April 4, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



213 



Convention Proceedings. | 



Report of the Michigan State Convention. 



BY WM. G. VOORHEIS. 



(Contiaued from page 203.) 

 BKE-PAKALYSIS — SPRING DWINDLING. 



Mr. Berg — What are the symptoms of bee-paralysis and 

 what is the remedy ? Can it be cured without changing the 

 queen ? 



Mr. Root — There are different liinds of bee-paralysis, or 

 it acts differently in different locations. 



Mr. Berg — The bees look shiny, and seem to bo shaking or 

 trembling. 



Mr. Root — In the South the disease is worse than in the 

 North. When the queen is taken away they do better. 



Mr. Kitson— 1 think my bees had that disease early in the 

 spring. 



Mr. Hilton — It is the result of inflammation. 



Mr. Chapman — I have not been bothered with it in my 

 apiary. 



Mr. Root — The bees that are not affected will put the sick 

 ones out of the hive. 



Mr. Rankin — I have had no experience with this disease. 

 I have tried to introduce it among bees, as an experiment, with 

 queens and combs sent from the South, but did not succeed. 

 I do not think that bee-paralysis will do much harm so far 

 north. 



Mr. Hutchinson — Nothing has been said about it for the 

 last two years. 



Mr. Kitson — I know what spring dwindling is ; I lost one 

 colony by it. 



Mr. Kaufman — I lost a dozen colonies in that way. I 

 cured them by changing them around, putting them in the 

 place of healthy colonies. 



Mr. Kirkpatrick — I do not think that the young bees have 

 it ; only the old ones are affected. 



Mr. Root — When the bees begin to store new honey the 

 disease disappears. 



FOUI. BROOD. 



Mr. Hilton — I have a letter from C. A. Huff about getting 

 a law past against foul brood. 



George .Jaquays — I got colonies with foul brood from East 

 Jordan ; it destroyed every colony I had but one. 



Mr. Kirkpatrick — Four years ago in the spring I shipt 

 12.J colonies of bees from Indiana. I also took 67 colonies 

 from a bee-keeper in this State to keep on shares. These last 

 had been wintered in pits ; I took them home, and afterward 

 found that 37 of them had foul brood. I went all over the 

 neighborhood but found no foul brood anywhere except in my 

 apiary, and I burned all colonies thus affected. The next 

 year I bought more colonies, but found that they also had foul 

 brood, and I destroyed them. I lost 220 colonies all together. 



Mr. Rankin — I do not think it necessary to destroy the 

 colonies by burning them. The disease can be cured, but we 

 must be protected from the bee-keepers who are careless to 

 regard it. I think a law should be past similar to the one in 

 effect in Wisconsin. They have the disease under control in 

 that State, and I think that when colonies are affected with 

 foul brood and ordered destroyed by the foul-brood inspector, 

 the bee-keeper should be compensated, as live stock is com- 

 pensated for. We ought to have a State inspector. When I 

 find a colony affected with foul brood I mark the hive with a 

 capital " B," and put a ring around the letter. Foul-brood 

 germs can endure a great amount of dry heat, but can not 

 live thru a very high temperature of moist heat. My cure 

 for the disease is as follows : Scrape the hives — burning the 

 scrapings — then swab out tlu' inside with kerosene. Set the 

 brood-chambers one above another, then r.et tire to them, and 

 when the blaze comes out of the top put on a cover to smother 

 the fire. Next scald the hives, frames, ct:, with a solution of 

 corrosive sublimate — % ounce of corrosive sublimate to one 

 gallon of water, putting them all into a tank of this solu- 

 tion, and thoroly washing them in it. Carbolic acid can be 

 used, if preferred. Care must be taken to see that no luuiey 

 gets on the ground, as there is danger of other bees getting it. 

 It is well to soak the hives, etc., about 30 minutes in this solu- 

 tion, and te sure to burn the brood. The combs can be melted 



into wax, and if there should be any honey in the combs, it 

 can be extracted, and heating it will destroy the germs. 



A motion was made and carried that Jfr. Rankin, Mr. 

