Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[What Now?]

We were encouraged by our local group to have our bees checked for nosema. We've got it. Now they suggest we do a comb change.

What do you lot reckon? Would you or would you not?

We have 2 hives. 1 Warre and 1 National which we try to keep in a 'natural' non or low intervention way. The warre, on a sample of about 20 bees was 'medium. The National, on a similar sized sample was 'high'.

I have no intention of doing anything with the warre.

What do you recommend with the 'National'? If you do reckon a comb change is a good idea - any suggestions?

What Now?

Thanks folks.

[AugustC]

This sounds very much like a decision you have to make about how you want to manage your bees.

The problem with doing a comb exchange is you would likely have to feed them to support new comb building and this could just exacebate their condition.
I am not sure a comb exchange at this point would make any difference anyhow. Even with Nosema this time of year most bees will poo outside the hive. It is just during winter it is a big deal. Then in spring when a large amount of bees are cleaning the comb ready for the queen to lay they get innoculated with the spores. So a comb exchange coming out of winter is a good idea, but this time of year the damage may be done.

Have you noticed any adverse effects on the colony or was this just a blind sampling that showed up the nosema?