Bob, I haven’t come across any legitimate field trials showing that probiotics have any benefit. Have you found any studies showing benefits?

Solid! Nothing like this anywhere else on KZfaq. I really enjoy how you combine the "art and science" of beekeeping in your videos. Not too often you have a scientist and a seasoned (stressing this word) practitioner on the same stage. Like a good bottle of wine, you are only getting better with age Bob.

Great conversation and really helpful. "Comb is the liver of the hive...." Pure gold. Thanks Bob.

Great session I always appreciate this kind of thing from you folks at Blue Ridge Honey, because I know you have done your due diligence in each topic.

Good information. Thank you for taking the time to go to UGA for this interview. I appreciate your taking time to give back.

Bob, thank you so much. Your time spent researching and providing information/videos is a tremendous benefit to all of us in beekeeping!

Excellent video. VERY helpful info regardilng EFB. Thanks for all you do.

I completely agree! But I caution on the implication that probiotics will treat the disease. Nutrition, probiotics, husbandry definitely will help evade the infection but will not treat the problem. I use to think along that line of thought until slammed with EFB after my best efforts. A disease outbreak needs to be seen as an infection and needs to be treated like an infection otherwise it may become an epidemic within the operation. Medicine is medicine and needs to be respected as such. Supplements and alternative treatments aren’t medicine and needs to be respected as such. As mentioned, we have the luxury to use antibiotics, thank god. I agree, EFB is becoming a more serious problem Great content Bob!

Very informative thanks for sharing

Great stuff. Although I have been keeping bees for over 40 years, I always learn something new from your videos. The first thing I always tell new beekeepers is to watch all of your videos. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge.

Great videos Melting point of beeswax is 145 -147 Freezing is easy here northern sask we have 5-6 months of freezing which can get down to -40 or colder for weeks in the winter . There are many causes of the spread of disease etc Most spread is by the beekeepers husbandry . There are quite few things to help - keeping your hives fr stress -Keeping the hives large . -keeping your hives high and dry and warm - caution moving comb around to prevent spreading disease mites etc . - caution moving bees fr hive to hive to prevents spread . Regularly removing old comb . Regular thorough inspections Its a long list I appreciate your input im sure most who watch your videos realize how much extra effort this takes to help us Thanks for your help

Bob I agree that youth especially intelligent and creative minds that ate really interested in their field of study are a joy to work and converse with.

Thank you and Joerg Meyer for this excellent informative interview. Well done and God bless you

This was a fantastic, informative interview. Thank you for all that you do for our education. I learn so much from your videos.

Excellent video, Bob! My daughter graduated from UGA 's vet school a year and half ago. They had the opportunity to come visit you. She was very impressed. She really enjoyed Dr. Mayer's class. Her first month at work I had a battle with EFB and she helped me get a prescription with the help of the SC bee inspector.

Thank you for giving us your time and for sharing Bob.

This is great. Thanks for doing this!!!!

Great stuff!

Thanks Bob, excellent chat and wonderful information as always.

Great information. Thank you!!

Fantastic interview. Thanks Bob.

Solid information Bob! Thanks again for all you are doing!!!

Great job. Thank you very much.

Great information. It was nice to meet you at the Indiana conference this weekend. Safe travels and thanks again for sharing the information. - Tom

Good stuff Bob!

Quite educational. Thanks.

Bob that was great, it was very interesting.thank you.

Great video thank you for sharing

Thank you for this very informative video.

Thanks Bob for sharing! And thanks to UofG.

Great guest, and alot of knowledge between the two of you guys!

Thank you

Great information, thank you Bob and Dr Mayer! I always appreciate timely research and information on beekeeping issues.

Wonderful helpful information.

Mr. Binnie you have surpassed everyone that i know and seen anywhere in sharing knowledge. I have to thank you from the bottom of my heart and encourage you to keep up the excellent work. Greetings from Macedonia.

Really I interesting information! Thank you for sharing that!

Good info

Stellar info, it reaffirmed my suspicions on the monoculture issues facing beekeepers. Keep up the great work! 👍

Hi sir Bob happy birthday 🎂 at 70 all the best love 🎉

Great interview there Bob! I think it was around 20 mins into vid you said about swapping the comb out periodically. 110% agree. There is no point having comb that is more then 3 years old anyway. The cells gradually get smaller and smaller until its impossible for the queen to lay in. Older comb tends to get cleared up by wax moths in wild colonies. So swapping the comb out is good for the health of the whole colony. I usually do it evry other year. Its easy to do. Just put above the queen excluder so there will be no more eggs and soon as they fill it up and cap it. Time to swap for new frames with starter strips or foundation. No bees are harmed or lost in this proccess.

