LINCOLN COUNTY, Wyo. — The Wyoming Department of Agriculture (WDA) recently notified registered apiaries, or bee keepers, in and within seven miles of Lincoln County, Wyoming to be proactive in the detection of the honeybee disease foulbrood after it was recently confirmed in a hive.
According to the WDA, American foulbrood (AFB) is an infectious, notifiable, bacterial brood disease that weakens and kills honey bee colonies. Adult bees are not affected by AFB but can spread spores within and between infected and clean hives.
Michael Lamere, Beekeeper and Founder of Sweet Life Wyoming in Alpine, described to Buckrail the early life cycle of honeybees in three developmental stages: the queen lays eggs in honeycomb cells, which grow into larva and after three weeks form a pupa or baby bee. This cycle is collectively called bee brood or brood. The brood of Western honey bees develops within a bee hive or in man-made, removable frame hives, called brood frames. If a beekeeper’s bee box, also known as “brood box” or “hive body,” becomes infected, a spore forming bacterium called Paenibacillus larvae, which is not visible to the naked eye, attacks and kills the larva.
“AFB has only been confirmed in one hive in the State of Wyoming but we’d like all of our beekeepers to be proactive when it comes to this disease because of how easily it can spread,” Manager of the Technical Services Division of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture Slade Franklin said via press release. “We don’t anticipate more cases as of now but it has also been found in surrounding states so this is a good opportunity and reminder for producers and hobbyists to keep a close eye on their hives for the health of their bees.”
Early detection of the disease is important because routine apiary management and interchange of hive components can easily spread the disease to healthy bee colonies, the WDA said via press release.
Lamere recently received a letter from the WDA stating the detection of foulbrood near his home in Alpine.
“We received a notice about foulbrood because a bee could potentially fly out and infect another colony,” Lamere said. “Bees typically fly a maximum of a mile, so it’s unlikely my bees will become infected, especially because I’m surrounded by the Palisades Reservoir which is a great protective barrier. We will know more in the spring when the bees become more active. It is unsettling to know the disease is in Wyoming, especially because it’s unknown where the spore originated.”
According to Lamere, foulbrood can survive for years and it has the potential to create a huge loss for a beekeeper. The disease is not able to be cured, meaning that destruction or eradication of infected colonies, hives and equipment is the only way to manage AFB, per Bee Aware’s website.
Lamere’s bee business oversees three honeybee colonies, which he says equates to approximately 80,000 bees. As a rule of thumb, his bees need to produce 100 pounds of honey reserves in order to sustain their dormancy over the cold months.
“Bees live on the edge out here,” Lamere said. “Over the winter colonies get smaller when temperatures dip below freezing and the severity of last winter caused people to lose a lot of bees. I’ll see how my bees hold up this spring.”
The WDA suggests all apiary managers and hobbyists across the state inspect their hives to look for symptoms of the disease. Symptoms of foulbrood include: sealed brood cells that have become discolored and sunken, punctures in brood capping, dead larvae that are dark brown/black and sticky/ropy in consistency, black scale that is a brittle incrustation that adheres tightly to the cell wall or flat on the floor of the brood cell and/or a foul odor.
Upon inspecting hives, if there is a concern about a possible AFB case, contact the WDA or submit samples to the USDA Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, MD. The testing service is provided by the USDA at no charge.
