I'm cleaning up the hives that were given to me. The combs are full of starved, dead bees. ( :-x) The comb itself is slightly dark and smells like wet straw, probably because the dead bees were brought up to room temp before I started cleaning and so there was much condensation. Should I remove all the comb off the plastic frames or leave that for the next supply of bees? I haven't gotten to the cleanup before now because the hives were in the field and I had to carry each one quite a distance through deep snow and below zero temps. Yeah, I'm a sissy. I don't see any mold, mildew or other nasties on the comb, the supers, or the frames.
Thanks everyone,
Molly
Lightly tap the frames on a solid surface to dislodge all the dead bees you can. Then store them until you get more bees. The new bees will finish the clean up.
Keep any honey (you didn't say) for "new" bees or eat it yourself as long as you "know" it was due to starvation and not something else. Personally I don't use plastic foundation, or any foundation for several years now, so if it was up to me I'd make candles out of the comb and dispose the plastic and go foundationless this season, its not too late. You should be able to modify the frames to accept it, there are several ways to convert them depending on type of frame, and the scent of used comb will still be on them and thus attractive to new bees. Good luck.
thomas
Thanks. I'll store the old combs. There's no honey left in them, not as far as I've gotten in the clean-up process.
Ya, keep them in the dry until spring. Drawn comb cost a lot of honey to make. You save the bees so much trouble by giving them drawn comb. The bees will clean it up just fine.
Brood comb turns black in about 5 years. So if the comb has any yellow or light wax in the corners, the stuff really isn't that old. I would reuse it. If it's charcoal black, do your bees a favor and replace it.
The comb was made just this summer, so the future bees will be getting fresh comb. Thanks for the help.
Molly