DISEASi:s OF BEKS. 



141 



DISEASES OF IJEKS. 



llie l)ees will neglect llie luootl, when it will 

 (lie, as before described, But tliere may be 

 a great abundance of honey or syrup in the 

 hives, and still the larvae will die. Some 

 springs and early summers there is a lack of 

 pollen. In order that brood-rearing may be 

 carried on in the hive there must be nitro- 

 genous food of some sort, either of natural 

 pollen or of bean or rye meal which the l)ee- 

 keeper may set out. Sometimes malted 

 nj ilk powder is strewn over the combs; but 

 as this is rather expensive, w'e'would advise 

 giving the bees bean or rye meal, or any 

 meal that is obtainable from some grain. 

 This should be put on boards in a simny 

 l)rotected place outdoors. 



During the early spring of 1909 consider- 

 able pickled or dead brood was reiiorted 

 from various sections of the country. In- 

 vestigation revealed the fact that this was 

 nothing more nor less than starved brood ; 

 starved, not because of a lack of honey or 

 syrup, but because of the entire absence of 

 pollen in the combs. A good deal of brood- 

 rearing had stalled from i)olIeii that was left 

 over from the season before; but when this 

 was exhausted, the poor bees, not being able 

 to get any thing from natural sources, sim- 

 ply had to let the brood die. It is impor- 

 tant, therefore, to see that all hives during 

 the previous fall are supplied with pollen in 

 one or two combs, for there can be no brood- 

 rearing without it. 



CHILLED, OVERHEATED, OR 

 POISONED BROOD. 



If the grubs all seem to have died about 

 tlie same date, one may conclude some 

 external change, probably a chilling atmos- 

 phere, or an exposure of the combs to a sud- 

 den change in the weather was the cause— 

 l)articularly so if he discovers no odor of 

 sourness or foulness. If the brood that 

 comes on subsequently seems to be healthy, 

 and continues to be so, then he may be sure 

 he has no infectious disease. He may then 

 conclude that his brood is probably chilled 

 and possibly poisoned, as a large amount of 

 brood dies every fruit-bloom season, as the 

 result of poison sprayed on the trees by the 

 orchardist. If he tinds any such dead brood 

 in liis hives at that season he may conclude 

 it died as the result of poison. 



Overheated brood does not often occur 

 except in the hottest weather, when the 

 combs have been exposed to a hot sun with- 

 out any bees over it, or when the same has 

 been confined with a powerful colony with a 

 closed entrance. When moving bees, and 



insufficient ventilation is given, many of the 

 bees often die of overheating. In all cases 

 of this kind much ol' the brood will be found 

 dead. One will very often find that some of 

 the brood looks suspicious from a shipment 

 of bees just received by experts. Occasion- 

 ally we have had reports from our customers 

 of how they had received foul brood through 

 a shipment of bees, not knowing that the 

 nucleus or the hive of bees is often exposed 

 liy the expressman during shipment, to a hot 

 sun or in a room with no air circulating. 



SENDING SUSPECTED SAMPLES OF 



DEAD BROOD TO THE (;0\^ERN- 



MEXT BACTERIOLOGIST. 



We have taken pains to describe the vari- 

 ous forms of dead brood, often called 

 pickled brood, in order to enable the bee- 

 keeper to determine what he has in his yard; 

 but if he finds a case of dead brood that 

 smells quite strongly acid or sour, he had 

 better send a sample, about -ixo inches. 

 WTapped in paraffine or oiled paper, the 

 whole inclosed in a stout wooden or tin box, 

 to Dr. E. F. Phillips, Bureau of Entomol- 

 ogy, Washington, D. C. The report from 

 the bacteriologists will soon determine what 

 the trouble is. If the report comes back, 

 "Not black brood nor foul lirood," then the 

 sender may rest easy. If the case looks like 

 black brood, first smells a little sour and 

 then afterward takes on a nasty decayed 

 odor, we would advise treating the hive as 

 if it w^ere black brood. 



BLACK BEES LESS ABLE TO RESIST FOUL 

 AND BLACK BKOOD. 



It may be stated that black bees show less 

 disposition to resist European or American 

 foul brood than Carniolans or any of the 

 new races. It follows, therefore, that all 

 European foul brood should be eliminated 

 from the apiary as soon as possible, as 

 repeated tests have shown that the German 

 bees do not resist any disease as w^ell as 

 the yellow races. But one must not rely 

 entirely on a change of blood, as this of 

 itself will not effect a cure in a great major- 

 ity of cases. 



A strong honey-flow always has a ten- 

 dency to check the spread of both Ameri- 

 can and European foul brood. In the same 

 way, heavy feeding wnll accomplish much 

 the same result. But it often happens 

 after a honey- flow, when stores are partly 

 consumed, that the diseased matter is un- 

 covered, when the dead larvae, showing the 

 effect of the microbe poison or disease, will 

 begin to appear again. 



