THE APIARY,

Otago Witness, Issue 2085, 8 February 1894, Page 11

THE APIARY,

By Novice.

FOUL BROOD (BACILLUS ALYEI).

This disease of the larvre or brood of bees is now so prevalent all over the world that there are very few beekeepers indeed who have not had some experience of it. It is a very disheartening disease to fight, because it is so insidious and fatal to the prosperity of a colony of bees affected by it. Unfortunately also, most of the books written on bees, and which are accepted as text books for and by beginners, either give methods of cure which are worse than useless— for they are positively mischievous—or ignore the subject altogether. The success or failure of persons engaged m beekeeping will largely depend on their ability to keep foul brood in check or cure it. It has such a hold in most districts where bees have been kept extensively in New Zealand that I only know of two or three districts which are reported free from the disease, and I sincerely hope these will keep free from it. To Mr Chesire, an English gentleman, belongs the credit of drawing attention to the nature of the disease, and of the fatal consequences to any affected apiary if it is neglected. Mr Cheaire also discovered a remedy, and demonstrated to the members of the British Beekeepers' Association that a proper application of it would cure a very bad case; and there can be no doubt that the method of treatment he recommends would be a complete success if only one hive were affected, and it were possible to so isolate it that other colonies would not be contaminated while the affected one was being cured. I believe that the attempt to cure the disease by Chesire s method hasreaulted in incalculable damage by spreading it all over the country. The trouble v spread from hive to hive most frequently in the honey, and no beekeeper should open a hive which he knows is affected in times of scarcity— that i?, when honey is not coming in from the fields— except at such a time of the day, or in such weather, that there are no bees flying. It is of no use whatever to attempt to cure a colony if at the same time an opportunity is given to all the fljing bees in the neighbourhood to carry the disease home with them. It is quite certain that if a bee from a healthy j colony carries home a load of honey taken from a comb in which the disease has run its course, that single load of honey, if fed to larvaa, will set up the disease. My readers will therefore at once see how necessary it is in carrying out the instructions given below that not a particle of comb be left exposed for a moment. One reason why some only partially succeed in ridding a colony of the disease is because they are not sufficiently thorough ; another reason is that the disease is afterwards reintroduced owing to a very prevalent but mistaken notion that if the part or the combs which contain the brood is cut away the honey which remains can be used again for feed. This is not the caseit must not be so used. I repeat what was «aid above, with all the emphasis possible, that not a particle of honey from a comb which contains, or has contained, diseased larvae must be allowed to go back into the hive. If the bees are shaken from their combs into a clean empty &ive, fitted with frames with starters only in them, and allowed to build comb for four days, »nd then the comb they have built is taken away and full sheets of foundation given, the colony will be cured. This cure is absolute and certain, if no honey from the old affected combs is allowed to get into the new comba. There is, however, one exception — viz., in the case of a very old queen, who (in rare instances) may •carry the disease in her ovaries, and must therefore be superseded by a young queen before a icure can be effected. Young queens reared in a healthy colony are a great help in overcoming the disease. This «eems a very easy way to get rid of the trouble, and so it is on paper. The difficulty lies in inducing the beekeeper to carry it out thoroughly. While handling the combs a feeling of regret is experienced that so much good brood should be destroyed along with that which is dead, and some modification of the above is attempted in order to save this good brood. I save this brood, but without contaminating the new hive with it, in this way : Lift the old hive to a new stand 2yds or 3yds away ; place the clean hive with starters in the frames in its place ; have the mat on, and make the new hive as nearly like the old one as possible. If the bees occupy more than one storey, start at the top, turning back the mat so as only to expose one comb at a time ; lift it, and shake the bees off at the entrance of the new hive ; brush every bee off, and put the combs as you clear them from bees away. I use another hive covered with a sack. When you come to the frames containing brood look for the queen, because she must go into the new hive ; shake a portion only of the bees off the brood comb 3, leaving sufficient to keep the brood warm ; replace these combs in the old hive as you clear them, cover down, and contract the entrances. In 2L days they will have a young queeD, and the brood from the old queen will all have emerged, and they must be then shaken from these combs on to starters, and after four days the comb 3 they have built must be taken away and destroyed, and full sheets of foundation given them ; or they may be united to any weak stock, but not before they have been compelled to build comb or otherwise use up the honey they have brought with them from the old combs. If they take any honey from there into another hive they take foul brood, too. It sometimes happens that the bees, being thus suddenly deprived of all brood and combs, become restless and excited, and either swarm out or leave the queen end disperse into the adjoining hives. The operation is best done in the evening, so that they may settle down before morning. If they do not settle, but early next morning are running all over the front of the hive and alighting board, it is probable that you have not put the queen in with them.