November, 1915. 



American IBae Journal 



having had foulbrood in them had have 

 disease. 



Four years ago I had but three colo- 

 nies alive in the spring out of 15 with 

 which I went into winter; these three 

 colonies when they began to rear brood 

 smelled so foul that the odor was very 

 noticeable in the immediate vicinity of 

 the hiv s. I sent a sample to Dr. E. F. 

 Phillips, of Washington, and word was 

 received back that European foulbrood 

 was the cause. 



As most of the neighboring bees had 

 already died of the disease, and I had 

 invested a considerable amount in my 

 bees, 1 decided to keep the bees and 

 see if I could cure the disease. 1 talked 

 with Mr. Seamans, at Factoryville, Pa., 

 who, in an article in Gleanings in Bee 

 Culture some time before, had attributed 

 the disease to the queen, and was re- 

 queening his bees. I also read every- 



FIG. 57. -BURDOCK 



thing at hand on the subject and started 

 my experiments in effecting the cure 

 by Mr. Seaman's methods, requeening 

 two of the three colonies with 3 banded 

 Italians; result, no improvement. I 

 next tried the method of making 

 them queenless for 30 days and giving 

 an Italian queen at the end of that 

 time. Again the disease recurred. In 

 July the worst colony of the three, a 

 colony of blacks, cast a swarm, and in 

 my absence my father hived the swarm 

 in a hive-body full of combs I had in 

 the cellar from a colony which had 

 died in the spring of foulbrood. They 

 contained dead Iarv;e, a very little 

 honey, and were theoldest combs I had 

 at that time. Imagine a more hopeless 

 prospect! But something happened. 

 The weather for four days was wet and 

 stormy, and no new honey was brought 

 in. The colony apparently used up all 

 the honey they had brought with them 



and every cell that was in the hive, and, 

 besides that, cleaned out the old combs 

 until they fairly shone. I watched the 

 result anxiously. No disease appeared 

 in that hive. My faith in the diseased 

 queen theory received a serious set- 

 back. 



Acting now on the theory that dis- 

 eased honey was the cause of the dis- 

 ease, I took frames of brood from my 

 one healthy colony and started three 

 nuclei which I placed on the other 

 three stands. Over one of them I 

 placed an excluder and the three bodies 

 of diseased brood. This colony had a 

 young 3-band Italian queen, and I soon 

 had a rousing colony there, which 

 cleaned up the combs and nearly filled 

 them with honey during the late clover 

 and basswood season. 



The frames of brood below were 

 carefully watched, but no disease was 

 found during the honey flow. At the 

 end of the basswood season there were 

 several days during which little nectar 

 came in, and in a week I had a well 

 developed case of fou'brood beneath 

 the excluder, which I reasoned must 

 have come about from honey carried 

 down. A few cells of foulbrood also 

 appeared in the two other nuclei at 

 this time, but as colonies of bees were 

 dying all about me from the disease I 

 thought little of that, and concluded 

 that if I were to cure the disease I 

 must have a more resistant strain of 

 bees. The breeders of yellow Italian 

 stock made the greatest claims in this 

 respect, and I accordingly secured 

 queens of these bees from some south- 

 ern breeders. 



Again I put all diseased combs above 

 an excluder on one hive, and put my 

 bodies of honey, which had been above 

 the excluder before, in the honey room 

 and tried again. No disease appeared 

 except belowthe excluder after a series 

 of stormy days, and in about three 

 weeks I removed my combs from above 

 the excluder and left the bees to build 

 up and store for winter. I kept watch 

 of the brood, however, going over it 

 about once a week. Twice I found one 

 or two diseased larv.e, and I placed 

 these combs at the side of the hive 

 body away from the other brood, first 

 removing the contents of the diseased 

 cell, taking a frame or two at a time 

 from each as they could be spared and 

 feeding a little sugar syrup when the 

 honey flow stopped for the year. 



