Hi,
I am new to bee keeping -- my only two colonies did not make through the winter, and I will be getting two new packages on April 2 from Waldo bees.
I have the hives, and the frames with honey from last year, but I heard I should flame the inside of the hives prior to installing the new packages.
How do I do that exactly -- anybody has a good article to point me to?
Do I also flame the frames?
Regards,
George
Good evening George,
As it was explained to me by many different beeks, when you have a deadout through the winter it is best to figure out why they died. If you can eliminate the diseases then the equipment can all be used without worry. Which means no scorching. Most people only think about scorching the equipment if they find they have had a case of American Foul Brood or European Foul Brood. Even then most state Apiarist will tell you to completely burn the equipment as it is the only sure way to get rid of AFB. Hope this helps some in your quest and I hope this year's bees do well for you..
Thomas
I agree with Thomas. Brand new bees on new equipment probably did not die of American Foul Brood. Look in the old frames. The first question is, is there any stored honey remaining? If there is no honey, then the bees starved out and died. If so no need to treat in any way.
Is there yellow streaks all over the front of the hived? Then your bees had nozema. If so you can scrub it off with a light bleach water, 1 table spoon of bleach to a gallon of water.
The odds are you have nothing that needs that drastic type action. Especially if you had all new equipment and you had a package of bees.
Before you light a match, call your local bee inspector.
Jim
When I started out I also had bees not make it thru the winter. My mentor and I did not see any signs of diseases and only some honey left in the corners (not near the center of the brood area.) Without going into a long story, he decided that this happens, learn from it and keep going. He suggested I lay the frames out for 2-3 days in full sun then reload with my new packages (I had to keep the packages in my garage for a day). All went well that year so maybe I learned to do better, not sure as that was years ago but I am making new mistakes now as I have been trying new ideas (most are working, a few do not.)
Anyway, without seeing your frames, I would not flame them unless something just plane old looks ugly. I use a small propane torch to light my smoker and clean the Queen excluders. -Mike
Thank you ALL for taking the time for responding to my questions, and for providing your valuable input.
It was very helpful and much appreciated.
did you find frames with dead bee butts sticking out? This is a sure sign of starvation. Doesn't matter if the had honey even a couple of inches away. As for a the poop stains. If the weather didn't permit a couple of cleansing flights this is natural. If you colonies died of starvation simple brush the clinging bee's off Dont worry about getting the dead out of the cells. You only damage you comb doing so and the new bee's are better equiped to remove them
Yes, on one of the hives I did have some dead bees with their heads stuck deep down in the cell and plenty of food around.
So, I eliminated starvation as the reason, as food was abundant -- under what circumstances would that happen where they would die but not choose to move a couple of inches or the next frame to save themselves?
Quote from: vemergy on April 04, 2014, 12:02:47 AM
Yes, on one of the hives I did have some dead bees with their heads stuck deep down in the cell and plenty of food around.
So, I eliminated starvation as the reason, as food was abundant -- under what circumstances would that happen where they would die but not choose to move a couple of inches or the next frame to save themselves?
Starvation is most likely the cause of death from the sounds. You see in a very hard winter when the bees cannot come out of cluster if they become even a cell or two away from honey stores, they will share the last little bit they can get to, and then if the weather doesn't break and allow them to move up onto the food, they all starve out at the same time. Bees are complicated little girls, but they will defend the hive at the cost of their own life as well as share the last meal. This is why it is important to find the reason for death. Bees will starve out for what seems to be no reason, but it all has to do with weather they were actually in contact with food.
Quote from: vemergy on April 04, 2014, 12:02:47 AM
Yes, on one of the hives I did have some dead bees with their heads stuck deep down in the cell and plenty of food around.
So, I eliminated starvation as the reason, as food was abundant -- under what circumstances would that happen where they would die but not choose to move a couple of inches or the next frame to save themselves?
They starved!!!
I would just dump the new bees in...
I too am a new beekeeper who had a hive die over the winter. We had a very cold long winter and in addition, during one storm, both the outer and inner covers blew off and it then rained on the bees and turned cold. The next morning I was appalled to see what had happened and made sure I had a rock on the lid of my other hive. Anyway - there was tons of honey in the hive and lots of dead bees in the cells (as described in another post - butts out). In addition, there was some capped brood which I cleaned out today in preparation for putting in a new package in a few weeks. Most of the capped brood contained almost fully-developed bees, but about 2 dozen cells had gray slimy substance in the cells. Did the larva freeze and this is the frozen remains? Or is this some other awful thing that I need to worry about??? Thanks jgp
Quote from: JGP on April 05, 2014, 05:16:05 PM
I too am a new beekeeper who had a hive die over the winter. We had a very cold long winter and in addition, during one storm, both the outer and inner covers blew off and it then rained on the bees and turned cold. The next morning I was appalled to see what had happened and made sure I had a rock on the lid of my other hive. Anyway - there was tons of honey in the hive and lots of dead bees in the cells (as described in another post - butts out). In addition, there was some capped brood which I cleaned out today in preparation for putting in a new package in a few weeks. Most of the capped brood contained almost fully-developed bees, but about 2 dozen cells had gray slimy substance in the cells. Did the larva freeze and this is the frozen remains? Or is this some other awful thing that I need to worry about??? Thanks jgp
No need to worry. That is just the larva killed by the cold.
Jim
Thanks again everyone for the feedback and advice -- appreciate it a lot!
I saw a Youtube video where the beekeepr put the old boxes and frames on top of an ant pile. The ants had the box and frames cleaned up without disturbing the wax at all. Sounds like an easy natrual way. Might not work in EVERY circumstance but one of the 1000's of ideas hanging around.