Skptiomher, 1922 



GLEANINGS IN BEE C U L T U B. E 



579 



ly to healthy larvae. Entire apiaries, if 

 permitted to pursue nature's course, will 

 be destroyed after this fashion. And how- 

 is a beekeeper to know liow and when 

 his bees received the infection? Perhaps 

 some picnickers lunched on bottled honey 

 from some infected ai)iary, or more likely 

 some wild (V) bees in a tree succumbed 

 to the ravages of American foul brood. 



How Controlled. 



Under normal conditions we inspect the 

 brood of our colonies from three to five 

 times. Usually avc make the examination 

 twice in the spring, and again twice during 

 the fall after the crop is off. 



When a case of American foul brood is 

 discovered, no matter at what season of the 

 year, the infected colony is never shaken 

 when found, but merely marked. As soon 

 as a cell of American foul brood is discov- 

 ered, the colony is left as it was before 

 manipulation. There may be other infect- 

 ed colonies before the entire yard is exam- 

 ined, and, if so, these in turn are likewise 

 marked. All infected colonies will be treat- 

 ed at the same time. 



Having treated several thousand colonies 

 affected with American foul brood, either as 

 inspector of apiaries or as a purchaser of 

 diseased apiaries, the writer wishes to state 

 that a thousand or more colonies may be 

 handled j-ear after year with an infection 

 not exceeding three to five per cent. A per- 

 centage of outbreaks as low as this does 

 not hamper honey production. It must also 

 be remembered that about 75% of the colo- 

 nics that contract the disease do so in the 

 spring of the year; that is to say, it is in 

 the spring of the year when we detect the 

 trouble. Colonies at this time after treat- 

 ment differ in no wise from swarms in re- 

 spect to the amount of surplus honey that 

 they gather. In fact, cases of American 

 foul brood that are treated in March pro- 

 duce considerably more honey than do April 

 and May swarms when the honey flow comes 

 in June. 



So that not more than five per cent of our 

 colonies contract American foul brood, it is 

 necessary to adhere strictly to the three 

 following statements: 



1. Shake all cases within a day or two 

 after detection. 



2. Shake at the original location of the 

 colony in the yard. 



.3. Shake only Avhen there are no bees fly- 

 ing. 



The above applies whether bees are sliaken 

 in spring, summer or fall. There are maiiy 

 other considerations in the control of this 

 disease, but it is our belief that those men- 

 tioned above are the most important. 



(1) No matter what the conditions of a 

 colony may be, if it shows a cell of Ameri- 

 can foul brood it should be shaken without 

 delay. Of course, if it takes two davs to go 

 through a yard, and but one case of Ameri- 

 can foul brood was found on the first day, 

 we will wait until we have comi)]eted our 

 work on the following day, before proceeding 



to shake the lone colony. Naturally this would 

 be the logical thing to do, for one or more 

 diseased colonies may be found on the sec- 

 ond day. The point to bear in mind is this: 

 A source of infection has been found in the 

 apiary, and we know that the sooner we rid 

 ourselves of this infection the better. The 

 colony is shaken forthwith, and no other 

 treatment whatever is practiced, for in our 

 minds it is of the utmost importance to get 

 tlie infected material out of the yards and 

 away from the bees. If left in the yard it 

 is ever a source of danger. Cattle may 

 overturn the infected colony, the wind may 

 upset it or even a woodpecker might peck a 

 bee-space in a hive-body. 



(2) The infected colony must be shaken 

 exactly where it stands in the yard, and 

 should not be removed to a hospital or else- 

 where. Such a procedure is costly, a loss of 

 time an»d not necessary to protect the spread 

 of American foul brood. The reason for 

 this will be pointed out directly. 



fS) Most beekeepers shake their diseased 

 colonies when bees are flying. It is the 

 writer's opinion that they are making a 

 very sad mistake. No matter how expedi- 

 tiously the shaking treatment may be car- 

 ried on, flow or no flow, there is bound to 

 result a certain amount of confusion. While 

 the operator is in the act of shaking a dis- 

 eased colony, some of the bees of the colony 

 will alight on adjoining hives. They will 

 alight not only on hives adjacent to their 

 own in the same row, but also on the hives 

 in the row directly in front of them. Fur- 

 thermore, the bees will not alight necessarily 

 at other hive entrances, but may rest on 

 the top or on some other part of other 

 hives. After the colony has been subjected 

 to treatment many of these confused bees 

 do not find their way into their clean home 

 and consequently are liable to carry infect- 

 ed material into neighboring colonies. Amer- 

 ican foul brood has broken out in this man- 

 ner too many times to cast any doubt on 

 the above assertion. 



The proper time to shake is when there 

 are no bees flying. It should be done either 

 in the early morning or evening or on cold 

 cloudy days. If we shake at such times we 

 have not only done away with confusion 

 but with robbing as well. There is one 

 other point to observe; the clean hive must, 

 as far as is possible, resemble the old home. 

 It must be placed in exactly the same posi- 

 tion as the old home, and, if the old hive 

 was two stories high, then the new abode 

 must likewise be two stories higli. In other 

 words, we have brought about conditions so 

 that when the bees are able to fly they-Avill 

 behave but very little differently from a 

 newly hived swarm. It might be mentioned 

 that, from an American foul brood stand- 

 point, it is wise to space all colonies eight 

 feet apart in the apiary. 



How to Shake. 

 We ])refcr to treat tlie bees before day- 

 break, for after treatment the little clusters 

 about the hive are better able to adjust 



