580 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



September, 1922 



themselves as the day approaches than 

 would be the case during night. The cut 

 shows a diseased colony having been pulled 

 to one side, with the entrance pointing to- 

 wards the old stand upon which sits the new 

 hive. The diseased colony is drawn either 

 to the right or left so that the approaching 

 or waning light, as the case may be, falls on 

 the combs while the operator looks for the 

 queen. The new home has an excluder be- 

 tween the bottom-board and the brood-eham- 



The diseast'd colony is moved aside and a clean 

 hive placed on its stand. Each comb is then ex- 

 amined as taken out before shaking until the 

 queen is found, for she is to be placed in the hive 

 between the excluders to prevent absconding. 



ber and another excluder between the brood- 

 chamber and super. The brood-chamber con- 

 tains always full sheets of foundation and if 

 the colony be strong, the second hive-body 

 likewise should contain foundation. Other- 

 wise the two or three hive-bodies, as the 

 case may be, are empty. (The size of the 

 new home, it will remembered, should con- 

 form to that of the old. The reason for 

 having the upper excluder is to prevent the 

 bees from clustering and building comb in 

 the top hive-body.) 



When the hives are in position the cover 

 of the diseased one is placed flat upon the 

 ground directly beliind the operator. As 

 the combs are lifted out they are examined 

 for the queen, shaken in front of the ne^v 

 hive, provided that honey does not shnke 

 out (otherwise the bees arc brushed off), and 

 then piled on the removed cover, taking 

 care that no honey runs upon the grouml 

 during the operation. As soon as the (lucci! 

 is found she is placed in the brood-cha)ii))c'r, 



and then the brushing or shaking can pro- 

 ceed more rapidly. After the first hive-body 

 is emptied it is likewise placed behind the 

 operator, and, as the frames are taken from 

 another hive-body, they are placed directly 

 in the super just emptied. After the last 

 hive-body is emptied of comb the bees are 

 shaken from it and from the bottom-board. 

 The bottom then is placed behind the opera- 

 tor away from the bees and the empty super 

 upon it, into which are placed the first 

 complement of combs that were removed 

 from the diseased hive and which were laid 

 temporarily upon the top. The excluder, 

 bee-brush (always made from grass, etc., 

 and never used a second time) and other 

 hive-bodies go on next. Finally the top is 

 placed on, taking care that the side upon 

 which the frames rested is placed on the 

 inside. The old hive is then made bee- 

 tight and cleated so that it will withstand 

 a trip on the machine to the pesthouse. 



In the event that the queen was not found 

 during the above treatment, she is looked 

 for later on the underside of the excluder. 

 When located the excluder is simply invert- 

 ed. Often on treating colonies in the eve- 

 ning it becomes so dark that we merely 

 shake and do not look for queens until the 

 following morning. Should a diseased col- 

 ony possess a virgin, the queen-excluder over 

 the bottom is omitted. Occasionally we de- 

 tect a case of American foul brood in a 

 queenless colony and if such a colony be 

 weak or badly affected, we take it to the 

 pesthouse and destroy it. Otherwise, we 

 may give it a chance to mate a queen before 

 applying treatment. 



When shaking late in the fall and during 

 the absence of a flow, we employ precisely 

 the same treatment and let the bees starve 

 for about two days before we remove the 

 foundation and give them capped honey. A 

 few days after shaking during inclement 

 weather in spring, we treat shaken colonies 

 similarly to swarms by giving them Demuth 

 feeders several days later. Throughout the 

 entire process of treatment great care must 

 be exercised not to spill any honey in the 

 yard. About 10 days after shaking, the colo- 

 nies are examined and the excluders re- 

 moved. 



How to Clean Infected Materials. 



All infected hive parts from the yards go 

 into a bee-tight pesthouse. A two-frame ex- 

 tractor handles what honey the combs might 

 contain, and the frames then go into a 

 steam vat where most of the wax is re- 

 moved. After this treatment they are dipped 

 in boiling lye water. For the past six years 

 we have disinfected our frames, tops, bot- 

 toms, excluders and hive-bodies after this 

 fashion. All hive parts are submerged in the 

 boiling lye for at least one minute, and, as 

 the solution weakens after two hours of use, 

 fl third of a can of lye is added (we start 

 with two-thirds of a can in a Herschiser 

 press), and the time of treatment is extend- 

 cil for about half a minute. 



Big Sur, Calif. 



