86 



XHE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Queries $c ^je:plics. 



Bee-Diarrhea in the South. 



auery, No. 4 Why is it that some of my 



tees have diarrhea and others have not V 

 I have 7 colonies, and all have been ted (more 

 or less) on granulated-sugar syrup, and some 

 are nearly extinct on account ot diarrhea, 

 while others are not affected at all, All the 

 queens are rearing brood plentifully, in 

 tliese infected hives. My bees have been 

 gathering honey all the winter trom Japan 

 plum We have had no winter weather, so 

 far • now, what do you think is the cause of 

 this disease V What can I do to save the 

 bees? Is the new honey the cause of the 

 troiihle •/ Will they come through the win- 

 ter by rearing brood plentifully V What bees 

 are most subject to diarrhea? Is there any 

 way to stop this disease ? How large should 

 the entrance be in winter?— Iberville Par., La. 



Prof. A. J. Cook replies as follows : 

 " This is something new, and even an 

 opinion would be dangerous. We had 

 supposed that the South were free from 

 such vexations. If anybody can throw 

 light on this, it will be Mr. Viallon and 

 other authorities in the South. 1 should 

 look to the quality of the food." 



Messbs. Dadant & Son say : " There 

 are two main causes of bee-diarrhea— thin 

 honey and decimated colonies. The bees 

 ■which have the diarrhea the most are, 

 probably, the weakest colonies; but if 

 they are as strong as the others, then it is 

 the unripe honey that is the cause ot it." 



James Heddon replies thus: "I am 

 still of the opinion that the cause of all 

 bee-diarrhea is the nitrogenous food which 

 they consume either in the shape of bee- 

 bread or floating pollen in the honey. Of 

 course sugar syrup cannot be expected to 

 prevent bee-diarrhea as long as bees can 

 avoid it and use honey in its stead. My 

 experience is that those bees which breed 

 the most should have the disease the 

 worst. Had there been no new honey or 

 pollen, and not much old pollen in the 

 hives, no diarrhea would have resulted in 

 the case in question. 1 do not know just 

 what I shuuld do." 



G. M. Dooi.iTTLE answers as follows : 

 "I do not think that bee-diarrhea is the 

 cause of the trouble. As brood-rearing is 

 being carried on extensively, the excre- 

 ment ot the young bees has been taken as 

 implying bee-diarrhea, while the real 

 trouble lies in something else, as poison- 

 ous honey, etc. 1 would give them dif- 

 ferent combs, except leaving two or three 

 of those containing brood, and feed good 

 sugar syrup for awhile during the day till 

 the Japan plum is out of bloom. Young 

 bees are the most subject to diarrhea. 

 Bees should not have it in Louisiana, it 

 seems to me. I use the whole width of 

 entrance in the winter, but robbers might 

 bother in Louisiana, if thus used." 



W. Z. Hutchinson responds thus : 

 "This query 'knocks me completely off 

 of my pins.' I supposed that bees in a 

 climate so warm that they could gather 



honey all winter, never perished with 

 diarrhea. In the light of what Mr. Doo- 

 littlegives us on page 5, it would be in- 

 teresting to know if the healthy colonies 

 were also breeding. The cause may be in 

 the food. I wish it had been mentioned 

 if those with the most sugar stores were 

 free from bee-diarrhea, or vice versa. I 

 know of no way to save the bees except 

 to change their food ; give them empty, 

 clean combs, and feed them a syrup made 

 of pure sugar ; if they are much reduced 

 in numbers, it is doubtful whether they 

 can be saved. If they continue to rear 

 brood 'plentifully 'all winter, they will 

 certainly ' come through.' I do not know 

 that one variety of bees is more suscepti- 

 ble than another to bee-diarrhea. I know 

 of no way of 'stopping' diarrhea except 

 by giving the bees a flight (and it would 

 seem that they might have that in Louisi- 

 ana), and feeding them pure cane-sugar 

 syrup. The entrance should be as large 

 in winter as in summer." 



J. E. Pond, Jn. says : " In order to 

 give an intelligent answer to this query, 

 a number of facts more should be stated 

 in regard to the condition, etc, ot the col- 

 onies. Are the dying bees young and 

 lately emerged from the cells ? or are 

 they old ? Is there any old honey 

 stored in the hives ? If so, what is its 

 condition ? What is meant by ' gather- 

 ing honey all winter ?' Does that mean 

 every day, or only at occasional intervals? 

