Should Colonies be Treated for Nosema Disease?
A SMART beekeeper knows that sick bees do not pollinate very well and don’t collect near as much nectar as healthy bees; and hence, he automatically treats every colony for Nosema in the fall with Fumidil-B at a cost of about $3/colony. Now the question is: Are you SMART or too cheap to spend $3? Bee scientists and bee researchers have estimated that over half of all bee colonies have some infection of the Nosema disease, and although the disease rarely kills a colony, it badly weakens most of the bees in the colony with a “bellyache” and diarrhea. These sick bees just can’t attack a good nectar flow with a great deal of vigor. Think about it – How well do you work when you have a case of the “runs”? Also, the disease shortens the already short 42 day life span of the worker bee; and this sickness is just one more of those secondary illnesses associated with PMS, parasitic mite syndrome. A sick bee is much more likely than a healthy bee to be infected by mites or Foul Brood which event
