Volume 17 — Cause of Bee Cholera or Dysentery. G. M. DOOLITTLE.

I have noticed in several articles a statement quite similar to this, which is taken from Mr. James Heddon’s article in the February number of the Bee-Keepers’ Instructor: “Every bee-keeper of experience who lives in our northern latitudes has witnessed enough to know that cold or confinement, or both, do not cause bee cholera or dysentery.” Now, I claim the title “bee-keeper” (whether of experience or not I dare not say), and live in the “northern latitudes,” yet I cannot be one of the number above styled as “every,” for I believe confinement does cause the so-called dysentery, and hope to so clearly show it in this article that you will so acknowledge also.

First. I once produced dysentery (I do not believe this is a disease, but merely an accumulation of the feces) in its worst form, the latter part of June, by confining a lot of bees to the hive for 10 days. A frame of brood was taken from the hive with the adhering bees, and also a frame of honey with the bees which were on that, and placed in an empty hive to form a nucleus, the bees being confined to the hive for three or four days, when the entrance was opened in the evening. Early the next morning there came on a cold storm and bad weather ensued, so the bees could not fly for six more days. On the tenth day the sun came out, and the bees from these nuclei (7 in number) were so loaded that they could scarcely fly. An examination revealed that they had eaten on an average about 2 lbs. of honey in each nucleus. Nuclei made but a few days before, which had flown 2 or 3 times before the bad weather, were not eager to fly, and showed no signs of dysentery, neither did our full colonies; nor had they eaten an undue amount of honey. The trouble here was evidently confinement, which caused the bees to worry and thereby consume an undue quantity of food, thus producing a necessity to void the excrement, or dysentery, if you please to call it so.

Again, in the fall of 1878 our bees were prepared for winter in the best possible shape, and had nothing but white honey in their hives, said honey being collected the early part of July, for we had no fall honey. Sixty colonies were put in the cellar, and 90 left on the summer stands, two-thirds of which were packed with chaff and straw. Winter set in early, and the weather was so cold that no bees could fly with safety for nearly 4½ months. At the end of 4 months some of our best colonies were dead, with the combs and hives soiled badly, while others sitting right alongside of them were in as fine condition as could be, and remained thus, coming out strong in the spring. If it was “bacteria” in the honey, why did not all die, as all had the same stores? We also placed 60 colonies from the same yard in the cellar on the 1st of November, and did not set them out till May 1st, and 55 of the 60 came out in good condition, while we only saved 15 out of the 90 out-doors—75 dying with the dysentery, so-called. If it was infection of the honey, why did not those in the cellar die also, and especially as they stood 6 month’s confinement? The past winter has shown the same results, only our loss is but about 10 per cent. so far.

Now I will give my conclusion. From practical experience I have been forced to the conclusion that confinement is the cause of all wintering troubles, for surely, bees do not die from what they eat in July weather when they can fly. But confine them to the hive with July weather, and they cannot live one-third as long as in cool or cold weather. That confinement is the result whenever the mercury falls below 40° to 45° in the shade, and as surely as the mercury stays below this for 60 days in succession, bees not properly protected will suffer therefrom, and if properly protected, 120 days will more or less hurt those on the summer stands; that 180 days’ confinement in a good cellar can be endured by the bees as well as 120 days in well-protected hives, or 60 days with no protection on the summer stands; that if 60 days more of confinement is added in either case, not 1 colony in 10 can survive, no matter what the food is nor the surrounding conditions. Now, we come to our last point, which is, that instead of the trouble being in the kind of honey eaten thus producing dysentery, the trouble is in the quantity eaten, and as the quantity consumed is to the number of days the bees are confined, so is their length of life shortened or extended. For instance, a fair-sized colony may consume 1½ lbs. of honey per month, and endure confinement without soiling the combs for 6 months; now, if they consume 6 times this amount in 2 months, they must fly at the end of that time or the combs will be soiled very soon thereafter. We often read, “My bees wintered well and consumed but very little honey,” while the fact was that their consuming but little honey was the reason they wintered well. Thus we are able to answer the question why one colony dies, and another at the side of it does not. It is because one gets discontented and consumes large quantities of honey, while the other does not.

Now comes the rub: why does one colony get discontented within 1 month after being confined, and another does not under 3 or 4, or in case of cellar wintering, 6 months. Well, I will be candid and say I do not know; but I do not believe the cause is in the honey altogether. One thing Mr. Heddon and myself will agree on I am sure, and that is, if as soon and as often as a colony gets uneasy and goes to eating honey ravenously they could have a day to fly, all would be well, even if such a colony was obliged to fly 3 or 4 times where another did not have to but once.

To keep bees quiet the longest possible time I would recommend: 1st. A good bee cellar in a bank, covered all over with no less than 3 feet of earth, and an even temperature maintained inside at 44° to 45°; 2d. Hives so constructed that chaff could entirely surround the bees to the depth of 4 inches. To sum up, we should winter one-half of our apiary one way and one-half the other, inasmuch as our winters vary so that one winter has come out the best on summer stands, and another the best from the cellar. I will refer to this subject again in the next Weekly Bee Journal.

Borodino, N. Y., March 22, 1881.

For the American Bee Journal.