Differences between common diseases

Table 2 compares the distinguishing features of AFB and the other brood diseases and abnormalities.

Table 2: Distinguishing features of honey bee brood diseases and disorders

	Brood comb appearance	Age of dead brood	Colour and shape of dead brood	Consistency of dead brood	Odour of brood	Dried remains (scale)
American foulbrood	Normal cell cappings, sunken dark, perforated cappings, or cappings completely removed	Prepupae or young pupae	Off white, then coffee brown, then black. Even coloured. Lose segmented outline	Smooth rope 10-30mm. Elastic thread “snap back” when breaks. Difficult to remove larval remains	Like dead fish	On bottom side of cell, hard to remove, pupal tongue can often be seen
Sacbrood	Cappings same as AFB	Prepupae only	Grey or yelow then brown, sometimes with a grey or black head. Segmented outline present	Plastic sac, watery contents of sac often lumpy. Sometimes ropes to small extent. Prepupae easily removed from the cell	Slightly sour	Dark brown, easily removed in one piece. No tongue but prepupal head may be curled up. Scales not common, except in severe infections
Chalkbood	Cappings same as AFB	Prepupae only	White (often with a yellow head), or black	Soft, furry, filling cells, hexagonal shape. Later shrinking to hard chalky mummies	Not noticeable	White or black, hard, easily removed mummies
Parasitic mite syndrome	Cappings same as AFB	Older larvae and prepupae (not pupae)	White, grey or yellow. Dried remains may be orange	Watery, pasty; does not rope; dries to scale. Presence of varroa sometimes observed	Sometimes sour urine-like	Twisted up the wall of the cell. Sometimes curled around the entrance. Easily removed from cell. No tongue present
Half-moon syndrome	Cappings same as AFB. Multiple eggs in cells, eggs attached in chains, and sometimes drone brood in worker cells	Young larvae to older sealed larva	Off white to dark brown. Trachea may be seen as dark lines in larvae	Watery, pasty; does not rope	Sour urine-like	Twisted up the wall of the cell. Sometimes curled around the entrance. Easiliy removed from cell. No tongue present

Take the AFB 5 minute quiz

How well do you know what you need to know about AFB and beekeeping? Take our short quiz and find out.

Videos

Our videos cover everything from your legal obligations to how to recognise AFB, collecting cell and bee samples and more.

Symptoms

There’s a lot of good information here, telling you everything you need to know about recognising AFB: the visual symptoms, smell of AFB and more.

Inspection and Diagnosis

Successfully eliminate AFB by telling the difference between symptoms of AFB and other brood diseases in the hive. We tell you the best methods for inspecting your hives.

The Law

New Zealand beekeepers have a number of legal obligations that must be met regarding AFB disease. Read the shortened list in summary, here.

Elimination

Most hives become infected because bees, honey or equipment have been put into a hive from another hive that is infected with AFB. Lower your chances of an AFB infection by reading this section.

Find out when the next AFB Recognition and Competency Courses, or Refresher Courses are available. These are held throughout the year in various New Zealand locations across the South Island and North Island.

The AFB App

Follow the link below to open the App. Once open to save to your device you need to bookmark the URL on your phone so you can find it easily again. Please click here to open.