Bees Health

 

1.Animals: some animals eat honey bees: spiders, birds, lezards, frogs,..other do not eat bees but honey: ants, wasps,.....

2. Wax moths

Bee waxes damaged by a Wax MothWax Moth

 

Wax moth (Aphomia sociella) do not attack the bees directly, but feed on the wax used by the bees to build their honeycomb. Their full development to adults requires access to used brood comb or brood cell cleanings—these contain protein essential for the larval development, in the form of brood cocoons. The destruction of the comb will spill or contaminate stored honey and may kill bee larvae.

Control and treatment

A strong hive generally needs no treatment to control wax moths; the bees themselves kill and clean out the moth larvae and webs. Wax moth larvae may fully develop in cell cleanings when such cleanings accumulate thickly where they are not accessible to the bees.

.3. Varroa mites

Varroa destructor and Varroa jacobsoni are parasitic mites that feed on the bodily fluids of adult, pupal and larval bees. Varroa mites can be seen with the naked eye as a small red or brown spot on the bee's thorax. Varroa mites are carriers for a virus that is particularly damaging to the bees. Bees infected with this virus during their development will often have visibly diformed wings.

   

Adult Varroa mite ( 1^st picture), Adult Varroa mite on a honey bee larva .( 2^nd Picture) and dead bees killed by Varoa mites

A variety of treatments are currently marketed or practiced to attempt to control these mites. The treatments are generally segregated into chemical ( hard and soft) as well as mechanical controls. Bee keepers can be advised by bee keeping professionals on which chemicals to use and when to use them.

4..Diseases

Nosema disease

Nosema apis is a microsporidian that invades the intestinal tracts of adult bees and causes nosema disease, also known as nosemosis. Nosema infection is also associated with black queen cell virus. It is normally only a problem when the bees cannot leave the hive to eliminate waste (for example, during an extended cold spell in winter or when the hives are enclosed in a wintering barn). When the bees are unable to void (cleansing, flights), they can develop dysentery.

Nosema disease is treated by increasing the ventilation through the hive. Some beekeepers treat hives with antibiotics such as fumagillin.

Nosema can also be prevented or minimized by removing much of the honey from the beehive, then feeding the bees on sugar water in the late fall. Sugar water made from refined sugar has lower ash content than flower nectar, reducing the risk of dysentery.