 Bingham, and Mr. Hilton, act as a committee before the Leg- 

 islature, to get the foul-brood law past. The committee must 

 have the help of the bee-keepers in this State, and each one 

 was requested to write a letter to his or her representative or 

 State senator, asking them to support the passage of this law. 



L.\RGE YIKLDS OF HONKY. 



Mr. Root — I understand that Mrs. .Jackson had an extraor- 

 dinary yii'ld of honey about two years, and I wish that she 

 would tell us about it. 



Mrs. .lackson — I had one colony that did not swarm which 

 filled 10 supers of 24 sections each. The total yield from 18 

 colonies, spring count, was 27UO pounds and an increase of 

 ly colonies. There were no other bees near me. There was 

 a heavy flow of honey all the season, and the bees were in the 

 best of condition. 



Mr. Kaufman — During a basswood flow I had a colony 

 bring in as high as 22>< pounds of honey in one day. 



Mr. Kirkpatrick — I used to keep bees in Ohio, but get 

 heavier yields of honey here than I did there. Last year I 

 got 93 pounds of raspberry honey per colony, and this year I 

 got 104 pounds per colony. 1 always get ready for the rasp- 

 berry flow. 



Mr. Chapman — I always get a good honey-flow from rasp- 

 berry bloom. 



SECOND DAY — building ip colonies in spring. 



Jlr. Berg — How shall we build up colonies in the spring ? 



Mr. Root — Tuck them up warm. 



Mr. Berg — As 1 have studied it I must have chaff hives. 

 I do not think that bees wintered in the cellar do as well 

 as those wintered in chaff hives. Bees must be in warm 

 quarters with lots of honey, and must have a queen not more 

 than two years old. During warm spells in winter bees win- 

 tered in chaff-hives have a chance for a flight. They also 

 begin to breed early in the spring. 



Mr. Chapman — 1 have had experience with both single- 

 walled and chaff-hives, and I always winter my bees in the cel- 

 lar, and lose only about 1 percent. I requeen every year. I use 

 the common Langstroth 8-frame hive, and put empty cases un- 

 der the one filled with brood, using the queen-excluder when I 

 commence to tier up. Last season my 4-story colonies aver- 

 aged over 100 pounds per colony. I allow each colony to rear 

 its own queen, but as some of these are queenless sometimes 

 I keep some colonies for rearing queens. I have had some 

 experience with spring work, and have not lost many colonies 

 from chilled brood. My honey is from raspberry, clover and 

 basswood. 1 kill all queens at the beginning of the basswood 

 flow, as I want young bees for wintering. 



Mr. Hilton — Mr. Chapman must be very familiar with his 

 honey-flow. 



Mr. Chapman — I put all my light colonies in a row, and 

 see that they have honey enough to last them until the honey- 

 flow commences. I have very little swarming, and produce 

 only extracted honey. 



Mr. Berg — 1 should prefer to have the bees strong before 

 fruit-bloom. 



Mr. Hilton — I could not follow Mr. Chapman's plan for 

 comb honey. One must know his location and know how to 

 work his colonies. Mr. Chapman has two seasons for brood- 

 rearing — one early in the spring and one in the fall. Those 

 reared in the fall are the ones to be put into winter quarters. 

 Bees can not winter on unripe honey, and every bco-kfceper 

 must know his location in order to succeed. What method 

 would do for one locality would not do for another. 



Mr. Berg — I would like to ask if Mr. Chapman has good 

 queens. 



Mr. Chapman — I find I have better queens than I can buy. 



Mr. Root — Mr. Chapman could not rear new races of 

 bees in this way, nor those extra-long-tongued queens. 



Mr. Chapman — My bees are all Italians. 



Mr. Hutchinson — I see no difr(U'ence between rearing your 

 queens and swarming. By his method Mr. Chapman makes 

 up any loss. 



Mr. Chapman — I keep watch of the drones and have only 

 selected ones with which to breed, and permit only two colo- 

 nies to rear drones. 



building up weak colonies. 



Question — How can a weak colony be built up in the fall ? 



Mr. Hilton — We can not build up a weak colony. 



Mr. Berg — I unite a weak colony with one that has a good 

 queen, and sometimes unite three In this way. 



Mr. Kirkpatrick— All colonies should be strong when put 

 into winter quarters. 



