FOUL BROOD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13672, 13 February 1908, Page 8

FOUL BROOD.

BY F. 0. .TAnißir.

As the Apiaries Act is now in force it will bo well for those keeping bees to be thoroughly acquainted with the cause and effect of foul brood in their hives.

It is stated by a German writer on this disease that it is caused by a fungus which becomes dry in the hive, and is then distributed by the bees in their efforts of ventilating their homes. '."..■'

How brood foul is first started: The late robbing* of hives is ono of the causes which lead to this horrid disease. The winter store- having been taken from the bees leaves them so that they have to collect large quantities of thin, watery honey at a period of the autumn when, indeed, it is too late for them to evaporate it and seal it Over. This, then, is liable to become sour, or if not, the bees in consuming it take larger quantities of water into their systems than they require, which must either bo turned into vapour by their clustering, or, if confined to the hive by bad weather, the bees will become unhealthy.? Another cause, and a common ono, consists in-building hives with an open space above the frames. The bees show by their strenuous efforts to fill these spaces tip with wax and propolis, that they object to them, and yet some folks will, when examining their hives, clean all this away, giving the bees a great deal more labour to fill it all up again, this occurs in the hives mostly used in this colony, except where tho beekeepers have become more enlightened, and are using the "quilt," which keops tho bees below tho top bars of the frames, and at the same time help them in the proper ventilation of the hive. Should this cleaning off take place at a period when it is too late for comb-building (he bees, will be left with the open space over them for wintering, and as a consequence the heated vapours from the bees clustering will condense on the crown board, or cover, and will fall upon "the bees and comb, rendering the whole damp, cold, and unhealthy. The dices in such a hive, from constantly losing the heat generated, find it necessary to consume more food to keep heat and life within them. Should bad weather supervene dysenteric distention and death will most certainly follow. These conditions of a hive will render the food stored poisonous to the larvae in the cells, which, after being sealed over. die and become rotten, the adult bees not finding it out until after it is out of their power to remove it. The sealing now becomes concave and pierced by a small bole in the contre, which after a time becomes larger, from which the germs of this disease escape, and are carried from hive to hive. To avoid all this it is to the beekeepers' interest to keep all hives clean and dry for wintering', and tho bees strong numerically.

As a moans for disinfecting- a hive where foul brood is suspected the following (should be used:loz salicylic acid, loz of borax, four pints water; the mixture to be used for painting the insides of hives, frames, etc.. and for spraying the combs. "Where combs have been removed the following should bo fed to the bees, as barley sugar: — 101b loaf sugar, 1£ pints water, loz vinegar, loz above solution, and £oz of fait; boil over a clear fire until all the sugar in melted. Skim off any scum that may rise, and when the mass become* clear, drop a little on a buttered dish to cool; if crisp, remove from fire and pour on to buttered dish. When nearly cold, this can be cut up into strips, and is easily fed to the bees between the combs on which they are clustering; saving them the labour of evaporation.