1970
5 January 1970
$670 loss for beekeeper
Sixty-nine commercial beehives valued at $670.00 were destroyed at Capertee recently because of American Brood Disease.
Agriculture Department Apiary Officer Mr. Bruce White said with honey flows just commencing in the area the loss to the beekeeper could be greater.
The outbreak occurred when bees from the hives were fed honey from a tin containing traces of Bacillus larvae spores.
Mr. White said American Brood Disease is highly infectious and if allowed to go unchecked would threaten the whole beekeeping industry.
During December other outbreaks of the disease occurred at Darbys Falls, Toowong, Bathurst and Burraga.
Mr. White urged all apiarists to check their hives immediately for signs of the disease.
Symptoms to watch for are:
Coffee coloured larvae which ropes out when poked with a match.
Discoloured sunken and perforated cappings of the brood.
Hard scales on the lower side of the cell.
“It is important to hold frames to the sunlight because symptoms can be seen only in the lower side of the cells,” Mr. White said.
If signs of the disease are found apiarists should contact the Department of Agriculture at Orange immediately.
If in doubt, a sample of brood should be forwarded in a bee-proof container.
Mr. White said any hive can pick up the disease without the beekeeper being at fault.
He stressed that spores of American Brood Disease carried in honey are not harmful to humans1
.