74 



Feeding and disinfecting. 



In all cases when treatment is going on and honey is not being 

 stored freely, feed sugar-syrup Uberally after shifting the bees on the 

 fourth day. Mix half a pint of water with each pound of sugar used, 

 stir well, and bring it to the boil ; when cool it is ready. Always 

 feed within the hive and in the evening. 



Be sure to remove out of the way of the bees, and disinfect or 

 bum, everything used during the operations of treatment ; and a 

 solution of izal should be kept for disinfecting the hands, knives, &c., 

 after handling an infected colony; Directions are given on the bottles, 

 and the solution will not harm the skin. Also dig the ground over 

 around the diseased-hive stand. 



After-inspection. 

 In from three to four weeks, when the new brood begins to emerge, 

 keep a look-out for any suspicious-looking brood-cells, and if any are 

 seen cut them out at once, together with the adjoining cells. If 

 suspicious cells recur treat again fully. " Eternal vigilance " should 

 be the watchword of every beekeeper who hopes to keep down disease. 



To prevent Swarming out. 

 On rare occasions colonies swarm out during treatment, but this 

 is not likely to occur when honey is gathered freely. It can be 

 guarded against by caging the queen for a few days, or by giving a 

 wide entrance and placing queen-excluding zinc across. 



Saving Healthy Brood. 



When several colonies are to be treated and there is a large quantity 

 of healthy brood in the combs, put a queen-excluding zinc honey-board 

 over the frames of one of the least-affected hives, and put all the 

 healthy brood above this to emerge. When this has been accomplished 

 remove everything and treat the colony in the manner advised. The 

 zinc prevents the queen making use of the affected combs while the 

 brood is emerging. 



Autumn Treatment. 



When it is desired to treat colonies in the autumn, after brood- 

 rearing has ceased, just put the bees into clean hives provided with 

 ample winter stores in the shape of frames of honey from clean colonies. 

 The disease is not likely to reappear. 



Young Queens. 

 There can be little doubt that bees from young vigorous queens 

 can better cope with disease than those bred from aged and weak 

 mothers. It is therefore advisable to change the queens at the time 

 of or shortly after treatment if those in the affected hives are not up 

 to the mark ; in any case it is profitable to do so if young queens can 

 be obtained. 



Other Diseases. 

 The following description of symptoms of other diseases than foul- 

 brood, and which so far have given but very little trouble in New Zea- 

 land, IS taken partly from " The Bacteria of the Apiary," pubhshed in 

 1906 by the United States Department of Agriculture :— 



" Pickle-brood. 

 "There is a diseased condition of the brood called by beekeepers 

 pickle-brood, but practically nothing is known of its cause. It is cha- 



