How TO Control American Foulbrood 



15 



When and How to Treat 



FIG. 



Do not treat bees by 

 brushing unless there is suffi- 

 cient honey coming in to 

 keep bees from robbing. 

 Diseased bees maybe treated 

 in the l,ate fall after brood 

 rearing has ceased by trans- 

 ferring to combs filled with 

 uninfected honeiy. , - 



Bees may be successfully 

 treated during any period of 

 a honey flow, but the most 

 desirable time is shortly 

 after the beginning of the 

 main honey flow. This 

 period for Wisconsin is June 

 15 to June 20. Diseased 

 colonies found after the 

 honey flow is over should be 

 treated in late October after 

 all brood rearing has ceased 

 by transferring to c'ornbs of 

 "disease-'free" honey. If the 

 operator is careful in transferring the bees at that time, robbers 

 w;ill get very little horiey, and this will quite likely be put 

 where the bees will use it during the winter. 



Plan your work and have your hive bodies ready so that 

 every diseased colony in the yard can be treated on the same 

 or the following day. Melt up the cOmbs and clean the hives 

 at once. ' _ , 



The immediate removal of diseased combs and honey is the 

 greatest insurance against reinfection. Do not store the hives 

 over until next spring and do not bring a diseased hive or comb 

 into the extracting house or storeroom reserved for disease 

 free hives and supers. 



If a colony is found diseased do not open it when no honey 

 is coming in from the field. One of the most fruitful sources 

 of infection is the exposure of combs containing infected honey 

 or exposing diseased colonies to. robbers. Colonies of bees 

 vary greatly in the amount of fobbing they do. Some colonies 



5. — THE BRUSHING TREAT- 

 MENT FOR AMERICAN 

 FOULBROOD. 



Hive A is the foulbrood colony. B 

 is the empty hive ' into which the 

 brushed combs are to be placed. 



