I had two hives when I was 12-14 years old. I didn't know anything beyond what the Burpee instructions taught me, and my hives died after three years, which could have been the result of any kind of infestation, starvation, or anything. In the spring, it was just that all the bees in both hives were dead. I didn't feed them, medicate them, nothing, because we didn't know any better. I've learned more on the internet in the past three days than I ever knew about bees back then.
I have three honey supers with nice combs built out, that have survived the nearly 20 years that have passed since then. My question is, how (or should I even bother) to sterilize or clean these honey supers, each has 10 frames of built-up wax on them? I can't use them all, the wax on many is warped or "melted away" (at least, that's what it looks like), but I'd like to use as many as I can. that said, I'd rather remove all the wax and sterilize the box and frames (all in perfect shape) rather than risk infecting my soon-to-be new colonies with some disease.
I'd prefer not to risk anything, so I'm looking for solid advice..."Do this to your...frames/box/wax"...not so much "you should be ok if you did this...".
Thanks for all the help, and the welcoming responses I've had so far to my posts.
here ya go! http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=7758.0
a lot has been said about cleaning frames and equipment.
i'd say...even though you might consider buying new equipment, don't throw it away, with proper beekeeping methods you'll soon find that it will come handy ;)
They are your frames right? Do you have any reason to believe there was any disease? I would just use them.
My frames, yes, but they're from two hives that died off in the same winter. Don't know what killed them, or what they may have picked up in 20 years of sitting.
>Don't know what killed them
Did you bother to check to see? You can still look for scale in the brood area of the combs.
> or what they may have picked up in 20 years of sitting.
Nothing that would hurt bees...
At the time it happened, I had no resources to know one thing from another, I was 14...all I knew was that they were dead. The guide that came with the bees didn't provide much maintenance information. I wasn't going to buy more bees, so I just packed everything up. Over time, my grandfather realized that deep supers with a piece of glass over them make a good greenhouse for young plants, and they eventually rotted away with such use. These are honey supers that I have left, because they were too shallow for him to use.
I did look at them recently, before asking this question, and they're just empty, dark combs. One has a black, puckered cell on it, but otherwise, they look pretty much just like I always remembered them, with drawn combs.
IMO use them. The bees are very good housecleaners.