Undertaking honey culture tests (HCT) is an important part of managing American foulbrood (AFB) and keeping your colonies healthy. For anybody running 50 or more colonies, honey culture tests are a compulsory part of adhering to the Code of Practice in NSW (and most other states). Part 1 of my article (which appeared in issue #123.9 - March 2022 of The Australasian Beekeeper) explained how to undertake the honey culture test. Now we continue...

How to interpret the results from a HCT test 

Negative (meaning nothing was detected). The background AFB spore count is