BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Bees are subject to the attacks of a number of diseases and enemies, like other forms of organized life, and for this reason it is necessary to possess a thorough knowledge of their care in successful bekeeping. The lack of this knowledge on the part of slovenly and indifferent bekeepers is a hindrance that makes them unsuccessful in the bee business, and aids in weeding out this class of persons who would only be a detriment to their provident neighbors in case of an outbreak of disease. Most of the enemies of bees are easily dealt with, and need not be feared by the average intelligent bekeeper. With the diseases it is different, as these are a great menace to the industry. The destructive diseases are of a contagious nature and, if not discovered in time, may result in the infection of an entire apiary to such an extent that the losses therefrom may be heavy before the proper treatment can be given. It is important, therefore, that every beekeeper, whether engaged in the business on a small scale or extensively, should make a thorough study of the various diseases and maladiies affecting honey bees, so that he may thoroughly prepare to care for any infection or outbreak at the very first moment it makes its appearance, and prevent wholesale infection and probable destruction of his colonies.
It is a mistake on the part of the beginner, as well as the advanced beekeeper, to think that it will be time enough to read up on the subject of foul brood when the disease appears in his locality or in his own apiary. It is of first importance that one be informed in advance and ready to identify such diseases, before any great harm is done. A disease may make its appearance suddenly and without warning, and unless the apiarist is thoroughly prepared to detect and combat it, there is danger of its spreading throughout the entire apiary before it is perceived and proper methods employed for its control.
After an outbreak of a contagious disease in a locality the danger of further spreading to other apiaries can only be eliminated by complete eradication. There are many persons keeping bees who do not know how, or do not care, to take the trouble to treat their bees. Such ignorance, or negligence, is often the cause of infection of the bees of careful apiarists in the locality and makes possible and probable the reappearance of the disease in his hives in spite of his constant efforts to prevent it. For this reason, inspection by properly empowered public officials is the only means of completely eradicating such contagious diseases. To accomplish this, Texas, as well as a number of other States, has a law prohibiting the keeping of diseased colonies, the selling or removal of any infected bees or apparatus, and controlling the shipping out of, and into, various localities diseased bees without proper inspection. The law provides that the State Entomologist shall be State inspector of bees. In order that the inspection work may be properly done, deputy or county inspectors are appointed by the State Inspector. They have authority to enter any place where bees are kept and examine such hives of bees and apparatus as may be necessary. In case of diseased apiaries, they are authorized to prescribe treatment, or, if necessary, to order the total destruction of colonies in which disease is too far advanced to warrant treatment.
Many persons are inelined to look upon such an inspection law as a necessary evil, but this is far from being true if it is enforced in the proper manner. On the contrary, it is an unmixed blessing and all should heartily assist in rendering it effective by promptly reporting and co-operating in the eradication of diseases that appear in their localities, and thereby make bekeeping more safe and certainly profitable.
Foul brood.
Two kinds of contagious diseases of the brood of bees come under this head. The first, generally known as "'foul brood.' is perhaps the only one in Texas up to the present time.
_American Fuel Brood._ This is a disease much dreaded and is caused by a specific germ that affects the larvae and pupae in the cells. It does not, as a rule, kill the immature bee until it has reached the pupal stage. The disease propagates and thrives in the tissues of the immature bees, and when first attacked, they turn to a light coffee color and later to a dark ehoelate brown. The larvae sink down in a decaying mass to the lower side of the cells and give off an offensive odor, similar to that from an old glue pot, which, if once smelt, will never be forgotten. This is one way of detecting the presence of the disease in case dead larvae are found in brood combs, but, the most certain method of detection is by inserting a toothpick, or something similar, into the mass and then withdrawing the same slowly. If the disease is foul brood the mass will adhere to the toothpiek and string out, or ''rope,'' for about one-half inch or longer. These rotten masses are repulsive to the bees and, therefore, they do not remove them. Often the disease is discovered by the brood combs being irregularly capped after the disease has existed for some time, and many of the expnings are sunken and perforated. By this time much of the dead brood has flattened down on the lower side of the cells, often leaving the tongue of the pupae sticking upward and sometimes attached to the upper cell walls. When these have dried down to scales on the lower cell walls, which can not be removed by the bees, they are often difficult to see. The proper way of detecting them is to hold the comb so that the light, coming over the observer's shoulder, strikes the lower walls of the cells.
Inspector France looking for dried-down foul brood scales.
