Chalkbrood

Definition

Caused by Ascosphaera apis. Infected larvae die and dry into chalky mummies that workers drag out of the entrance, which is usually how a beekeeper notices it. Associated with damp, chilled brood and weak colonies, and generally managed by improving ventilation and requeening rather than by treatment.

Guide records that discuss this

• Breeding honey bees to resist varroa and diseaseHygienic behaviour, varroa-sensitive hygiene and grooming are real, heritable and measurable. Whether a queen sold as 'resistant' carries them, and whether they protect a colony against a given disease, are separate questions — and trials have answered both yes and no.
• Brood diseases: telling foulbrood from its look-alikesSeven different things kill or mark honey bee brood, and almost every one of them can look like another. What each is, what it is mistaken for, and why the answer comes from a test — and, for the two foulbroods, a report — rather than from reading the comb.