214 DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF BEES 



One of the best methods of treatment is to remove the queen 

 very carefully, disturbing the bees as little as possible. The hive 

 should then be tightly closed with the exception of a bee escape, 

 which will permit the bees to go out but give none a chance to 

 return. Take a frame of healthy brood from some other colony 

 and place in a clean hive. Fill the remainder of the hive with 

 full sheets of foundation or empty combs and place it where the 

 colony has stood. The queen may then be placed on the frame of 

 brood and the new hive left with the entrance somewhat smaller 

 than usual. Turn the hive containing the diseased colony around 

 so that the escape will be near the entrance of the new hive. The 

 bees leaving the hive go to the fields with their honey sacs empty 

 and returning enter the clean hive. As fast as the brood hatches 

 in the old hive the bees will leave only to find no way of return 

 and enter the clean hive in which the old queen is at work as 

 usual. This method has the advantage of saving the colony 

 without loss of brood or checking the laying of the queen. If 

 properly done this is perhaps the best method of dealing with 

 American foul brood. Some bee-keepers advocate setting the 

 diseased colony on top of the clean hive with the bee-escape board 

 underneath and the old queen left in the brood chamber. By 

 this method the bees will rear a young queen from the brood in 

 the frame given them in the clean hive while the old queen con- 

 tinues to lay in the diseased chamber above until she is finally 

 deserted by the workers. 



Late-Season Cases. — When a case of foul brood is found 

 in fall after the honey flow is over, it is seldom advisable to 

 attempt to winter the colony. In general it may be said that 

 treatment is not likely to be successful, excepting when there is 

 some honey coming from the fields or will be later in the season. 

 If cases are treated ahead of the honey flow, the lack of a flow 

 can be met by heavy feeding to stimulate the building of combs. 

 If the bees get well started in this way they will recover nicely 

 during the honey flow that follows later on. After the flow is 

 over in the fall it would cost more than they are worth to feed 



