140 EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



period of queenlessness. The length of the period of queenlessness is 

 inversely in proportion to the strength of the colony. If they are as 

 strong as some that Dr. Miller had when he had that bad year, ten 

 days is right, and if they are as weak as Mr. Alexander commonly had, 

 twenty-seven days is necessary. So if you keep your colony of bees 

 queenless until the diseased larvae have disappeared, that is quite 

 enough. If it takes a longer time for the colony of bees to get rid of 

 the diseased larvae, they are not as strong as they ought to be. So 

 that we have a measuring stick that every bee-keeper can apply to his 

 OAvn yard. If you don't have to keep your colonies queenless at all, 

 you have 100 per cent of the proper strength. 



Now, the second method of treatment which I want to call to 

 your attention is this, I have seen it used a number of times with very 

 excellent results. Let us suppose, for instance, that we have fifteen 

 diseased colonies in the apiary. It does not make any difference how 

 many. Suppose we have fifteen. Let us examine those fifteen, and 

 in connection with their inspection grade them according to strength. 

 And here, we will saj", are ten strong ones and five of the weaker ones 

 that we get. Now let us shake these ten stronger diseased colonies on 

 to drawn combs, it does not matter where those drawn combs come 

 from, they can be drj' if there is a honey flow coming on. If there is 

 not any hone}^ flow immediately, give them some honey, and I don't 

 care where that comes from, but shake them to drawn combs. Un- 

 tested Italian queens take the medium of shaking, and j'ou know that 

 is a good time to introduce a queen, to run them right in with the 

 shaken bees, that takes them away from all the brood, the diseased 

 material, which is then piled on the five weaker ones. You see that 

 each colony of the five will get two broods on top of it. 



Now these ten colonies that have been shaken to drawn combs, 

 perhaps with a little honey, and with a young Italian queen. The 

 queen gets busy right away. Those colonies have a chance to build 

 up, and if it is a little while before the honey flows, thej^ have a fair 

 show of building up to a respectable strength, not to full strength 

 probably, unless the honey flow is very light. 



Now, the five that have been stengthened by the addition of two 

 broods shaken to each colony, will suddenlj^ be increased greatly in 

 strength, and after a little while you will find that say three out of the 

 five have become stronger than the ten that you shook before. Then 

 shake those and introduce an Italian queen to the three, and if you 

 care to, you can introduce Italian queens to all of them at the first 

 operation, if that seems preferable, then you have two with a lot of 

 brood on which is piled up. Some of the combs will be entirely out of 

 brood, and j'ou can take those awaj' if you wish. It is very seldom 

 that you have to shake more than four-fifths of the colonies in an 

 operation of that kind. 



Now the third method, which is commonly used in Cahfornia 

 and in other places where European foul brood is present, is to lift the 

 brood to the second story, put an excluder Ijetween the first and second 

 story, and put the queen below, with full drawn combs. That sepa- 

 rates the queen and the brood. The queen cannot continue to lay 

 in the cell where the bees are, and the disease is usually eliminated. 



