34. Distinguishing and Remedying Bee Diseases

It is very important that one who would succeed with bees become informed of the nature and treatment of diseases of bees. He should be constantly on the alert to discover and remedy disease when it appears. Frequently the brood-chamber should be examined for disease and always before taking honey and giving protection for wintering.

I had kept bees for some years before any bee disease appeared. A neighbor bought five colonies of bees at a sale and brought them home. They had European foul brood. That summer he lost fourteen of his fifteen colonies. I found five colonies affected and, recognizing the disease from the description in bee literature, caged the queens for three weeks and then liberated them. In the three weeks the bees had sucked the juices out of the dead larvae and thrown out from the cells the scales resulting. I took a ton of honey from the 23 hives that summer.

The pearly white larvae are attacked in their early stages when in the bottom of the cells. They become yellow and dark brown and die. If a toothpick is put in them, they may string out like elastic for about a half inch and then return. It seems the young bees, nurse bees, suck the juices from the larvae and feed it to other larvae so the disease is continued in the hive. Breaking the succession of the laying of eggs causes the bees to clean house, if the bees are made strong, and terminates the diseased condition. The queens should be caged from ten to twenty days. European foul brood spreads very rapidly because young bees may enter adjoining hives carrying the disease. Italian bees are usually free from European foul brood. Giving the colony an Italian queen is effective in making colonies resistant to this disease.

American foul brood attacks the larvae when they are about six days old, or at the time of capping of cells. It is recognized by the foul odor and by sunken and perforated cappings. If a toothpick is thrust into a larvae, it may string out like elastic for about two inches and break and return. The bees are not able to throw from the cells the scales that result. The disease in old combs can be recognized by the scales in the cells. The bacteria is in the honey. When American foul brood is found, it is best to kill the bees and burn the combs. Do this in the evening when no bees are flying. Close the entrance of the hive and pour a half pint of gasoline into the hive and put on the cover. The fumes will kill the bees. Dig a hole a foot or more deep and three or four feet in diameter. Build a fire in the hole and burn the bees and combs. Fill the hole with dirt after all has been consumed. The inside of the hive-bodies can be scorched with a blow torch till brown and used again, or one can sprinkle kerosene on newspapers and rub the inside of the hive-bodies; pile them on top of the other; drop some of the kerosene saturated paper inside; give ventilation at the bottom; and then set fire to the newspapers. When the flames roar out of the top of the stack of hive bodies, an inner-cover can be set on top to smother the flames and the entrance for draft at the bottom closed. Inner-covers and bottom-boards can be rubbed with the kerosene-saturated newspapers and held over burning newspapers till scorched brown. To kill the bacteria, frames and queen-excluders may be boiled in lye water, one pound to ten gallons, for twenty minutes.

In the spring one may shake the bees from combs onto newspapers in front of a hive containing frames of foundation and thus save the bees. Be very careful not to shake any honey on the ground. Burn the newspapers. Unless the queen is clipped, the bees may swarm and leave. If there is no nectar flow, the bees will need feeding. The bees will consume what foul brood honey they have in their nectar sacs in producing combs, as there is no place to store it, and the foundation must be drawn out into combs.

Carbolated cloths as described in section 20 may be used to drive bees down off combs having American foul brood when the brood is placed on a hive with frames containing foundation.

If other hives are near, there is great danger of spreading the disease when shaking bees. Bee inspectors are employed by many states to inspect hives and to aid beekeepers in keeping their colonies free from disease. Many counties have beekeepers' associations which aid in bee inspection. Bee men must cooperate for protection. Foulbrood honey does not affect humans. Sac brood sometimes is found in colonies. The dead larvae are almost always extended lengthwise in the cells. It is never ropy like American foul brood. It is never very destructive. Usually only a few cells in a colony are affected. The bees usually take care of it.

A teaspoonful of cyanide powder placed on the bottom board at the entrance will kill all the bees in a hive and any that fly in.