Transmission of Chalk Brood Disease of Honeybees by Infected Queens, and Worker Brood and Adults

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Abstract
Chalk brood infections were produced in disease-free nuclei by transferring honeybee queens, adult workers, and unsealed or sealed brood from diseased colonies. Bees fed Wheast patties remained disease free for 7 weeks, but all nuclei except the controls were infected 2 weeks after they were fed 2-year-old pollen. Bees that removed the diseased larvae most readily recovered from the disease and reared as much brood to the sealed stage as the controls. This suggests that selection for the best hygienic behaviour may be one way to control chalk brood. The disease disappeared in all nuclei during the study, but we were able to recover the fungus in either macerated queens or workers taken from the infected nuclei of bees by streaking suspensions onto plates of potato dextrose agar fortified with 4 g/litre yeast extract.