764 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



to make sine. Early the next spring that 

 yard was looked over and live colonies 

 showed signs of disease. They were also 

 burned. The next year one had to be de- 

 stroyed. I haven't seen a sign of disease in 

 that yard since. 



Another yard of sixty colonies which T 

 bought had five diseased colonies. The 

 next year only one infected hive was found. 

 Now they are perfectly healthy. If I had 

 fussed with those few diseased colonies, I 

 might have two badly infected yards by 

 now. 



Here are a few- "Don'ts" which I have 

 found useful : 



1. Don't expose to robbers combs from 

 hives containing dead colonies, nor use them 

 if you are not sure that they are free of 

 disease. 



2. Don't neglect to examine brood in all 

 colonies at least twice each year. 



3. Don't make a practice of feeding un- 

 boiled honey, nor of allowing robbers to get 

 any more honey than possible at any time. 



4. Don't set out extracting-supers for 

 robbers to clean out. 



5. Don't change combs nor extracting- 

 supers from one hive to another unless both 

 hives are known to be healthy. 



6. Don't neglect to burn all diseased 

 hives as soon as found unless there is a 

 large per cent of the apiary infected. 



7. Don't open diseased colonies when 

 robbers are bad. 



8. Don't neglect to get all the inform- 

 ation possible on the subject. 



9. Don't neglect to tell the dangers of 

 foul brood to your neighbors. 



10. Don't make the inspector force you 

 to clean up. Stay clean. 



The first "Don't" is good to observe any 

 way. It does no good to let robbers get 

 started on honey of dead colonies, and prob- 

 ably more disease is spread this way than 

 any other. If any symptoms of disease are 



seen in dead colonies, melt up or burn the 

 < ouibs innnediately. 



T find it pays to examine the brood of 

 all colonies at least twice a year. It is 

 good to keep track of the work of the 

 queens anyway. If there is no foul brood 

 in the neighborhood, this examination may 

 be done in connection with other work. 



A beekeeper feeding unboiled honey, es- 

 pecially in the open, takes a great risk, for 

 one ounce of infected honey mixed in with 

 the rest might spread disease through the 

 whole yard as well as to neighbors' bees. 



I have found that setting out extracting- 

 supers to be cleaned out by the bees is a 

 poor plan, as it seems to wear out their 

 vitality just when they need it most to go 

 into winter quarters. Moreover, if one of 

 those supers is from a diseased colony, it 

 may infect the whole yard. 



In extracting at a yard where there is 

 the least possibility of disease being present 

 all extracting-supers and combs should be 

 placed back on the colonies from which they 

 were taken. It is not difficult to number all 

 hives and suj^ers with chalk before ex- 

 tracting so as to know where to return the 

 supers, and it makes it safer and nicer in 

 extracting to use queen-excluders. 



Burning diseased hives may seem harsh 

 treatment, but it is not necessary to burn 

 more than the combs and bees. The hive- 

 body, covers, and bottom-board may be 

 saved if they are scorched out. 



Does it pay to fuss with a few old bees 

 and some diseased brood and risk ruining 

 the whole yard, and maybe give your neigh- 

 bor a nice mess of trouble? Remember the 

 combs must be melted or burned any way. 

 It may pay to treat bees if a large per cent 

 of the yard is diseased, but what I wish to 

 emphasize is to care for a yard so that it 

 will get disease only from outside sources. 



North Yakima, Wash. 



A PERMANENT DEVICE FOR 



REGULATING THE 

 ENTRANCE 



5lZE OF THE HIVE= 



r.V .T. E. JORDAN 



The accompanying illustration shows an 

 entrance-closing device which may be used 

 on a full-sized hive, or with a little modifi- 

 cation on a nucleus hive. In the latter case 

 only one slide would be necessary. 



I have often been obliged to make a 

 search for blocks of wood to contract the. 

 entrance ; but, try as hard as I can, I am not 

 able to keep them where I want them. Then, 

 in the event of a severe case of robbing, 

 something is needed at once to close the en- 



hance; and a good deal of trouble is saved 

 if one does not have to go on a scouting 

 tour looking for blocks, grass, rags, or any 

 thing else that comes handy. After con- 

 tending with this sort of thing for some 

 time I devised these slides which we have 

 used with a great deal of satisfaction. Gal- 

 vanized steel or aluminum should be used, 

 as these materials do not rust and will last 

 forever. 



If the colony is being robbed out, simply 



