Control of European and American Foul Brood 

 and Wintering of Bees 



B. A. Slocum, Extension Specialist in Apiculture 



The disease situation in apiaries of western Washington has be- 

 come a very serious problem. .To illustrate, the writer found that 

 64.8% of the apiaries in Whatcom County, 80% of those in Cowlitz 

 County (if the vicinity around Oak Point is an index) and 90% on 

 Vashon Island, King County, were diseased. This is generally the 

 condition in all coast counties. The situation has resolved itself into 

 two alternatives. The beekeepers must co-operate and fight disease 

 or beekeeping, as an industry, will cease to exist. The two diseases 

 which are largely responsible for this condition along the coast and, 

 to a smaller extent, east of the mountains, are European Foul Brood 

 and American Foul Brood. 



SS* ^0 I oin European Foul Brood 



European Foul Brood is caused by a non-spore bearing bac- 

 terium called Bacillus pluton. There is a difference of opinion as 

 to the way in which this germ is carried, that Is, the way the disease 

 spreads. Some Relieve the germ is carried in the honey for a short 

 period of time and spread by robbing or by careless beekeepers; 

 others claim the nurse and house cleaning bees spread the disease. 

 Whether or not these are the agencies, we do know that the disease 

 spreads very rapidly, at times exterminating entire apiaries. A 

 damp, cold spring which prevents the bees working is ideal for the 

 conception of this disease. 



European Foul Brood attacks very young brood, about tour day 

 old larvae, which die as a rule, before the cells are capped over. The 

 larvae, when attacked, first change from a natural creamy color to 

 a watery white, then to yellow, brown, and lastly, coffee brown color, 

 finally resulting in a scale which may lie in almost any position in 



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