Our study session marches onward. Here is the study guide for the apprentice level exam for the Texas Master Beekeeper Program.
Previous Study Guide Posts:
American Foulbrood
European Foulbrood
Nosema
Chalkbrood
Sacbrood
What causes PMS isn’t really known. What is true, though, is that this disease is correlated with the presence of Varroa mites. So, it seems logical to me that this is something that rides in on the back of mites and infects the hive.
Just another reason to work diligently to keep the mite population in check in your hive. (Unlike the people I met recently who didn’t want to put “anything unnatural” in their hives and therefore had never treated for Varroa. They’d been keeping bees for four years and had yet to have a hive survive winter. Coincidence? I think not. But I digress.)
The more I’m studying all of these diseases, the more they sound a little like each other. Also, good beekeeping practices sound like they go a long way toward avoiding, reducing and eliminating every one of them.
Texas Apiary Inspection Service link on Parasitic Mite Syndrome
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