I went into winter with nine 6-frame 

 colonies in fair condition with no ap- 

 parent signs of foulbrood. Seven of 

 these wintered and I began to feel bet- 

 ter. Three of the seven showed a few 

 cells of the disease during the early 

 part of the season, but I raised these 

 combs above the excluders and gave 

 them no further concern until extract- 

 ing time. I have had no signs of the 

 disease since, in that apiary, though I 

 was not satisfied with the business end 

 of my yellow bees, until I substituted 

 my southern stock with southern-bred 

 yellow bees, of which I can speak only 

 in glowing terms. This yard which I 

 previously had as a home yard is now 

 an outapiary some 30 miles away. 



Wishing to test out my previous ex- 

 periences more fully, I purchased a dis- 

 eased colony and taking it home where 

 I could watch it, put it with four other 

 colonies of bees, one black, one yellow 

 and two 3-band. None of the other 



colonies acquired the disease up to 

 July 1, but as the diseased colony was 

 getting in bad shape, owing to the 

 progress of the disease, I put the old 

 queen together with two clean frames 

 of brood from other hives on the 

 old stand, and set the diseased col- 

 ony to one side. Ten days later I again 

 moved the diseased colony to one side 

 and put a nucleus with a yellow queen 

 on that stand. Then as soon as the 

 young queen hatched, taking four 

 empty combs from the diseased colony, 

 I placed them in the diseased hire body 

 and shook the bees (blacks) with their 

 virgin queen upon them. 



The first of these three swarms 

 which I formed from the diseased col- 

 ony, and which has had the queen from 

 the hive when it was so badly diseased, 

 is perfectly healthy, but I have just re- 

 placed that queen with a yellow one. 

 It is a good colony and will go into 

 winter in good shape. The second is 

 also healthy, but probably will be still 

 weak by fall, and require a little feed 

 to carry it over. The third is now a 

 fair 4-frame nucleus, and I will join it 

 with some other colony later. 



From these experiences I deduct that, 

 with me, the bees apparently do 

 not carry it on their feet, for it will 

 be noticed that I have had conditions 

 where all of the field bees from badly 

 affected colonies have gone to a clean 

 nucleus without carrying the disease 

 to it. 



It does not seem to be a disease of 

 the queen, for I have repeatedly placed 

 such queens on clean combs with no 

 recurrence that could not be accounted 

 for by diseased honey. I have nearly 

 all the combs from my original 15 dis- 

 eased colonies with only healthy brood 

 in at this time, hence I cannot believe 

 that it is dangerous to use these combs 

 if properly cared for. 



My method now is this : I place all 

 diseased combs over an excluder for 

 about 24 days. All brood will hatch 

 and diseased cells be cleaned out in 

 that time. Then I remove the diseased 

 frames, extract and pile them where 

 the bees cannot get to them until brood 

 rearing stops in the fall. I then wet 

 them thoroughly and place them over 

 some colony or colonies above a honey- 

 board without an excluder. After three 

 or four days when it is convenient I 

 take off these combs and store them 

 with the others, the little diseised 

 honey which had been left by the ex- 

 cluder will be taken to the center of 

 the brood-nest where it will be imme- 

 diately us;d bythe mature bees without 

 injury to them, and the cells which 

 contained it will be thoroughly cleaned 

 so that there is no danger of their 

 holding the germs of the disease. 



As to how it is spread from hive to 

 hive I can only surmise as others do. 

 My theory is this : A loaded bee often 

 enters the wrong hive. If the bee is 

 quite young it will stay; if it is old it 

 will load up an additional load of honey 

 and depart for home, to return as a 

 robber bee to meet a robber's fate. If 

 it happens to have carried away honey 

 from a diseased cell the trick is done, 

 the honey is fed to several larvs and 

 the disease is established. 



As to Dr. Miller's theory that the 

 disease is spread in the hive by the 

 nurse bees sucking the juices from 

 larvae (lea4 of the disease and feeding 



