404 Beekeeping 



stop the further devastation of the disease by removing all 

 material capable of transmitting the cause of the trouble. 

 In all of the operations great pains should be taken not to 

 spread the disease through carelessness. After handling a 

 diseased colony, the hands of the operator should be washed 

 with water to remove any honey that may be on them. It 

 does not pay to treat colonies that are considerably weakened 

 by disease. In case there are several such colonies they 

 should be united to form strong, vigorous colonies before or 

 during treatment. 



Shaking treatment. 



The treatment consists essentially in the removal of all in- 

 fected material from the colony and in compelhng the colony 

 to take a fresh start by building new combs and by gather- 

 ing fresh stores. This is done by shaking the adult bees 

 from the old combs into a clean hive on clean frames. 



The shaking treatment should be given during a flow of 

 honey, so that other bees in the apiary will not be incHned 

 to rob. If this is not possible the operation may be performed 

 under a tent made of mosquito netting or a wire-cloth cage. 

 The best time is during the middle of a clear day when a large 

 number of bees are in the field. 



All implements that will be needed, such as queen and 

 drone trap, hive tool and Ughted smoker, should be in 

 readiness before the operation is begun. A complete clean 

 hive with frames is provided, as well as a tightly closed hive- 

 body in which to put the contaminated combs after shaking. 

 An extra hive cover or some similar apparatus should be 

 provided to serve as a runway for the bees as they enter 

 the new hive. The new frames should contain strips of 

 comb-foundation from one-fourth to one inch wide. Full 

 sheets are not desirable and if combs built on full sheets of 

 foundation are desired they may be built later. 



The old hive containing the diseased colony (Fig. 168, A) 

 is now lifted to one side out of the flight of returning field 

 bees and the clean hive {B) set exactly in its place. The cover 



