tailieunhanh - Bees And Honey - Part 9

Pests and diseases This chapter deals with the problems of disability, disease, poisoning, pests, etc. Some of these are bound to turn up at some time or other if bees are kept for any length of time. Do not be down-hearted; neither you nor your bees have been singled out by fate to suffer this catastrophe. | Pests and diseases This chapter deals with the problems of disability disease poisoning pests etc. Some of these are bound to turn up at some time or other if bees are kept for any length of time. Do not be down-hearted neither you nor your bees have been singled out by fate to suffer this catastrophe. It is a normal happening in the life of any animal or plant and as a beekeeper you deal with it and that is an end. Nor is there any stigma in having disease turn up in your colonies. The secrecy which seems to surround outbreaks of disease is ridiculous. If we all talk to one another about the disease in our colonies and we shall find it is not of very high incidence and could be less if dealt with promptly. Queenlessness There is considerable misunderstanding in the minds of many beekeepers on this subject. Several times in every year beekeepers tell me they want to get hold of a queen because they have a queenless colony. When asked How do you know it is queenless the reply is invariably Because there is no brood. Although it is true to say that brood is usually absent from queenless colonies the converse is far from the truth. A colony with no brood can have a perfectly good young queen who has not as yet started to lay. In my experience the number of colonies that become queenless by natural means is very very small. Usually the queenless colony particularly during the main part of the active season has been made so by some mistake by the beekeeper. Recognition of queenlessness is far from easy if one is just relying on conclusions drawn during examination of the colony. The main signs are that the colony is more irritable than usual the bees seem to be less well-organized on the combs very few brood cells will be polished up ready for the queen to lay in certainly not a large circular area of such cells. Pollen in the broodnest will be shiny from being covered with honey to prevent it going mouldy whilst it is not being used. Often there will be some cells with