Diseases

There is no substitute for first hand experience and learning from the experts, disease recognition workshops are a great way of learning to recognise the syptoms. Below are some reference photos which might help with diagnosis, there is lots more information on the National Bee Unit Beebase web site and on the University of Sussex Site

Healthy Brood

Firstly always know what healthy brood looks like. C shape, segmented and pearl white:

American Foul Brood (AFB)

Characteristics include greasy sunken closed cappings:

Notice all the scaling near the edge of the inside of the cell:

The tell-tale signs of the proboscis in one side with shrivelling:

European Foulbrood (EFB)

Uneasy placing of collapsed brood:

Lack of segmentation:

Sac Brood

The pupae do not develop or shed the last skin which locks in the pupae as it rots containing the spores.

The brood is pointing downwards but that is because the head does not develop:

Varroa Damage

Note in the middle that mites are present and pupae are weak and rotting:

For more information on monitoring: Varroa Calculator and Lifecycle of the Honeybee and Varroa Mite