Diseases of bees / Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases of bees / Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    disease can only live outside the body of a bee for a few hours at most. Any system of management, therefore, which will separate the young bees for the first five days of adult life from all old infected bees will prevent these young bees from contracting the disease. By making use of this knowledge it is possible during the summer months to save something from a colony of bees which is so heavily infected as not to be worth while treating by any other method (see “‘ Severe Cases’’ p. 17); it is, however, also necessary to have a healthy colony of bees or a nucleus available before the method can be applied. Examine the diseased colony and remove all the combs of sealed brood. Shake or brush all the adult bees from these combs and give the latter to a healthy nucleus or colony substituting empty drawn combs in their place in the diseased colony. Thereafter, until the diseased colony becomes so weak as to be liable to be robbed and of no further use, repeat this operation every 18th-2oth day. It is, of course, essential to see that all the bees are removed from these combs before transferring them to the healthy colony. If necessary, a little dilute syrup can be given to the diseased colony from time to time to encourage brood production. The healthy nucleus or colony to which the sealed brood from the diseased colony is given soon becomes very strong and is particularly liable to swarm as a result of the unnatural proportion of young bees in the population. It will probably be found to be desirable to take a nucleus away from it. As soon as the diseased colony becomes of no further use because it has grown too weak, it must be destroyed. After storage for a few days the combs, with any stores that they may contain, can be given to a healthy colony without fear of infecting the latter with Acarine disease. (2) THE FRow TREATMENT. The Frow treatment should only be applied between the end of October and March of the following year, when tempera- tures are relatively low and the bees almost completely confined to the hive. If applied during the warmer months when the bees are flying, robbing is almost certain to be induced. On the whole this treatment is best confined to the two months, November and February. The most suitable time to commence the treatment of a colony, whether in autumn or spring, is when a day on which the bees have been flying is followed by frosty weather with a prospect of the cold continuing for a week or so. The entrance to the hive to be treated should be reduced to about a double bee-space, preferably by the use of perforated zinc which allows of good ventilation, and, should the weather become mild during or Soon after treatment, a close watch must be kept for any signs of robbing. If the weather continues to be cold after treatment, no activity may be observed for some days or even weeks, but on no account should the hive be opened on the assumption that the colony is dead. The only equipment necessary is a small pipette graduated in minims (or with a mark engraved upon it at the 30 minim level), some pieces of flannel or absorbent cotton-wool each about 4 in. square, and a bottle of Frow mixture. The pipette and, if the bee-keeper is not accustomed to mixing solutions, the Frow mixture, should ‘be obtained from a reliable chemist. T5