My younger brother decided to take the beginning beekeepers course from the Master Beekeepers program.
He came by today with a question. Seems one of the instructor's (Dr. No Name) made the comment that surveys have shown that hives located near garbage dumps and slaughter houses have a much higher AFB rate than hives in other locations. He said the instructor couldn't give an answer as to why.
I said, "You what that tells me?"
He said, "well it tells me that bees near garbage dumps and slaughter houses are foraging off animal waste."
"Maybe," I said, "But unlikely. What is likely is that either the bees are foraging water that is contaminated with raw animal fluids, and/or the Wasps and Hornets, who readily forage on animal wastes and fluids are taking the infection to the bees. Dining on raw meat one day and trying to rob a nearby bee hive of its honey the next."
I will try to get the name of the person who made the initial statement about AFB, garbage dumps and slaughter houses from my bother's class notes.
Mean while: Discussiion is open.