ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



23 



In 1898, 1899 and 1900, it destroyed 

 several apiaries in New Tork. Last 

 year I found one case of it in Wiscon- 

 sin, which was quickly disposed of. 

 Dr. Howard made more than a thou- 

 sand microscopic examinations and 

 found it to toe a distinct form of 

 bacteria. It is imost active in sealed 

 brood. The bees affected continue to 

 grow until they reach the pupa stage, 

 then turn black and die. At this stage 

 there is a sour smell. No decomposi- 

 tion from putrefactive germs in pic- 

 kled brood. In black brood the dark and 

 rotten mass in time breaks down and 

 settles to lower side-walls of the cell, 

 is of a watery, granulated, syrupy 

 fluid, jelly-like, is not ropy or sticky 

 as in foul brood, and has a peculiar 

 smell, resembling sour, rotten apples. 

 Not even a house-fly will set a foot 

 upon it. 



Treatment. 



Best time is during a honey-flow, 

 and the modified McBvoy plan, much 

 as I have treated foul brood, by caging 

 the queen five days, remove the 

 foundation starters and giving full 

 sheets, keeping queen caged five days 

 longer. As great care should be taken 

 of diseased hives, combs, honey, etc., 

 as in foul brood. 



Dysentery. 



Dysentery among bees in Wisconsin 

 in the spring of the year is often quite 

 serious. Many colonies die with it. 

 Dysentery is the excrements of the old 

 bees; it is of brownish color, quite 

 sticky, and very disagreeable-smell- 

 ing ^nd is sometimes mistaken for foul 

 brCK^d. 



Causes. 



1. Bees confined too long in the 

 hives, so that they can no longer with- 

 hold their excrements, and are com- 

 pelled to void the same on the other 

 bees and comibs. 



2. Poor winter stores gathered in 

 the fall from (honey-dew, cider-mills, 

 sorghum-imills, rotten fruit, also some 

 kinds of fall flowers. 



3. Old and especially moldy pollen 

 or bee-bread. 



4. Hives too cold or damp. If 

 moisture from the breath of the bees 

 is not carried out of the hive by some 

 means, such as through a deep cushion 



of some kind over the bees that will 

 absorb moisture and at the same time 

 retain the heat, or by some means of 

 ventilation so that all is dry and com- 

 fortable. If mold forms on the combs 

 or cellar so damp as to form mold, 

 there is great danger the bees will 

 have dysentery and die. 



Treatment. 



1. First of all, have an abundance 

 of combs of sealed clover or basswood 

 honey in brood-frames carefully 

 saved, and see that each colony is 

 wintered on such food. Three or four 

 such combs will winter a fair colony 

 safely if confined on those combs late 

 in the fall and the hive contracted to 

 fit the same. This is one of the most 

 important conditions for success in 

 wintering. 



2. If in the fall the bees have gath- 

 ered this unwholesome honey from the 

 above-named sources, it should all be 

 extracted and either exchanged for 

 those honey-combs, or feed the bees 

 good honey or sugar syrup until winter 

 stores are secured. This should he, 

 done before cold weather in the fall. 



3. Hives contracted and made com- 

 fortable, whether in cellar or outdoors. 



4. If wintered in chaff hives out- 

 doors with feed as above directed, and 

 there come one or two warm spells 

 during winter so that bees can have 

 ■a cleansing flight, they will not have 

 dysentery or dead brood, and will be 

 much stronger when clover opens. 



If wintered in the cellar the bees will 

 not need as much honey, and if the 

 winters are generally long with doubt- 

 ful warm spells, the cellar will be best. 

 Bu'ti to keep the bees from dysentery 

 so often fatal to cellar-wintered bees, 

 they should have such winter stores as 

 above spoken of, then the cellar kept 

 at a uniform temperature, about 42 

 deg. F., ventilated so the air is fresh, 

 and no mold will form in the cellar. 

 Fres-h air-slacked lime on the bottom 

 of the cellar may help if it is damp or 

 has poor air. 



.5. Dysentery will not appear if bees 

 are kept on sugar syrup, or best-grade 

 white clover or basswood honey, and 

 are in a dry place, either sheltered by 

 cellar or chaff-hive. 



