THE TREATMENT OF AMERICAN FOULBROOD 



9 



brown or black as decay advances. The heads remain erect during 

 the process of decay. The larval skin becomes tough and saclike, 

 thus giving the disease its name, and the material inside is watery 

 and granular. The brood remains do not adhere to the cells ; there- 

 fore, the bees are able to remove them and the disease does little 

 damage. 



TREATMENT 

 BURNING DISEASED COLONIES 



It is now commonly recognized that the safest, and in the end the 

 most economical, means of stamping out American foulbrood is to 

 burn the diseased colonies. While this procedure may seem wasteful to 

 those who believe that less drastic measures afford ample protection, 

 it is the only method 

 that leaves no op- 

 portunity for the 

 disease to recur, 

 thus relieving the 

 mind of the bee- 

 keeper. 



Diseased colonies 

 should be burned as 

 soon as possible aft- 

 er the infection is 

 discovered. Before 

 this is done, how- 

 ever, the bees must 

 be killed. A table- 

 spoonful of calcium 

 cyanide, an ex- 

 tremely poisonous 

 chemical which 

 must be handled 

 with great care, 

 spread on a sheet of 

 paper or cardboard 

 and slipped into the 

 entrance of the hive 

 (fig. 6), which 

 should be left open, 

 will kill the bees in 

 a few minutes. As 

 as an extra precaution additional cyanide may be thrown into the 

 top of the hive, since occasionally the bees fall onto the poison placed 

 in the entrance so rapidly as to prevent the fumes from penetrating 

 all parts of the hive. AH field bees that try to gain entrance to 

 the hive will also be killed. 



Gasoline is sometimes used to kill the bees. In such cases the 

 entrance to the hive is closed, a pint or more of gasoline is then 

 poured over the top frames, and the hive is closed tightly. 



After the bees have been killed, the contents of the hive should 

 be burned with the least possible delay in order to avoid trouble 



Figure 6- 



-Killing the bees of a diseased colony 

 calcium cyanide. 



with 



