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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 8, 



Cajpadiat;) Beedon;^ 



Dead Brood Tlial Died of Starvation. 



On page 457, I read a short Item from J. M., describing a 

 kind of dead brood ho found in one of his colonies, and asl\ed 

 Dr. Miller if it is a case of foul brood. Dr. Miller replied that 

 he didnt think it was, and asks "What does Mr. McEvoy 

 think of it ?" 



You are right, Dr. Miller ; it is not a case of foul brood. 

 It is what I call a (jenuine case of starved brood. The owner 

 may say that McEvoy is surely very much mistaken about it 

 being a case of starved brood, on account its being found in a 

 colony that had plenty of honey. Now, to explain this, I will 

 have to travel over a line that no man ever took before. 



Many years, ago, when I found any dead brood in a hive 

 of bees, the first thought that came to my mind was to find 

 out the cause of death, and how to prevent it. By a close ex- 

 amination of the condition of things in the brood-chambers, 

 after the sudden shutting off of honey-flows, and watching the 

 effects of feeding bees at such times, or uncapping the sealed 

 honey in the colonies so as to keep the bees well supplied with 

 plenty of unsealed stores to feed the larvse well, just the same 

 as they always do when they are gathering and storing honey 

 very fast — I soon discovered that brood often dies of starva- 

 tion when the honey-flows are badly checked in the breeding 

 season by frosts, very dry weather, or many days of rain. 

 When these checks take place, the bees soon use up the un- 

 sealed stores, and then they won't uncap the sealed honey fast 

 enough to keep pace with the amount of brood that requires 

 feeding just then ; and then the result will be some starved 

 brood, here and there, right in some of the strongest, as well 

 as in the very weakest, colonies. Some of the starved brood 

 will be found on its back, and turned up a little in cells ready 

 to cap or seal ; in some of the capped cells a small pin-hole 

 will be found in the capping of an odd cell where there is 

 much of the brood starved. The starved brood in some cells 

 will be ichlte at first, and sunken down in a shapeless mass, 

 and many of the small larvae won't have a particle of food, 

 and will look like little, shrivelled-up worms in their cells. 



When the colonies have plenty of unsealed stores, the 

 brood will always be found plump and very fat, and the most 

 of the small larvas will be almost floating in food. The very 

 dry season that we have had has dried everything up so that 

 the bees cannot get enough honey in many parts of Ontario to 

 feed the brood rightly. 



Many samples of combs with dead brood in them have 

 been mailed to me this summer, with a request from the 

 senders for me to answer at once what it was, after I had ex- 

 amined it. In several cases the samples were starved brood, 

 and the others were pure foul brood. I found one large api- 

 ary with nearly all the brood in every colony a mass of de- 

 cayed matter. This apiary had gotten into a very unhealthy 

 condition, through using old combs with a lot of dead brood 

 n, and the amount of starved brood that was left in the 

 combs to decay after it died. One of these colonies had the 

 genuine article — pure foul brood — it would stretch over one 

 nch when pulled out of the cells. I ordered all the combs to 

 be removed in the evening, and either burned at once or made 

 nto wax, and full sheets of foundation to be given in every 

 case except the one that was foul, which was to be given comb 

 foundation starters for four days, and then removed the fourth 

 evening after for full sheets of foundation, and all to be fed 

 while the bees were working out the foundation, as the bees 

 were getting but little honey then. 



Where the colonies have not much starved brood in them, 

 I would remove such combs out of the brood-chambers so they 



could not be used for rearing brood in, and would place them 

 above the queen-excluders, and then fill up the brood-cham- 

 bers with good, clean combs. But where the old combs have 

 much decayed brood in them, I would " draw the line right 

 there," and make wax of them at once. 



"Is it foul brood ?" This is a question that J. F. L. asks 

 Dr. Miller (also on page 457) after he describes a kind of dead 

 brood that he has. The Doctor replied that he would fear the 

 worst, and so would I, if J. F. L. has dead brood going into 

 a real brown corruption. 



Every person who keeps bees should have Dr. Howard's 

 book on " Foul Brood." It's the best book on the subject ever 

 published. Wm. McEvot. 



Woodburn, Ont., July 23. 



[Dr. Howard's book can be had at the Bee Journal office 

 for 25 cents: or clubbed with the Bee Journal for a year — 

 both together for $1.10. — Editor.] 



ma}" Have to Feed — Wintering Bees. 



The honey crop is a total failure here this season, and un- 

 less something unexpected turns up I will have to feed the 

 bees, or else let them starve ; but I don't intend to let them 

 starve, neither will I use the sulphur pit, as I saw recom- 

 mended recently. But I will feed them, because they have 

 been good, faithful servants of mine, and I expect in the near 

 future (as I have in the past) to reap a rich reward for all the 

 trouble and expense that I may be put to. 



OLD BEES PREFERRED FOR WINTERING. 



I would just like to say to B. Taylor, that last season my 

 queens ceased laying in July, and by the middle of August I 

 don't think that there were more than 20 colonies that had 

 any brood. I put 76 into winter quarters, and tool; 76 out 

 alive, and all in good condition except S or 10, some of these 

 latter having kept up brood-rearing late in the fall. The bees 

 that should have come through the winter all right wore 

 themselves out taking care of the baby bees, therefore they 

 died a premature death, and left the colony weak in numbers. 

 This is the second time that I have wintered bees under 

 the same conditions, and in both cases they came out in good 

 condition. In fact, my bees came out in better condition last 

 spring, and I had less spring dwindling than I ever had be- 

 fore, and I give tlie bees with age on them the credit. A child 

 can't stand the cold as well as an older person ; a young ani- 

 mal won't winter as well as an older one ; and I would rather 

 have bees with age on them to winter, than to have them ex- 

 pend their energy in brood-rearing, and then die before the 

 winter is half over. If I am right, as Dr. Miller says, stick a 

 pin there. W. Sherington. 



Riverside, Ont., July 24. 



Liberal Book Premiutus are offered on page 

 511, for the work of getting new subscribers to the Bee Jour- 

 nal. It is a fine chance to get a complete apicultural library. 

 Think of it — 50 cents' worth of books given to the one send- 

 ing a new subscriber! Remember, please, that only present 

 subscribers to the Bee Journal can take advantage of that 

 offer. The publishers of the Bee Journal believe in making it 

 an object for the old subscribers to push for new readers 

 among their neighbors and friends, hence the generous pre- 

 lum offers to them. It is hoped that all may begin now to 

 work. Sample copies of the Bee Journal free. 



Xliat I^cM' Song' — "Queenie Jeanette" — which is being 

 sung everywhere, we can send you for 40 cents, postpaid, or club 

 it with the American Bee Journal for one year — both for only 

 $1.10, Or, send us one new subscriber for a year (with -^l.OO), and 

 we will mail you a copy of the song free. 



