70 



The sliakiug of the bees from combs should be doue at a time when the 

 other bees in apiary will not rob and thus spread disease, or under cover. This 

 can be done safely in the evening after bees have ceased to fly, preferably 

 during a good honey flow. Great care should be exercised to keep all infected 

 material away from other bees until it can be completely destroyed or the 

 combs rendered into wax. Wax from diseased colonies should be rendered 

 by some means in which high heating is u.sed, and not with a solar wax 

 extractor. The honey from a diseased colony should be diluted to iirevent 

 burning and then thoroughly sterilized by hard boiling for at least half an 

 hour, if it is to be fed back to the bees. If the hive is again used, it should 

 be very thoroughly cleaned. t and special care should be taken that no infected 

 honey or comb be left in the hive.Jt 



It is frequently necessary to repeat the treatment by shaking the bees on 

 to fresh foundation in new frames after tour or five days. The bee-keeper, 

 or inspector, must determine whether this is necessary, but when there is any 

 doubt it is safer to repeat the operation rather than run the risk of re-iufectiou. 

 If repeated, the first new combs should be destroyed. To prevent the bees 

 from deserting the strips of foundation, the queen may be caged in the hive, 

 or a queen-excluding zinc put at the entrance. 



Treatment rclth liee escape. — The shaking treatment may be modified so 

 that, instead of shaking the bees from the combs, the hive is moved from its 

 stand, and in its place a cleani hive with frames and foundation is feet. The 

 queen is at once transferred tothe new hive, and the field bees fly tliere when 

 they next return from the field. The infected liive is then placed on top of 

 or close beside the clean hive and a bee escape placed over the entrance of the 

 hive containing disease, so that the younger bees and those which later emerge 

 from the cells may leave the hive but cann(jt return. They, therefore, join 

 the colony in the new hive. 



FaJl treatment. — If it is desirable to treat a colony so late in the fall that 

 it would be impossible for the bees to prepare for winter, the treatment may 

 be modified by shaking the bees into combs with plenty of honey for winter.^ 

 This will be satisfactory only after brood-rearing has entirely ceased. In 

 such cases disease rarely re-appears. 



In the Western States, where American foul brood is particularly virulent, 

 it is desirable to thoroughly disinfect the hive liy. burning the inside, or by 

 chemical means before using it again. This is not always ijractised in the 

 Eastern States where the disease is much milder. Some persons recommend 

 boiling the hives or disinfecting them with some reliable disinfectant such as 

 carbolic acid or corrosive sublimate. It is usually not profitable to save 

 frames, because of their comparatively small value, but if desired they may 

 be disinfected. 3 Great care should be exercised in cleaning any apparatus.* 

 It does not pay to treat very weak colonies. They should either be destroyed 

 at once or several weak ones be united to make one which ts strong enough 

 to build up. 



+ Hive should be scalded by pouring boiling water all over it. especially the inside. 



$-^0r about the apiary. 



Notes by Mr. E. F. Robinson. — 1. New hives and new frames in all cases are 

 better, as used material may not be absolutely clean. 2. Better feed them upon 120 iTis. 

 of sugar syrup. :). Cut out the combs, render the wax, and burn the frames. 4. Scald 

 and boll everything possible, or bake. 