 While the whole matter in any case is 

 one of uncertainty, correct answers to 

 the above questions would give a clue to 

 the matter, and tend to explain the cause 

 of the trouble. My experience is that one 

 race of bees is no more liable to bee-diar- 

 rhea than another ; but that it is the very 

 young bees which are usually affected 

 with it." 



Dk. J. p. H. Brown replies thus : "Be- 

 cause the conditions are not the same, 

 bees are very rarely affected with diar- 

 rhea in the South ; but it can be brought 

 on by feeding very thin, watery sugar 

 syrup or honey during a stress of bad 

 weather, either rain or cold, which pre- 

 vents the bees from flying. This I have 

 as clearly demonstrated to my satisfac- 

 tion as a geometrical problem. I have 

 seen the same conditions with bees in 

 leaky, wet and damp hives. If the bees 

 in question must be fed, make the syrup 

 thick, and feed inside the hive on clear, 

 warm days when they can freely fly. The 

 tliin, watery honey, no doubt, is the ex- 

 citing cause. The disease will disappear 

 as soon as there is less raiii and more 

 sunshine. In some localities in the 

 South, where the yellow jasmine abounds, 

 the young bees, at about the lime they 

 take their first meals, become diseased 

 with a sort of diarrhea caused by the 

 poisonous honey and pollen from this 

 vine. But as the bloom only continues 

 for a few days, it is soon over. In the 

 South it does not matter much as to the 



size of the entrance. It is better to have 

 it contracted by tin guards to keep out 

 mice when the weather is sufficiently 

 cold to benumb the bees." 



Dk. G. L. Tinker answers thus : "As 

 this is the first instance recorded of bee- 

 diarrhea occuring at the extreme part of 

 the South, to my knowledge, it is inter- 

 esting, as it excludes apparently every one 

 of the theories heretofore advanced to 

 account for it save one, and none more 

 conspicuously than the pollen theory. 

 Even the strong light thrown on the sut>- 

 ject in a recent article by Mr. Doolittle, 

 in which late fall or winter brood-rearing 

 is held to be a cause, does not make the 

 matter clear as to these cases ; for there 

 was no confinement, and ' plentiful ' win- 

 ter brood-rearing without bad effect, can- 

 not be an uncommon thing in many parts 

 of the South. My belief has been that 

 there is more than one cause for the dis- 

 order, since none of the alleged causes 

 (some of which certainly enter as factors) 

 can be made to account for all of the 

 cases. The 'germ ' theory may yet have 

 a favorable hearing, and be found to ac- 

 count for many cases. To the ones in 

 question it seems applicable." 



G. W. Demakee responds as follows : 

 " It would be quite as difficult to answer 

 why some of the bees in question have 

 diarrhea while others have not, as it 

 would be to answer why some ot my 

 fowls have died with the so-called cholera 

 while others have been entirely exempt 

 from the disease. I think, however, the 

 true cause is given ; the bees are gather- 

 ing honey and rearing brood in the winter- 

 time, and however mild the winter, they 

 must be subjected to ex])osure, and occa- 

 sional confinement at a time when the 

 nursing-bees are preparing food for the 

 young. I can produce ascites in bees at 

 any time when they are handling new 

 honey and preparing food for the young, 

 by simply setting a case of sealed honey 

 with the bees in it, in a cool, damp cellar. 

 One does not have to wait long to see the 

 results. The sealed honey will condense 

 moisture, and the damp atmosphere sur- 

 rounding the bees will check exhalation 

 from the bodies of the bees, and dropsy 

 of the abdomen is the natural result. In 

 this experiment we see the necessity of 

 plenty of upward ventilation. Proper 

 ventilation would carry off the moisture 

 surrounding the bees, and healthful ex- 

 halation would carry off the excess of 

 moisture in the bodies of the bees, and the 

 grosser matter would pass off in the form 

 of dry excreta. In your climate, when 

 your bees cease to breed in the fall, give 

 each colony from one thousand to two 

 thousand square inches of air-space above, 

 the frames ; this will regulate untimely 

 breeding, and help the bees to understand 

 that it is winter. These directions are 

 given for Southern locations. I speak 

 from experience. Ot course you will 

 cover the frames with quilts at the proper 

 time in the spring. 



