available. The Holsworthy branch has been arranging its own nosema testing day since April 2009, this has proved to be increasingly popular with members. At the last session, in April 2012, we had 67 samples for testing. A summary of the results showed that 76% of the samples had no evidence of infection, 28% has a light infection, 3% a medium infection and there were no heavy infections. This was a considerable improvement on the previous testing in Autumn 2011 although the number of members submitting samples was down.

Beekeepers can send bees to the National Bee Unit for Nosema testing at a cost of £10 per sample but why pay that much when you can have the same service in Holsworthy for £1 per sample, or even free if you come along to help on the day?

Holsworthy Nosema diagnosis day

The branch is providing another Nosema diagnosis session at 10:00 – 13:00 on Saturday 25 April 2015 at our usual winter meeting location, 'The Stables', Chilsworthy Methodist Church, EX22 7BH (map)

Samples should be delivered between 10:00 and 12:00 either in person or by another member. The first 6 samples are free, after that the charge is £1 for each sample. All costs are waived if the member comes along on the day to help – plenty of instruction and guidance given. This is an ideal opportunity to learn about Nosema testing.

Instructions on how to collect the sample can be downloaded from here: Nosema sample instructions

Note that the cost and instructions may change but the time and date will not