When the material in which the bacilli thrive becomes dry, they no longer continue to multiply, but form spores. This is a resistant stage in which they are able to withstand adverse conditions. When the bees use the cells containing dried scales of foul brood, these spores are present in large numbers, and any honey which may be placed in these cells immediately becomes infected with them. If brood is reared in such cells the spores come in contact with the larvae, are able to assume the active state again and continue to develop. In this way the disease appears and spreads anew. If contaminated honey from cells containing spores be fed to young larvae, the disease will thrive in all probability, appear in this brood and thus infect perfectly healthy larvae in clean cells. In this way the disease continues spreading in the hive until the contamination is so great that the colony succumbs, as it is impossible to rear any brood to maturity.
Principal means of spreading the disease are transferring combs from one hive to another, and bees flying into wrong hives and carrying the disease with them. It is not uncommon to find that colonies nearest to an infected colony have obtained the disease, while the rest of the colonies in the apiary, are entirely free from it. Bees carrying with them infected honey may spread the disease to other apiaries, as in the case of a storm overtaking flying bees and their taking refuge with healthy colonies several miles from home.
Robbing, in one form or another, is mainly responsible for spreading the disease. A diseased colony may become weak and bees from other colonies rob it out and carry the disease home, especially in the honey obtained. Thus the disease may be carried to other apiaries nearby by robber bees coming from them, and if this is not discovered and stopped in the early stage, bees of the entire locality may become infected before their owners are aware of the trouble. Exceeding care should, therefore, be exereised when handling colonies so that robbing may not get started. Upon the least appearance of robbing, all hive manipulations should be stopped, and not be resumed until after sundown, at which time all necessary manipulations should be made.
Another way of spreading the disease is by using combs from colonies that have died out from some cause or another unknown to the beekeeper and which may contain foul brood germs or spores. Great caution should, therefore, be practiced in the use of combs from dead colonies. If death was caused by foul brood the indications for detecting the fact will generally be present. In colonies that have recently died, the pronounced smell of the decayed brood masses and the ropiess when examined with a toothpick, will reveal the cause immediately. At a later stage the combs may be examined for the dried down scales and if such are present, even if but a single one, they should not be used, as large numbers of spores are contained in one scale alone.
The exposure of combs containing diseased honey about the yard, either carelessly or from an oversight on the part of the beekeeper, is a means of rapid spreading of the disease. Feeding bees with honey from combs which have contained diseased larvae is a most dangerous source of spreading foul brood, and the greatest care should be taken not to feed honey from an unknown source at any time. Exceeding care should also be taken when handling diseased colonies, not to have so much as a trace of diseased honey upon the hands, or clothing, for if there is the least particle, there is danger of carrying the disease to healthy colonies in the apiary. It is absolutely necessary that the hands and the tools used be washed very thoroughly with a disinfectant. It should be remembered that any practice which permits the transfer of honey, contaminated with the spores, to healthy brood will probably spread the disease, and all manipulations should, therefore, be made in such a way and with such care that this may be avoided.
_European Foul Brood._ The other disease, known as "'black brood' or, more properly, European foul brood, has not as yet made its appearance in Texas. It is very similar to American foul brood, but some features of the disease are slightly different. Fewer of the larvae survive long enough to be capped over and, therefore, the sunken and perforated cappings are not as prominent as in the other disease. The larvae sink toward the base of the cell instead of the lower wall and do not present the same rotten mass and give off the odor of American foul brood. The dead brood gives off a sour smell, instead of the characteristic glue pot odor. The diseased larvae do not rope, or string out, like American foul brood when examined with a toothpick slowly withdrawn. Unlike the dried down scales of American foul brood, the scales of European foul brood can be removed by the bees from the cells, although many of them are not removed.
This disease is not as destructive, but spreads more rapidly than American foul brood, and, unlike the latter, it sometimes disappears without treatment. Although it is not now in Texas, every beekeeper should study this disease, as it may be introduced into the State with shipments of bees at any time. The methods employed for the eradication of European foul brood are identically the same as those given for the American kind.
_A Warning._ If in doubt about the probable trouble when dead brood is discovered, samples of the comb containing diseased brood, should be sent to the State Foul Brood Inspector, at College Station, Texas, for identification.
The greatest care possible should be taken, however, about the manner in which the samples are packed for mailing. Do not, under any circumstances, send samples of diseased brood in anything but a strong wooden or tin box, carefully wrapped in several thicknesses of strong paper. The dangers of spreading the dreaded diseases by exposing samples, are too great to permit any carelessness, or slovenliness, in this respect.
