A healthy swarm of bees climb on a wax comb from a honey bee hive at the College of Veterinary Medicine Teaching Apiary in May 2025. Honey bees are important to the Georgia economy, both for honey and for pollination, but beekeepers have a difficult time finding qualified veterinarians to prescribe medicines when hives become infected. Three UGA professors are creating a curriculum to train veterinarians in apiary health. SPECIAL PHOTO: DOROTHY KOZLOWSKI
Julia Mahood has been rearing honey bees for two decades, so when a hive showed signs of a bacterial infection called European Foulbrood, she decided to set an example for other beekeepers.
She called a veterinarian for an antibiotic prescription and posted about the problem on social media.
“It was expensive,” she said, and embarra