22 EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



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often a little yellow or brownish colored from the dissolved pollen from the abdomen of 

 the bee. It has very little or no smell; does not at any time stick to the walls of the 

 comb; is easily pulled out of the cell; is never ropy or sticky, and, if the colony is properly 

 cared for, the bees will take care of themselves. Plenty of liquid, unsealed honey and 

 pollen near the brood, and hives so protected as to keep the bees and brood comfortable 

 on cold days and nights. 



Never put bees on -old black brood-combs, or those with dead broods in; better 

 make wax of the combs, and give the bees full sheets of brood-comb foundation. 



TREATMENT. 



Keep all colonies strong, with plenty of unsealed honey near the brood, and if hives 

 are properly sheltered, so as to be warm on cold days and nights, there will be little or 

 no pickled brood. If the queen is old, shows signs of weakness by putting several eggs 

 in one brood-cell and nursing several others, so that the brood is patchy, I would kill 

 such a queen, feed the bees a little, and, when queen-cells are started, remove them all 

 and give them a queen and bees, between two of her own brood-combs from a hive where 

 she has lived. I do not think pickled brood is often the fault of the queen, but rather a 

 lack of proper food and heat in the hive. In most cases, a shortage of liquid honey, or 

 moldy pollen, even in hives with plenty of sealed honey in the outer combs. There is a 

 time in spring in Wisconsin, between dandelions and white clover bloom, when there 

 is no honey coming in from flowers, and often cold days and nights, so that the live bees 

 consume the liquid, unsealed honey first, and cluster in a compact body to keep warm; 

 the result often is the larval bee, just changed from the egg to a tender little grub, is 

 either starved, haK-fed or chilled, so that it grows slowly, and too often it dies, and then 

 it is we first notice this about the time white clover honey begins to come in. In other 

 parts of the state, where pickled brood appeared, it was from the same cause, and at 

 other dates, which was due to a difference of time of honey bloom. 



Wherever I fed daily some honey, or even sugar syrup, and kept the hive warm, 

 all dead brood soon disappeared while in the same apiaries other colonies afifected and 

 not so treated, continued for some time, but got rid of it as soon as treated. 



Strong colonies of bees in the fall, with a young laying queen, and an abundance 

 of good honey, sealed or capped by the bees, if properly cared for during winter, whether 

 in the cellar or in chaff hives, wintered out of doors in sheltered location, seldom have 

 pickled brood, chilled or other dead brood, or dysentery, and are the colonies that give 

 their owner profit. 



BLACK BROOD. 



Black brood is another fatal and contagious disease among bees, affecting the old 

 bees as well as the brood. In 1898, 1899 and 1900, it destroyed several apiaries in New 

 York. Last year I found one case of it in Wisconsin, which was quickly disposed of. 

 Dr. Howard made more than a thousand microscopic examinations, and found it to be a 

 distinct form of bacteria. It is most active in sealed brood. The bees affected con- 

 tinue to grow until they reach the pupa stage, then turn black And die. At this stage 

 there is a sour smell. No decomposition from putrefactive germs jin pickled brood. In 

 black brood the dark and rotten mass in time breaks down and "settles to lower side- 

 walls of the cell; is of a watery, granulated, syrupy fluid, jelly-like; is not ropy or sticky, 

 as in full brood, and has a peculiar smell, resembling sour, rotten apples. Not even a 

 house fly wiU set a foot upon it. 



TREATMENT. 



Best time is during honey-flow, and the modified McEvoy plan, much as I have 

 treated foul brood, by caging the queen five days, remove the foundation starters and 

 giving full sheets, keeping queen caged five days longer. As great care should be taken 

 of diseased hives, combs, honey, etc., as in foul brood. 



DYSENTERY. 



Dysentery among bees in Wisconsin in the spring of the year is often quite serious. 

 Many colonies die with it. Dysentery is the excrements of the old bees; it is of brownish 

 color, quite sticky, and very disagreeable smelling, and is sometimes mistaken for foul 

 brood. 