Beekeepers should have no fear of asking for any information regarding bee diseases, as such matters are kept strictly confidential. The foul brood law of Texas requires that all cases of foul brood, or other contagious diseases, must be promptly reported to the State Foul Broed Inspector. There should be no hesitancy about making these reports, as it is for the good of all concerned if prompt action is taken.
giving treatment.
When bees are not inclined to rob, the diseased colonies may be treated safely without danger of spreading the disease to healthy colonies. It becomes necessary, therefore, never to undertake this unless during a honey flow when the bees are busy and will not molest when the diseased colonies are being manipulated. Toward evening, when most of the bees have ceased to fly, all the bees from the combs of the hive of the diseased colony are brushed into a clean hive, placed on the original stand, and containing frames with only narrow starters of comb foundation. The honey that the bees carry with them in their honey sases will be consumed, and the wax produced will be used in drawing out the starters in a few days. After this time they should be shaken into another hive containing full sheets of foundation in the frames, and the bees should be fed a little daily if a new supply of nectar is not to be had.
The combs from the diseased colonies, from which the bees have been brushed, should be burned immediately, preferably in a hot brush fire built in a pit that has been previously dug for the purpose. This pit is to prevent diseased honey and melted wax from flowing over the ground and away from the fire and is to be filled up again over the ashes, being sure to shovel in the ashes and the soil next to the pit first, which may contain honey that dropped on the ground and remained unburned. The hives should be burned also, unless they are of a standard pattern, in which case they should be properly treated before using again. This is done by painting the inside with coal oil, tiering them up in a pile and then throwing into them a handful of straw previously lighted. The flames are allowed to singe the interior surfaces until they are charred, when a cover is quickly placed over them, and all drafts eut off by closing all the openings of the hives. Making sure that the flames are entirely ex tinguished by the dense smoke that accumulates immediately, they are left to go through a heating process, which increases the efficiency of the treatment of the hives. All other apparatus, frames, tools, etc., which may have come in contact with diseased colonies, or their hives, should be carefully and thoroughly boiled in a solution of bichloride of mercury, one part in one thousand parts of water. The hands of the operator, and the tools used by him, should be washed in a like solution. This solution is very poisonous, and must be used with great care. It will corrode any metal with which it comes in contact, and if used for washing such, it should be done quickly, and thoroughly rinsed off with clean water at once.
In apiaries where foul brood exists, starters of foundation are used in preference to full sheets where the combs are repeatedly destroyed. Any dried combs from diseased colonies may be rendered into bees-wax in the usual manner, being careful at all times not to allow a single bee to have access to them. Before such wax is used for making foundation, it should be subjected to continuous boiling, or to live steam if such is handy, in order to kill all spores of the disease, which may otherwise be introduced into healthy colonies. Water, in which diseased combs or wax have been soaked, should never be thrown out without first thoroughly boiling the same, or killing the germs and spores by adding bichloride of mercury, or the bees may gather up the sweetened water and carry home the disease.
A modified method of treatment from the one given may be followed, in which case the combs of brood are not burned, but staked up in hive bodies by themselves and the brood allowed to emerge. Only enough bees to properly keep the brood warm are left in these bodies, and all cracks and crevices are closed bee tight, and the entrance is reduced to only one bee space so that there may be no danger from robbing. This is one of the drawbacks of the method and, therefore, is not advised, since the danger of spreading the disease to other colonies by robber bees is too great, by far greater than the little saving of brood that may be contained in the diseased brood combs. In all cases where only a few colonies are concerned, the best and surest method of eradicating the disease from the apiary is to destroy the hives with their contents, combs and even the bees themselves, in order not to run any risk of not stamping out the trouble. This will remove all chance of further spread, and the fussing and bother connected with the ordinary method will be obviated. Since it does not pay to tamper with this disease, the most drastic. measures will give the best results in the end.
## Other Diseases.
Pickled Brood.This disease is far less destructive than, and not as contagious as, foul brood, and is caused by a fungus growth, instead of bacteria. The diseased larvae, sunken to the base of the cells, are surrounded by a light colored viscid fluid which pickles them, and seems to prevent most of them from becoming dark colored, although some larvae become dark in color. Sometimes the disease shows slightly in a colony and remains for a long time without any marked change, while it may disappear of itself, even within a short time in most cases.