Great Information. Excellent lectures at the Indiana Beekeepers Conference yesterday and a pleasure to have you join my table for lunch. Robbie

Great video Bob! I’ve done 2 videos with the Bee Inspectors in the U.K. on foulbrood and I’ve learned a lot from this video. Information that I have never heard anywhere else. Great interview 👍🏻👍🏻

I’m new to bee keeping so am trying to learn all I can but I enjoy listening to you & learning

Bob, thank you for your excellent YT presentation. As a hobbyist you have given me a lot to think about. Probiotics during time of stress maybe of great value. Spring time being one of them. Moving bees to pollinate is one stress I don't have as a hobbyist and probably helps. This YT will be referred to by many other YT's discussing the uses of probiotics.

Briliant, hi from romania. I do use hive alive and i am realy happy using it.

Great information Bob. Loved the part about when your child is sick, you don't just go grab medicine. Know why you treat. I preach this to everyone I speak with that is new. Know why you perform tasks in your Apiary. Great conversation you had.

Thanks Bob, another great, informative interview. In 2002 Chinese honey was banned in EU and USA as the antibiotic chloramphenicol, was found in it. Thanks again from us in the UK, you always make your videos relevant to beekeeping globally.

This is such great information and I’m so grateful for it. On a helpful note, I have been using Strong Microbials for years and my hives thrive. I swear by it. Grateful.

Very interesting video. Hard to think about the news of European Foul brood, tetracycline resistance, and tracheal mites again. Always thought we put that to rest and behind us years ago. Like the talk, in you KZfaq videos, and the use of essential oils, not in syrup but by way of shop towels, and the sprinkling of powdered probiotics. Menthol and manufactured plastic strips with medicine were used along with tetra back in those days for FB, EF, Tracheal mites and Nosema. One thing I used years ago from one of our commercial beekeepers in our club, RO, was a metal box wax dipping procedure he used to deal with in preserving the raw wood in new equipment after putting those deep and medium boxes together in his own operation. He would redo that process sometimes years later after a few cycles of being by out in the sun. I think bees naturally coat the inside of our boxes with particles of beeswax and propolis. They are still rot and mold resistant to this day in my own, though I have scrapped and repainted white many of them. Don't know about that 2nd dipping if he still does that now in his Apairie. I borrowed it once, drained and cleaned it, and then used the products of paraffin blocks of wax, pine resin sold in 25 to 50 lb. bags and a very little of my own bright yellow refined beeswax from my own colonies, careful about the later for it has a higher melting point and can cause a bad fire. I wonder if all the people buying beehive Wooden ware from suppliers or dipping their own equipment have a lesser problem with this disease discussed in your video? I also used a bought old wax stainless steel beeswax rendering tank and a old huge galvanized pig scalding bowl with lye and hot boiling water under some concrete blocks outside to quickly dip my cleaned and scrapped up dead outs over the winter allowing them to dry and restocked them with culled cleaned up frames ready to do increases the next year coming spring, hoping that it would disinfect any diseases or molds on those boxes. It was something I used on my first 100 to 200 to 300 newly put together bee houses early on in my ascension to a sideline beekeeper. And a must completion to prevent splitting rather than dipping parts singularity and being to tight to hammer together, from experience. I too now use a clear cuprinol or green/brown copper wood preservative and boiled linseed oil plus acrylic white paint to treat my wooden beehive equipment these days and allowed to dry for a few months out in the open before painting and rolling with a gasoline airless sprayer. Well long comment as usual. And welcome any replys for or against out there if you want please? Your beekeeping friend GP. 🐝

Quite interesting, on our part we really need to up our methods of watching our hives. In the past we have read as to how different what is allowed and what is not allowed in Europe and Canada. In the United States we seem to more quickly "approve" many things and we often believe it may be in the mood of greed as opposed to the overall as well as long term possibilities!. Then in our area we have talked to some old time Beekeepers who insist that there is no such thing as a mite problem. Yet keep asking questions and why are they losing so many hives? Always great videos and we appreciate watching them, Thank You!

I believe Oregon State University has done research on Blueberry pollination and European foul brood. In 2018 I had bees next to a large blueberry farm in Oregon and they got European foul brood. I have not seen European foul brood since moving the bees away from the area.

If I can add: selecting for hygienic behavior and maintaining strong colonies make sure the bees can handle stressors better.

In the Netherlands beekeepers are allowed after an outbreak of AFB to reuse their hive boxes after scrubbing with hot soda (polystyrene hives) or scorching with a flame. All the combs and feames are burnt.

