SELECTING AND MOVING BEES. 



If tlie surfaces of the combs, the frames, or the inner walls of the hive 

 are spotted with a brown, crumbly looking substance, it is an evidence 

 that the bees have had diarrhea during the winter or spring, and if they 

 have been badly affected not only will the combs and the whole interior 

 of the hive be soiled, t^e former perhaps 

 so as to be rendered almost worthless, but 

 the bees will lack vitality, and will soon 

 dwindle in numbers, not being able to sur- 

 vive the first arduous labors of the open- 

 ing of the season. It is not always easy 

 to determine whether a stock in a box hive 

 is affected with foul brood or not, for the 

 odor of decaying brood is not of itself 

 sufficient to warrant such a conclusion, 

 although it is well to reject any hive hav- 

 ing any putrid odor about it. The natural 

 odor of the hive, produced as it is largely 



by honey, wax, pollen, and propolis, is not fig. 18.-Box hh-e prepared for trans- 

 , \ ^^ . ' 1 .1 . .. portation. (Original.) 



unpleasant to most people, so that the 



presence of any disagreeable odor should arouse suspicion. If larvse 

 that have turned black are seen in the cells, and the capping of the 

 sealed brood is sunken and in some instances perforated, showing- 

 brown and ropy contents In the bottoms of the cells, and the putrid 

 odor is present, the existence of foul brood {Bacillus alvei Cheshire) is 

 pretty certain. This is a scourge much to be dreaded. Not only 

 should no hives or colonies be purchased from the same apiary, but 



none in the vicinity of an 

 apiary so affected. 



MOVING BEES. 



In moving bees the box 

 hives should be turned bot- 

 tom upward, tlu^ bees driven 

 back by blowing a little 

 smoke on them, and a few 

 loose rolls of rags laid across 

 the lower edges of the combs 

 in such a manner that a 

 piece of sheeting, sacking, 

 or preferably cheese cloth or 

 other open material may be 

 tied over the whole lower end and drawn tightly, so as to press 

 the rolls against the combs and hold them in place. It is even 

 well to tack strips of lath outside of the covering, so placed that 

 they will cross the rolls of rags and i)ress the latter more firmly ;i gainst 

 the lower edges of the combs. Strips may also be tacked around the 



Fig. 19.— Frame hive prepared for transportation. (Orig.) 



