254 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apr. 15 



EUROPEAN FOUL BROOD. 



BY H. HARLEY SELWYN. 



I hardly care to take issue with Mr. Cava- 

 nagh on the subject of European foul brood 

 and the curing of it, as he has had years of 

 experience while I have had but one; but I 

 should like to make a few remarks as to our 

 work with the disease this past season and 

 the methods we tried to prevent its spread- 

 ing. 



Mr. Cavanagh's statement as set forth 

 March 1, p. 130, that, during a honey-flow, 

 combs of brood and honey from an infected 

 hive which has been shaken can be placed 

 over a healthy colony, the queen of which 

 has been conflned to the lower body, and 

 that no danger of spreading the disease will 

 result, seems to me rather hard to believe in 

 view of the following, which is our experi- 

 ence in the matter. 



I would mention, first, that we had never 

 seen the disease, and it had gained consid- 

 erable headway before we realized that there 

 was something the matter with the brood 

 in many colonies. This, of course, started 

 aninvestigatoaas to the source from which 

 it came, and we were immediately suspicious 

 of some box hives we had bought, and the 

 contents of which had been distributed 

 among a number of the weaker colonies 

 early in the spring to help strengthen them. 

 A hasty inquiry as to the appearance of 

 brood affected with European foul brood 

 confirmed our fears, and a visit to the api- 

 ary some twelve miles distant, whence the 

 box hives came, showed it to be also ram- 

 pant there. Let this be a warning to those 

 who contemplate buying bees in box or any 

 other kind of hives. Never again shall it 

 occur in the writer's camp. The saying goes 

 that one's experience is often dearly bought, 

 and we certainly paid dearly for those three 

 box hives, as, I feel sure, they were the 

 means of our losing hundreds of dollars dur- 

 ing the season. 



We understood that shaking is a sure cure, 

 and proceeded to put it into practice. We 

 shook the bees on some supers of nicely 

 drawn extracting-combs which we had on 

 hand from the previous year. This was 

 done during the main honey-flow so that 

 the bees were never in need of stores. When 

 we shook a colony and got the bees and 

 queen nicely settled in the new brood-cham- 

 ber, there was always the question of what 

 should be done with the brood and honey 

 just taken away, and the idea occurred to 

 us to place it over the new hive with a queen- 

 excluder between, letting the brood hatch 

 out that would, and, when the remaining 

 cells were filled with honey, to remove it 

 and extract, and thus (as we thought) save 

 that brood and honey. But when we re- 

 moved these supers some weeks later, and 

 lo ked at the brood in the new combs which 

 we supposed would be fed with nothing but 

 new honey from the fields, and have thus 

 escaped disease, it was just as bad as if not 

 worse than that in the original combs. 



There was no remedy but another shaking, 

 although by this time the colonies were be- 

 ginning to show the effect of lack of increase, 

 and our supply of drawn comb was seriously 

 depleted, but out the bees went again, this 

 time on wax sheets to "work or starve." 

 This time they went to work, apparently 

 with renewed vigor at having left behind 

 such a hopeless task; and in every instance 

 where they were entirely isolated from their 

 former abode, and no portion of it was left 

 hanging over their heads, as the sword hung 

 over the head of Damocles, brood-rearing 

 was once more carried on successfully, and 

 we had the satisfaction of seeing the larvae 

 pearly white and symmetrically graduating 

 from the tiny egg to the full-grown form. 

 Well, so much for placing foul-broody combs 

 over clean hives. I hardly think I would 

 do it again under any conditions, not even 

 if there were a yield of 25 pounds of honey 

 a day. 



Mr. Cavanagh also spoke of putting out 

 extracted combs, which had previously con- 

 tained foul brood, for the bees to clean up 

 after brood-rearing had stopped in the fall, 

 and said that no bad results followed. Why 

 would not this honey be the means of spread- 

 ing the disease again the ensuing spring if 

 not all used during the winter? 



Ottawa, Ont., March 13. 



A PLURALITY OF QUEENS IN ONE HIVE. 



How it Nay be Accomplished by a Scheme of 

 Two Entrances. 



BY GEO. W. RICH. 



Will bees swarm with two or more queens 

 in one hive? If not, is there any better way 

 to control swarming? Here in Tennessee 

 bees will swarm almost as much in August 

 as in the spring; and the reason for it is, 

 one would think, because there is scarcely 

 any honey from June 15 until August. , 



Well, 1 want to tell you how I fixed some 

 colonies last year, and they did not swarm. 

 I am so sure it is a success that I shall work 

 it on my whole apiary this year. 



The first thing to do, 15 days before the 

 bees are ready to swarm, is to select the 

 queens from which we can have a supply of 

 ripe queen-cells, or virgin queens ready. 

 Now, when you find a colony preparing to 

 swarm, take a hive-body filled with frames 

 of empty brood-combs or foundation. Re- 

 move the old body from the bottom-board; 

 place an empty body, containing one frame 

 with some brood, in its place. Shake near- 

 ly all the bees in front, and be sure the queen 

 goes in. Next put a wire screen on top and 

 set the old body containing brood on top of 

 this. Now on top of this old body set anoth- 

 er body or super, just which you like, with 

 an entrance cut in the bottom in front. This 

 is to be the entrance for the bees in the old 

 body. Now is when you want the queen- 

 cells or virgin queens to give the bees (or 

 brood rather) in the old body and above the 



