# Nosema cures?



## suzyq (Jun 30, 2014)

If there is a natural way of dealing with Nosema this winter I would love to hear it. My honeybees have left dark poop all over the outside of the hive. Even as I was watching them through the upper entrance a honeybee stuck her butt out of the entrance pooped and went back in. Have read several articles and they all say fumagilin. (Not sure I can use that now) I would prefer natural remedy. I sent a photo to my cousin who has 32 hives and he said he saw no problem with it. I totally disagree. We have cold Wisconsin winters and I'm not sure a California queen is the way to go. Also I am getting more bees this spring and I don't want this disease spread to my other hive. I read the honey comb gets infected. Can you freeze it to kill the spores? First year wintering and I'm kind of at a loss for words. Don't want to lose them but don't know how to help them.


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

The first thing that you need to do is verify that it is indeed Nosema and if so which strain. Then go from there. As your cousin states there probably isn't a need to worry just yet. There's a good chance that what you may be seing is just bee diarrhea which is not the same as Nosema and will go away on it's own in the spring. 

How long had it been since the bees had their last cleansing flight?


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

next time there is a warm spell, verify how large the cluster is, I normally only see hives do this when there are not enough bees to break cluster. another option is scrape some of the bee poop off the hive and see if someone in your area checks for nosema, and have him take a look at the poop.


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## Beregondo (Jun 21, 2011)

With a dry hive and good nutrition, and otherwise healthy bees, nosema can clear up on its own.

It's not uncommon to see poopy mess on the front of a hive and the ground in front of it without having a nosema infection.

Here is a link to some articles by Randy Oliver that will get you well educated on nosema treatment. Part 4 is probably most relevant if you decide to treat them.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

suzyq said:


> My honeybees have left dark poop all over the outside of the hive. Even as I was watching them through the upper entrance a honeybee stuck her butt out of the entrance pooped and went back in.


There are many reasons why a colony gets dysentery, and it doesn't necessarily indicate a nosema infection. Long periods of confinement without cleansing flights will cause dysentery in some colonies. Unripened or inferior feed can do the same, as can Tracheal mite and/or varroa mite infestation. 

You could take a few bees that leave the hive to poop, and check them for nosema spores...make a slide with their poop and look at under 400x. But, at this point in a WI winter, there's nothing to do about it.


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## hex0rz (Jan 14, 2014)

I'm unaware of a nosema cure. But I'm aware of only one natural preventative. Fat bee man recommends using tea tree oil in syrup to combat it. Will be using it in the spring to try and see if it helps clear things up and then use it occasionally for a maintenance aspect.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

hex0rz, are you going to check your Nosema count before treatment and then after and then later? Are you going to treat some and not others to see what difference treating them does?


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## suzyq (Jun 30, 2014)

Drlonzo the bees were out around the second week of January. Way to cold before then. There was a lot of dead bees but also a lot of bee poop in the snow. Which by the amount of poop there was a lot of bees flying. I missed it. It was also in the middle to upper 30s that week. Our Wisconsin winters can be brutal. This year is mild so far compared to the last 2 years. How often in the winter do bees have to get out? Wildbranch2007 today was almost 40 degrees and I quickly checked the bees. For winter I added an upper entrance and the sugar candy is right by it. The bees tend to hang in there and when I took off the quilt box was pleasantly surprised how many bees I saw considering my bees had swarmed between 3 to 5 times this summer. Also have windows in the back of the hive so I took off the back of the Styrofoam and checked the bees with my phone flashlight and I saw dripping honey and sealed honey. Also saw bees in the upper box in the general area below the sugar candy. Any ideas why they would prefer sugar candy over honey? Beregondo have watched all Randy Olivers videos several times. He's a smart young man and very informative. I am obsessed with bees. Always reading, watching videos and photographing them. Even got one of my photos in Bee Culture Calendar 2015 and one in Beyond Pesticides 2015 Bee Protective Calendar . Michael I never figured I would be one of those people who would dissect bees and bee poop but I am seriously going to look into getting a microscope. HexOrz will certainly check on tea tree oil for early spring. Love the Fat Bee Man. Thanks everyone I really appreciate all the positive feed back and I am more hopeful for my bees. When I used OAX for mites I foolishly thought it would be smooth sailing through the winter. Never stop learning.


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## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

you can send a sample to the usda bee lab in Beltsville Maryland. go to their site, follow the directions exactly. there is no charge for the lab service. this will give you an accurate nosema count and a check for a bunch of other bad stuff. as well as tell you what the results mean... checking yourself will take 2 microscopes one high power and one 400x dissecting scope and a lot of practice and some instruction. it is interesting but not all that easy. I have done it and highly recommend that you use the usda lab.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

G.M. Doolittle used to argue that "dysentery" was not a disease of bees. It was just the normal condition of a bee that had been confined. Nosema ceranae does not cause dysentery and Nosema apis has been almost completely displaced by Nosema ceranae. They probably just have dysentery from being confined.


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## ccar2000 (Aug 9, 2009)

As a preventive routine I feed Fumagilin-B syrup in Mid-January, drench with it in Mid-February and drench with Nozevit in August. I have had better survival rates since starting this regime.


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## suzyq (Jun 30, 2014)

Mathesonequip Thanks for the info. Will see how the bees are doing end of winter to determine how to go from there. Checked into the website and will keep it flagged. Pretty cool that you don't get charged for their services. ccar2000 I'm trying to stay away from Fumagilin if possible. Will look into tea tree oil first but I appreciate the input. I'm more inclined to think like Michael Bush that it is just a case of dysentery because of our cold winters there are times bees can't get out.


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

In the past, I've had bad cases of what I believe was dysentery. It probably was not Nosema although things looked pretty ugly. Come good weather, it all cleared up just fine.


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## suzyq (Jun 30, 2014)

Ravenseye I do so hope you are right. Even though it was 35 degrees out a few days ago because we had fresh snow I can see my bees were out and taking cleansing fights out in the snow. It does not get any better than that! Quite a lot of bee poop and very few dead bees. Saved a honey bee I found in the snow. She was still moving and brought her inside under a warm light. After she started getting around good took her out to the hive by the entrance ledge. She walk around a bit and then took off! What the Heck! lol
Love your quote!


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