The bees continue to remove the dead larvae, but, in severe cases, they seem to be unable to keep this up, and in such instances the beekeeper should give his attention to the colony and treat it by brushing the bees into a clean hive as practiced in treating colonies for foul brood. This will hardly ever be necessary, however, except in severe cases. In general the disease ha8 not done any considerable amount of damage; but, from numerous reports received during the spring of 1911, there was very much pickled brood present in some parts of the State, and considerable damage was done before the disease was checked.
There are other forms of dead brood, caused by chilling, overheating, starvation or poisoning, but these are local in character and due to weather conditions, or faulty management.
_Chilled Brood._ This is frequently found in colonies in the spring immediately after a cold spell of weather. The dead brood is found mostly in the outer portions of the brood nest proper, caused by the bees being unable to cover the young brood sufficiently. Too open entrances, or cracks in the hives, are often a cause, whereas a colony in a good, tight and warm hive can take care of its brood even during an unexpected severe spell of cold weather. More often the beekeeper is at fault by deranging the brood combs during an examination and spreading the brood so the clustering bees can not cover the young brood. The bees will clean out the dead brood as soon as warm weather permits and will need no further attention unless the amount of chilled brood is very large.
_Overheated Brood._ During the summer overheated brood may be discovered, and the chief cause may be the lack of ventilation and too high a temperature on account of too small entrances to the hives or the lack of shade. Especial care should be given colonies when moving them in hot weather, or suffocation of both brood and bees may result in the destruction of the entire colony.
_Starved Brood._ Starved brood is caused by larvae dying for lack of sufficient and proper food, either by the colonies running short of stores during the fall after the close of the honey season, or before the opening of the honey season in the spring. It may occur, also, during a sudden ceasing of the honey flow at any time of the year. Properly feeding such colonies will restore them. This is easily done by giving combs of honey from strong colonies in exchange for their empty ones. There should be certainty that these combs contain no disease germs. If there is any doubt, sugar syrup should be fed.
_Poisoned Brood._ Poisoned brood is not often reported. It may be caused by fruit growers, or others, applying poison sprays while the fruit trees or other plants are in bloom, in which case the bees carry home the poison with the nectar or pollen gathered. Since such spraying is not done very largely in this State, there has been very little trouble from this source. The question has often been asked, whether the dusting of such poisons as Paris green and London purple upon cotton plants for the destruction of the "army leaf worm" would result dangerously to bees located within the reach of the fields. Since a good deal of such poisoning has been done on cotton plantations where large apiaries were located without showing any evil results, it may be surmised that there is little danger from this source. Since the nectar from the cotton plant is gathered from the nectaries located under the bracts of the ''squares'' and blossoms and from underneath the large leaves, there is little danger of the falling poison reaching these nectaries to any great extent. Consequently the bees, in gathering the nectar, would incur very little danger of being poisoned. The reader should turn back and read the chapter on ''Poison Sprays and Bees'' in the forepart of this bulletin.
_Paralysis._ A large number of inquiries are received every year, especially during the spring, regarding a trouble that is quite frequent in many parts of the State and especially so in North Texas. The bees appear to be very weak, and are affected with a trembling of the body, as if in great pain. They seem unable to control themselves and act as if they had lost power of direction over their limbs, sometimes some of their legs, and often of their wings, also. They are generally very smooth and glossy in appearance, owing to the loss of body hairs, and the diseased bees can be easily distinguished from the healthy ones. In mild cases only a few of these trembling bees may be discovered when the frames of the colony are manipulated, while everything else shows a most healthy condition. In severe cases, however, great numbers are affected; trembling, dying and dead bees will be found in front of the hive and a listless condition of the bees will be found in the interior.
In many instances the trouble ceases as soon as a flow of new nectar begins or new pollen is gathered. In other cases this does not have any effect upon the diseased colonies, and it is well for the beekeeper to take the matter in hand. The best form of treatment is to sprinkle powdered sulphur in the entrance and force it into the hives as far as it is possible to do so. The bees, in passing over the sulphur, will carry it farther into the hive, where it will have its effect. It is generally advocated to sprinkle the sulphur over the bees on the combs by removing them from the hives, but the sulphur has an evil effect upon the unsealed brood, killing all that it comes in contact with. For this reason, this method is not advised.
One of the handiest appliances is a cheap spray pump, so constructed that it has an opening large enough for a good blast of sulphur to be blown through it. By blowing the sulphur into the entrance with such an instrument, it can be forced well into the hives, and upon the lower edges of the combs, without doing any material damage to the brood, besides saving much time and extra labor. The application should be repeated in about four days, and again a week later, if needed. This will only be necessary in severe cases, however.
BEE MOTHS.