760 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



General Correspondence 



AMERICAN FOUL BROOD 



A Plan for Simplifying the Second Shaking by Giv- 

 ing the Bees Two Drawn Combs in Addition 

 to Full Sheets of Foundation when 

 They are Shaken the First Time 



BY E. D. TOWNSEND 

 Continued from last issue. 



In my first article I mentioned treating 

 a colony for a neighbor where some of the 

 combs in most of the hives were built cross- 

 wise of the frame. Tlie diseased colony 

 had four or five combs built straight in the 

 frames so they could be removed. The 

 other side of the liive (that side containing 

 most of the honey left over from the win- 

 ter) was immovable, except as the combs 

 were cut from the frame. These combs 

 were cut out and taken to the honey-house, 

 and none of it brought back to the hives. 

 A portion containing brood was burned. 

 I sui)pose all beekeepers who have had foul 

 brood have been through a similar experi- 

 ence and know what a sticky mess we had. 

 It could hardly be called treating of dis- 

 ease; but still,' by proper management it 

 was a success. As it was during the honey- 

 flow, and as this beekeeper had not taught 

 his bees to rob, we were not troubled along 

 this line. The four or five straight combs 

 of honey and brood that were left were 

 spaced about two inches from center to 

 center, in the middle of the hive, the cover 

 returned, and left until the next morning. 

 The last morning all the drip from cutting 

 out these combs was cleaned up by the bees 

 and stored in their combs, and the colony 

 was ready for treatment by the McEvoy 

 plan, the first handling being only for the 

 purpose of putting the combs in shape to 

 treat later. 



Two weeks after the first shaking, the 

 weak colony containing the two or three 

 stories of diseased brood are ready to be 

 treated, and are handled according to the 

 plan I explained first, using two empty 

 combs, a clean hive, etc. 



I mentioned before that a w-eak colony 

 is not strong enough to take care of more 

 than a small part of the unsealed brood 

 given them. I will now explain this. 



We treat our diseased colonies at the 

 opening of the clover flow, as I mentioned 

 before, as clover is about all we can depend 

 on for our surplus honey at this one yard 

 in question, since the basswood has almost 

 entirely disappeared; and as clover never 

 yields more than four weeks, and in some 

 seasons only two or three, it will be seen 

 that, if we were to wait until all the brood 



has hatched — that is, three weeks — very 

 likely the season would be over, and there 

 would be no use of treating the colonies, 

 for they would then be of no value. After 

 just two weeks the colony will be a power- 

 ful one ; and if they can have a honey-flow 

 lasting a week, the bees will fill their hives 

 and be in good shape for winter. 



After shaking we carry the old diseased 

 comb to the bee-tight honey-house. There 

 we cut them out of the frame into a metal 

 washtub, because this kind can be washed 

 easily, leaving what clean comb there may 

 be in the frame. If the remaining combs 

 contain honey we extract it, then cut out the 

 rest of the combs and render them into 

 wax, burning the old brood-frames as well 

 as the combs in the tub that contain bad 

 brood. Never extract honey containing dis- 

 eased brood. Never extract honey from 

 comb containing diseased brood. 



Disease will exist in different stages of 

 development in different colonies. Some will 

 have but few diseased cells, while others 

 will have a large amount of their brood 

 dead, and yet be strong in bees. Still 

 others may be found in the last stage of 

 the disease — their combs nearly a solid 

 mass of dead brood with not enough live 

 brood hatching to keep up the number of 

 workers so that the colony has dwindled 

 considerably. If this condition is not tak- 

 en care of it will soon be a prey to the 

 robbers, and thus the disease will be car- 

 ried to other colonies. 



We have been accustomed to handle dis- 

 eased colonies in three different ways, ac- 

 cording to the stage to which the disease 

 has i3rogressed, as follows : 



First, the colony having but a dozen dis- 

 eased cells is considered quite harmless. 

 The bees are shaken back into their own 

 hives without disinfecting, direct on to 

 foundation. They need no second shaking. 



Second, a colony having considerable dis- 

 eased brood, but not enough to reduce the 

 number of workers aj^preciably, is treated 

 as I have described above, with tlie two 

 empty combs, etc. If the amount of diseas- 

 ed brood does not exceed that in one comb 

 the bees ai'e shaken back into their own 

 hive which is not disinfected; but the two 

 combs are shaken the second time, accord- 

 ing to tlie regular plan I have described. 

 If the colony has a large amount of dis- 

 eased brood the hive should be disinfected, 

 as I will explain later. 



Third, a colony that has dwindled dowji 

 until it is very weak because of disease is 

 of no account, and is not saved. Bees in 