Colloidal silver but specifically nano sized particles work well for most phenotypes of EFB and AFB.

You might be able to make your own lactobacillus inoculant. Look up lactic acid bacteria from korean natural farming. We might be able to make this inoculation and put it in our water source we offer our bees. Im going to try it i think.

😊no EFB in western Australia

L salivarius probiotic works very well for EFB

Lactobacillus salivarius A3iob Reduces the Incidence of Varroa destructor and Nosema Spp. in Commercial Apiaries Located in the Northwest of Argentina

👍👍

Two years ago I got EFB all through my apiary. I have never tried probiotics and considering I went from 40 hives to 1, I think I will invest in some and see if it will be worth the investment.

Hi Bob, here in the Uk , EFB is reportable to the National bee unit who will come out and test if positive then badly effected hives are burnt, not so bad hive can be shook swarmed removing all brood and super cell/wax and burnt and boxes scrubbed with soda crystals and scorched. They then come back and check but your whole apiary is put on a stand still order untill your clear

Bonjour. AFB EFB Argent colloidal + le cuivre colloidal donne un très bon résultat . Bien cordialement.

Great content Bob. Thanks so much for sharing! I'll share with our local Whatcom County bee club. Thinking about probiotics...partially due to the cost...when, and how often do you feed PB's?

I know of situations where kids have been in hospital on antibiotics for a long time to the point where they no longer work, at which point the doctor tells the parents to take the child home and get him to play in the dirt. Maybe a handful of dirt in the beehive will do the trick, or feed them manuka honey?

Morning Mr Binnie!

Thanks Bob! Seems like urbanization and monoculture ag are two big problems, and they’re only getting worse. It will become harder and harder to find spots with diverse natural pollens if development isn’t directed in a smarter way.

I really enjoy all your videos they are always very informative. I know my question is off topic but I was wondering if you will be selling any bee equipment at the trade show this year? If so when will you start taking pre-orders? I’m interested in buying about 20 HDO lids. Thanks again for all the videos

One more thing you could add, and I know you do this. Keeping young queens. Young queens seem to provide a more robust and resistant colonies. At least in my opinion.

Once again Bob, you hit a home run with a video Prior to Covid our area was advertising irradiating equipment. It was so much per pallet. The process killed everything. I haven't heard about it for a few years. I'll have to check with the local club to see if they are still doing it. Could you make a list of the different probiotic products on the market for us to research

morning when talking about AFB , can one use a fire torch on inside of box to rid the spores from that box, will the open fire flame kill it, or do they need to be burned to ash,, thank you bob for all the knowledge you show us,, ty jim

Bob, do you know if probiotics can be added when mixing up pollen sub (e.g. UltraBee, BeePro, etc)? My standard recipe includes sugar, water, and olive oil. I don't know anything about probiotics, and wondering if it could be incorporated as part of my normal spring buildup feeding. Seems like adding it to the patty mix might be an efficient method of application.

The one question I was hoping you asked is can the bees be shaken into another box with clean comb like better comb where the queen can start relaying.? I keep better comb on hand for emergency situations

Freezing does not kill bacteria. Instead, it essentially puts them into hibernation.

I’ve started wax dipping my own equipment. Would submerging the hive body in 250-260 degree wax for 20 minutes not kill AFB spores.

Not Bob but no on the torch. Yes, fire will kill but as was said in the video duration of heat and getting every possible nook and cranny. To do it thoroughly your box would be charcoal when done.

Wondering if hygienic bees have an advantage with efb as studies have shown with AFB

I wax dip my boxes. If I got afb would re dipping kill all spores?

..one more share. I think the exact same storm is brewing with pesticide treatments for Varroa Mites. So many of us beekeepers just keep throwing pesticides and by this we are slowing breeding a super mite that will one day be resistant to all. Just my two cents.

Does wax dipping kill afb or efb

How many times a year do you give probiotics to the hive

This is big deal, beekeepers. Thank you, Mr. Binnie, for flagging this.

Ps AFB is total apiary burnt

Question Bob: Did Joerg imply that freezing will kill American Foulbrood? And second question will freezing kill the spores. Thank you.

K.I.S. 🤨So all that really needs done is kill the spores, even if you burn the equipment you would be releasing those spores in the the environment. 🤔What about a wax dipping? The super heated wax is WELL over the temps needed. Also because of the heat induced hydraulic action causes that super heated wax to penitent deeper into the wood then any spore could. I would think that previously dipped boxes might even help the spores from penetrating the pores wood.

How common is a f b