APIARY NOTES.

Waipa Post, Volume V, Issue 227, 8 July 1913, Page 4

APIARY NOTES.

BEE-PARALYSIS

The following is taken from the Agricultural Journal : Bee-paralysis is not a prominent disease in New Zealund, but it is well to be prepared for it. The symptoms are a distended abdomen, with quivering wings. The only definite cure is dequeening the hive for about a fortnight, and the introducing of a young queen. A partial cure is effected by sprinkling the combs with sulphur. It is a summer trouble, and the true cause not being yet ascertained it is impossible to give any preventive advice. FOUL BROOD. Ants may eventually prove a feature in the work of controlling foul-brood. It is well known they increase rapidly whenever an apiary is established, and are fond of stealing honey. Could they not be made to clean out combs of foul-brood, and the combs afterwards exposed to the sunlight as a further effort in the destruction of germs ? Experiments are to be conducted on these lines next spring. MOTHS AND INSECTS. An excellent preventive against moths and insects of all descriptions is the use of carbon bisulphide. The supers of combs should be stacked in a pile, and a saucer full of the liquid placed on the top of the stack, this being protected with a hive-cover. The density of the evaporated fluid compels it to sink slowly through the combs to the bottom super, thus killing insect-life af all stages. A SERIOUS EPIDEMIC. In some parts of Australia beekeepers suffered severely last season through what has been termed the " disappearing disease." Whole apiaries were wiped out in the autumn by the bees simply disappearing, the colonies dwindling down till none were left. Some beekeepers reported that their colonies were reduced to such a weakened condition that they have had great difficulty in keeping any of them alive. The cause of the wholesale destruction is unknown, but steps are being taken to investigate the matter. WINTER REMEDIES. During winter keep your bee as warm as possible, and avoid an excessive amount of stores being consumed by the bees. The colder they are the more food they require to keep them warm, so use warm mats on top of the frames, and provide for each hive a substantial roof that will not leak.

Do not leave empty supers over your colonies during the winter, but put your bees down in the brood-chamber. This is to obviate the bees ' unnecessarily keeping a large instead of a small space at a living temperature.

Do not let the bees starve, but observe closely the amount of stores consumed by colonies through the winter months, and feed where necessary.