American or european foulbrood disorder

[beeginner]

I wasn't able to check all of the articles in this bee forum and am not sure if the issue of the American foulbrood disorder came up. Yesterday, we visited a local beekeeper who raises his bees as naturally as he can, however he is still feeding his bees with antibiotic in early spring to prevent the American foulbrood disorder.
We will buy couple of his beehives full of bees and honey in the spring, however, I don't want to give them antibiotics.
Is there anything else that can be done to prevent this problem?
Thanks.

[beenatural101]

This is a very good question, and one that requires some discussion. First of all, European foulbrood is not a real problem here in the US. Our bees handle it very well, and if your bees get it, you probably need different bees anyway, rather than giving them chemicals. Good thing you want to stay away from it. The american foulbrood can be a bigger problem, in fact they have been having problems in europe with it in modern hives. The reason for this is simple, american foulbrood is a bacterium which spreads by spores. Spores like fungus do. Spores have some real advantages when it comes to reproducing. 1 there is always a large number of spores produced
2 they are very small and light and can travel a very long distance
3 they can last unimaginable lengths of time in harsh environments and remain viable
This means that spores are everywhere, and as soon as conditions are right, they will sprout/hatch/whatever.
The thing about foulbrood spores it they are everywhere, and bees continually bring them into the hive, either picking up random spores, or robbing dead hives of honey or propolis. This is not a bad thing, really, it is how it works in nature. The spores build up in the old wax until the threshold is reached where the bees get infected. The hive, which may have been in a cavity (tree) in nature perhaps 10 years at the most and have spawned many swarms will now pass on, and the wax moths will clean it all out. In a year or so this cavity will be found again by a scout of a swarm and become home to a new colony. Not a bad thing, it is how it is set up. Now that we understand the whys of american foulbrood, the most we can do is not let our wax get older than 3 years old and not feed our bees anything from another hive.
So what it comes down to is if your area is not one where there are great concentrations of spores (some areas have more problems than others), you have bees of good stock (ferals or survivor queens I think are the best, I can give you email for a couple folks), and you cull your wax (jot down the date the bees started building on the frame (or bar) on the end). when its 3 years old it will be black almost and time to go. Know the signs, and if you do get foulbrood, there are things you can do to save your bees, but you have to feed.
If you have signs of foulbrood, shake all bees into a new hive body (burn the hives, frames and wax) and feed for 3 days. Give them new foundation after that (cutting any comb they may have built by then) continue feeding and pray.
Or my philosophy
Burn the bees in the hive, get new equipment and different bees.
Hope we dont see any

[beeginner]

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement.
A little while ago I purchased a video from Amazon.com on organic beekeeping. The video was very helpful in many ways, however it did not touch the subject of any possible diseases. The lady who made the video invited the viewers to email her with any questions, so I did. What a great person she is. I really enjoy corresponding with her. Her name is Randy Sue and perhaps you already know her or have heard of her.
In her email she also encourages me to go natural and that eventually the ones that will survive will build a stronger brood.
I guess I am just terrified of a thought of going into the hive and finding most of my bees dead.
I also came across a lady with all natural bees, but she is about 6 hrs driving distance from us and the climate is much dryer over there. I would like to get her bees as well and try them regardless of the difference in our climates. Is it a good idea? We get a lot of rain here although summers are very hot and sometimes dry lately.

[beenatural101]

Some very good questions. People say changing lattitude and elevation can stress bees, making them moody. Also, the "new blood" in any area is bound to breed some interesting bees. Any time you mix up the pot, there really isn't any way to tell what is going to shake out. I do not know Randy Sue, would love to meet her. Yes, you may get some stronger lines through such hybridization. The big word today is diversity. The gene pool has been full of bees that were bred for certain things, calmness on the combs, large hives, low swarming, etc. Not much has really been paid attention to the things we really want, like bees that will survive. That has taken a back seat with the dollar driving the bus. My advice? get many different kinds of bees eventually you will come across one or two that you either buy or raise that impress you. I have one...maybe 2. I am still watching.

[beeginner]

Here is the link to the information about the video I mentioned above. organicbeekeeping101.com/aboutus.html
Randy Sue Collins is the lady in the video.