AFB Reported in Bristol
Brooke Decker
Pollinator Health Specialist
State Apiculturist
Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets
American Foul Brood Announcement
August 12, 2020
American Foul Brood (AFB) Paenibacillus larva has been confirmed at an apiary located in Bristol, Vermont.
The multiple hives and associated equipment have been destroyed by fire by the beekeeper. The remaining colonies are under quarantine and enhanced inspection protocols.
Beekeepers should remain diligent in their hive inspections. Weak, declining, or dead-out hives should be closely examined for scale and clinical symptoms of AFB, before being reused.
Samples of comb, bees, brood or larvae can be sent to the USDA Beltsville Laboratory in Maryland, for analysis.
Enhanced cleaning protocols should be adopted after inspections of colonies suspected of any disease or pathogen, especially AFB. Regularly sterilizing your hive tool, gloves, smoker, and clothing is a recommended best practice for all beekeeping operations.
Any suspect findings of AFB must be reported immediately to Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets-
Brooke Decker
Pollinator Health Specialist / State Apiculturist
802-272-6688
Extracting Your Honey Crop
You're finishing your first successful beekeeping season and now it is time to learn how to harvest your honey crop! Join VBA Vice President Andrew Munkres, of Lemon Fair Honeyworks as he shares his expertise. We suggest you register early as this is a popular workshop.
REGISTER TODAY! - (Login Required)
Note: We are still working out details on how we present this workshop. It may be a live video program on Zoom or part of it may be pre-recorded then presented by Andrew who will take questions during the Zoom call. In any event, we will announce details as they become known. Since this workshop is being arranged on short notice we wanted to give you the opportunity to register for it as soon as it was scheduled!
Last Night's AMA Online
We've posted the recording from last night's AMA Zoom meeting where we discussed AFB and how it is being managed, along with a number of interesting topics. Take a listen (login required) and sign up for the next one...
AFB Reported in Hinesburg
Brooke Decker
Pollinator Health Specialist
State Apiculturist
Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets
American Foul Brood Announcement
July 30, 2020
American Foul Brood (AFB) ) Paenibacillus larva has been confirmed at an apiary located in Hinesburg, Vermont.
The multiple hives and associated equipment have been destroyed by fire. The remaining colonies are under quarantine and enhanced inspection protocols.
Vermont Bee Lab is Open
The Vermont Bee Lab is happy to announce that we are now open and ready to receive samples. We are currently offering tests for Varroa mites and Nosema.
Samples can be dropped off or mailed.
For more information on collecting and submitting samples, check out our FAQs on our website and view our video:
Italian Honeybee on Italian Parsley
Photo by Scott Wilson
American Foul Brood Reported in Additional Locations in Vermont.
Brooke Decker
Pollinator Health Specialist
Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets
802-272-6688
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
American Foul Brood has been reported in 2 additional locations in Vermont.
On July 6th 2020, additional cases of American Foul Brood (AFB) Paenibacillus larvae, were self-reported to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. The cases were located at 2 different apiaries, one in Jericho and one in Orwell, Vermont.
The colonies showing clinical symptoms of AFB were destroyed by fire and remaining colonies sampled for laboratory analysis.
Beekeepers should familiarize themselves with AFB symptoms and observe carefully when inspecting colonies and equipment. Any suspect findings should be reported immediately to Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets Pollinator Health Specialist, at 802-272-6688.
Pests & Diseases of the Honey Bee
Brooke Decker, Pollinator Specialist with the Vermont Department of Agriculture, Food & Markets presented Pests and Diseases of the Honey Bee to VBA 
members participating in an online conference.
The presentation covered a variety of topics and detailed what Vermont beekeepers need to watch in order to keep their colonies healthy. The complete presentation is available to everyone in a format that allows you to annotate or make notes on each page and is formatted to easily read on your mobile device. You can also zoom-in, download and print the pages.
The online conference is also available to VBA members by logging in to the site and going to our Webinars page.
