122 Texas Department of Agriculture. 



Principal means of spreading the disease are transferring combs 

 from one hive to another, and bees flying into wrong hives and car- 

 rying the disease with them. It is not uncommon to find that colo- 

 nies nearest to an infected colony have obtained the disease, while 

 the rest of the colonies in the apiary, are entirely free from it. 

 Bees carrying with them infected honey may spread the disease to 

 other apiaries, as in the case of a storm overtaking flying bees and 

 their taking refuge with healthy colonies several miles from home. 



Robbing, in one form or another, is mainly responsible for spread- 

 ing the disease. A diseased colony may become weak and bees from 

 other colonies rob it out and carry the disease home, especially in 

 the honey obtained. Thus the disease may be carried to other apiaries 

 nearby by robber bees coming from them, and if this is not discovered 

 and stopped in the early stage, bees of the entire locality may be- 

 come infected before their owners are aware of the trouble. Exceed- 

 ing care should, therefore, be exercised when handling colonies so 



A badly diseased foul brood comb. 



that robbing may not get started. Upon the least appearance of rob- 

 bing, all hive manipulations should be stopped, and not be resumed 

 until after simdown, at which time all necessary manipulations should 

 be made. 



Another way of spreading the disease is by using combs from col- 

 onies that have died out from some cause or another unknown to the 

 beekeeper and which may contain foul brood germs or spores. Great 

 caution should, therefore, be practiced in the use of combs from dead 

 colonies. If death was caused by foul brood the indications for de- 

 tecting the fact will generally be present. In colonies that have re- 

 cently died, the pronounced smell of the decayed brood masses and 

 the ropiness when examined with a toothpick, will reveal the cause 

 immediately. At a later stage the combs may be examined for the 

 dried down scales and if such are present, even if but a single one, 

 they should not be used, as large numbers of spores are contained in 

 one scale alone. 



