Nosema

Nosema is a disease that affects the adult bees and is not easy to recognize until it is in the advanced stages. The abdomens of the bees become distended, frequently the bees' wings will become unhooked and stick out from the body at strange angles. The bees cannot fly and they crawl up the sides of the hives or onto blades of grass. The bees on the top bars quiver with out-stretched wings. A drug named Fumagillin is a slow cure and works better as a preventative. It should be fed early in the spring in sugar syrup at the same time sulfa is fed.

Wax Worms

Wax worms, web worms or moths, (various names for the same thing in two different stages), are one of the big worries of the box hive beekeeper and the inexperienced beginner alike. Wax worms are scavengers and appear only in colonies in weakened condition which may be caused by an old or a defective queen that is unable to keep up her normal egg laying capacity, the loss of the queen, starvation, etc.

This shows the utter destruction of a comb by wax worms. Notice the cocoons on the top bars of the frames. Do not burn the hive nor frames, but scrape them clean and put them in the sunshine for half a day and refit with comb foundation.

This shows the utter destruction of a comb by wax worms. Notice the cocoons on the top bars of the frames. Do not burn the hive nor frames, but scrape them clean and put them in the sunshine for half a day and refit with comb foundation.

Wax worms will not only destroy your combs and drive out the bees but they will burrow into the frames and hive bodies, if left unmolested, and eat away so much of the wood as to make the frames too weak for future use.

Wax worms will not only destroy your combs and drive out the bees but they will burrow into the frames and hive bodies, if left unmolested, and eat away so much of the wood as to make the frames too weak for future use.

Para Moth will keep the moths out of your brood combs but is not to be used on comb honey.

Para-Moth will keep the moths out of your brood combs but is not to be used on comb honey.

While it is the wax worm that is usually seen and which destroys the combs, bores into the wooden parts of the hives and ties the frames together with a mass of dirty webs, the adult is a small brown moth that dashes in and out of the entrance laying eggs here and there. The bees normally carry out these small worms when they hatch or failing to do this they cover them with propolis from which they cannot escape.

When the colony becomes weakened from any cause and cannot cover and protect the combs the wax worms will take over. Often the bees will recover enough strength before the worms get too great a start and then the bees will gnaw up the combs and haul the worms, cocoons and debris out of the entrance. Later the bees will rebuild the comb, replacing it largely with drone comb but these combs should be replaced as rapidly as possible or the drones will become so numerous that they will consume a great share of the surplus honey.

Wax worms are active only during the warmer months and the average beekeeper does not, as a usual thing, need to worry about them during the part of the year that there are no leaves on the trees. In the far South and West they are a year around problem.

How To Store Combs To Prevent Wax Moth Damage

Many beekeepers store their empty combs on the hives but this is bad practice because it is extra trouble setting them off to examine the hives and during the cooler months they can retard the colony operations materially as the colony temperature must be maintained any time active brood rearing is going on.

Sulphur was formerly used for fumigating combs but this must be used in a tight room and the same is true with CYNOGAS, which is a deadly poison. The average beekeeper, both large and small, will find PARA-MOTH (para-dichlorbenzene) is the best, cheapest and least expensive fumigant to use and in addition it is not deadly.

This is a reasonably good brood comb but notice the sealed drone cells at the lower left hand corner. There are also drone cells clear across the top and in both corners now used for honey storage but which later the queen may lay in. Such combs should be placed in the super and worked to the outside, then replaced when the brood has hatched and the honey has been extracted.

This is a reasonably good brood comb but notice the sealed drone cells at the lower left-hand corner. There are also drone cells clear across the top and in both corners now used for honey storage but which later the queen may lay in. Such combs should be placed in the super and worked to the outside, then replaced when the brood has hatched and the honey has been extracted.

5% Chlorodane dust will rid your place of ants.

5% Chlorodane dust will rid your place of ants.

In using PARA-MOTH no special building is required, in fact it can be used in the open as well as in a building, provided that the supers are reasonably tight. Several newspapers, the chemical and enough hive covers is all the equipment needed.

To store empty supers of combs place a cover on the ground or floor and place a sheet of newspaper over it, then set a super with combs in place. Take a piece of newspaper about the size of two hands and lay on the top bars and on this pour two tablespoons full of para-crystals. Over this lay a sheet of newspaper and set on another super and proceed as before until a convenient height is reached or the job completed. Over the last lot of para lay a newspaper and cover this stack of supers with the hive cover.

Ten days later tear down the stacks and repeat the operation in order to kill any worms that have hatched out in the meantime. Combs so treated will remain free of wax worms for many months, even in the Southern States during the summer time. This second treatment is very important.

When you are again ready to use the para treated combs tear down the stacks and set the supers on end so that they can air out for two or three days before placing on the hives. Although it is possible to put the supers directly on the hives with no apparent bad effect it is strongly recommended that they be given a good airing first.

WARNING: Do not use para (para-dichlorbenzene) on combs of either extracted or comb honey because it will taint the flavor of the honey. It is designed only to protect empty combs from moths.

Ants

Ants frequently gather between the inner and the outer cover to take advantage of the warmth of the hive. This worries beekeepers but is no cause for alarm. While most ants do not bother the bees there are a few varieties that do. The fire and Argentine ants that are found in southern Louisiana and some other Southern States are a real menace to the bees. In fact, the author has known these ants to drive a dozen strong colonies out of their hives in a few hours time when the bees were placed in a new location that was heavily infested with these ants. Beekeepers for years in Louisiana have been forced to keep their bees on stands, paint heavy oil on the legs and keep every twig and blade of grass from touching the hives that would enable the ants to bridge over the oil.

The new insecticides have largely overcome this trouble as the new ant killer composed of 5% chloro-dane dust sprinkled around the hives will clean them out quickly. The ants do not sense the danger in the dust and take it back to their nest on their feet and bodies, killing the queen and thereby destroying the nest. Chlorodane may also be secured in a 50% liquid form for a spray but if this is sprayed around the bee hives or in the honey house during hot weather it will quickly kill off the bees and so it should be used only with great caution.