Biosecurity kit

[gavin]

Having recently been looking at EFB-infected and not-EFB-infected colonies I have a basic biosecurity kit in the back of the car. It might be of interest to some to see what is involved.

1. Basin (£1, Tesco)
2. Small plastic brush (not in picture, 50p, Tesco)
3. Two hive tools of your preferred design (quite few quid, Thornes)
4. 1kg pack of soda crystals (aka Washing Soda, 90p, Tesco)
5. Solution (1 kg soda, small skoosh washing-up liquid, 5l water, old screen wash container)
6. Box 100 latex gloves (£9 and a bit, B&Q). Marigolds a possibility instead.
7. One black bin bag for the bee suit after a visit to live infection.

http://www.sbai.org.uk/images/biosecurity%20kit.jpg

Procedure.

New gloves between apiaries, or between colonies if there is active infection.

One hive tool in the washing soda while the other is used. Some use a blowtorch instead.

Not all the crystals dissolve in 5l so you can top it up with more water until it does.

Scrub the bellows of the smoker and the hive tools at the end of the session.

Seal the bee suit in a black bag to remind you to stick it in the washing machine.

When we met up last week I made people put disposable overshoes on too. That is going a bit far unless you have a large group of people visiting an infected site.

hope that helps - feel free to criticise (even Steve's boss if you are reading!)

Gavin

[Neils]

Paging Meg! Seriously, I've seen the back of her car :D

By and large no problem with that at all. I prefer three hive tools an two uncapping forks myself but apparently I'm overcautious.

We at least use the same brand of washing soda (nothing to do with it coming from a pound shop I'm sure!) :)

Marigolds are expensive, but you could wash them in the soda in between inspections and dispose after each apiary rather than each hive with the latex gloves.

I also tend to have two suits. Between my own sites I'm not that bothered, but I do cycle them once a week so there always tends to be one clean in the car and the other on the washing line.

[gavin]

Yeah, I have two suits too, but I don't rigorously cycle them. As of now, my experience with real as opposed to pretend EFB is very occasional.

You pay £1 for the soda? It is cheaper in Tesco!!

[Neils]

I dunno, I guessed, it's taken a year for the water to go crunchy and brown and us to run out of soda so I guess I should buy some more. This is Bristol, we burn Tescos for warmth while we fight the police. It might cost more in the local shopbut that's the way we like it


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vFe2a29hms

[gavin]

LOL!! Ages since I've seen League of Gentlemen. Funnily enough I spent much of the evening sitting in a room discussing local things, including local shops. Mostly local climate change adaptation though.

[Karin]

How much does a DIY EFB testing kit cost and where would you get it from?

I leave the smoker at the apiary, so as not to risk spread between apiaries, but I like the idea of scrubbing hte belows. Hadn't thought of that.

[Neils]

I believe you can get lateral flow devices from vita (same people who make apiguard) but I'm not sure If the main suppliers stock them nor what they cost.

I think if someone didn't have one in their kit and had any suspicion that they had FB their first call should be to their local inspector.

[Neils]

[edit] know the conversation is in the context of putting together kit and maintaining hygiene but still a point worth making I feel :)

Tapatalk playing silly buggers and I can't edit the post.

[Jimbo]

Gavin,

Not many club card points then if you were making up a kit. If we save up enough points we could trade them in for a PO ferry ticket to visit Jon's bee breeding set up (You get 4 times the value on PO and Eurostar etc)

[gavin]

Good idea Jimbo! Nellie will be stuffed - he's burnt them all down apparently. Perhaps I should get a replacement Club Card then (stolen during a trip to India!) and perhaps use it to get to Gormanston next year.

Ahh ... there was a Tapatalk plug-in update which your dilatory administrator studiously ignored. Maybe soon.

Karin, Thornes sell the EFB test kit at £6.62 a throw. The previous SBA Diseases Convener (ahem), after discussions with the President, recommended to the members that if they had suspicions of EFB they should call the inspectors. Two reasons:

- it is a notifiable disease and if you have suspicions that is the law
- the test kits have been failing in the wrong hands, giving negatives when they were in fact positive. The worst kind of mistake.

That last factor contributed to the late discovery of the outbreak. At least one of the commercial beekeepers affected had used test kits, obtained a negative, and continued under the assumption that the outbreak was PMS (see other thread!) rather than EFB. The age of the larva sampled is crucial, and this was *not* explained in the instructions.

[Jon]

If we save up enough points we could trade them in for a PO ferry ticket to visit Jon's bee breeding set up (You get 4 times the value on PO and Eurostar etc)

That hi tec system involves cell cups from buzzybee shop, a fine paintbrush for moving larvae, and so far this year two queenless colonies and two queenright ones for grafting into.
One thing which has worked is getting a group together which gives access to maybe 70 apideas so there is a home waiting for any cells produced.

Getting back on topic I would need to take on board the possible disease implications of having all those apideas with other beekeepers' bees in and out of my apiary.

[Dan]

Gavin - good general kit. Mine is the same but different - well we are beekeepers, aren't we?! :D

I pre-mix my soda wash in a 5l bucket with lid. In this live a green plastic pan scrubber and a wire pan scrubber. The mix discolours quickly but this is generally because it is such an excellent solvent(?) for propolis. Gets rinsed and refilled regularly of course, but it means it's there at a moment's notice in the Land Rover and travels without spills between apiaries. Hive tools don't live in there as I prefer Taylor's non-stainless types.

A trick I learnt from the local inspector is to carry some round tip forceps for easing 'interesting' larvae or pupae out of cells. Matchsticks can rupture them too easily.

I make sure I attend at least one 'disease day' a year to keep my eye in - both for signs on the comb and for diagnosis under the microscope. Locally we have good and enthusiastic inspectors and of course the two NBU extension officers, by chance, so such events are regular.

I too have seen test kits fail; you have to be very specific to guarantee a positive result from a positive sample in the field, where you may not have the luxury of 'textbook' samples to pick from. I agree strongly with the advice to not carry your own test kits but call the inspector in as & when. Those field test kits have a relatively short 'best before' date too, so an out-of-date kit in the hands of a well-meaning but inexperienced user risks false negatives.

[Dan]

I would need to take on board the possible disease implications of having all those apideas with other beekeepers' bees in and out of my apiary.

The apideas will be as clean as the hives they were stocked from, and the gloves they were handled with. You've got an interesting hygiene boundary because it overlaps your mating apiary and (technically) those that any apideas were stocked from. Worst case scenario is that your mating apiary becomes a hub for disease transfer :(

If you can afford it in future, I'd consider one or two strong colonies loaned to the mating apiary as designated donors for stocking anybody's apideas through the season. Bring them in cleaned, provisioned, and ready to go, stock in the apiary, add queen cell. That way you remove a concern, material only ever flows out of the mating apiary. The donors could also usefully double as drone mothers but watch varroa & virus levels if you do.

[Jon]

That makes complete sense Dan, especially if the donor colony can also be a drone producer.
We have been given a really good site on a National Trust property but did not have time to set up the drone colonies this year. Next year everything will move over there. There is an additional site 200 yards away with a long north facing hedge where the apideas will be set out. Roll on 2012.

[The Drone Ranger]

Gloves of all types powdered or not synthetic or impregnated with lanolin or aloe vera all less than the B/Q ones at www.justgloves.co.uk

I wear two pairs and replace the top ones after each hive

[gavin]

Thanks for the link. I just spent £18.20 at B&Q for 200 gloves, fool that I am.