Reusing equipment

[psbeekeeper]

2 out of 7 of my hive didn't make it through the winter, would it be save to reuse the supers of frames from those hives?  The only thing that questionable is that I'm not sure if the hive had any diseases or not?  What would you do?

[AllenF]

Yes I would reuse everything.  No worries about it at all.   

[organicfarmer]

i'd try to determine why they did not make it (to try to avoid the problem again in future) but like Allen, i'd also reuse it all with not much worries. If it was starvation or pests, it won't be passed along to your new colonies !

[psbeekeeper]

i'd try to determine why they did not make it (to try to avoid the problem again in future)

What's the best way to find out how?

but like Allen, i'd also reuse it all with not much worries. If it was starvation or pests, it won't be passed along to your new colonies !

How can I make sure the equipment is disease free if I want re-use everything? Soap and water?

[Scadsobees]

The main disease that is a concern with reusing equipment is american foulbrood.  That will usually manifest itself during the bee flying/reproducing season, and while it can be a factor in a winter dead out, is usually not the cause.  Even if it were to be, you probably wouldn't be able to tell at this point.

Mites, nosema, queen issues, weak hives, cold, starvation ...etc are usually the cause of winter deadouts, and they don't warrant cause for not reusing frames.

I reuse my hives/frames in the event of a deadout.  Just make some splits into them and they'll take off.

[Scadsobees]

What's the best way to find out how?

How can I make sure the equipment is disease free if I want re-use everything? Soap and water?

I just take a look and see where they are.  Post-mortems are tricky, most of the time the bees are just in a cluster yet.  I'll look as cluster size and location of honey for the most part.  Check for recent queen cells, I've had the bees lose a queen late and a virgin queen just can't keep them going.  Mites are tricky to see, and any other diagnosis will be more advanced than is practical.

I just knock as many bees out as possible and stick the new bees in come spring.  Soap is overkill :) the bees know how to clean house.

[Michael Bush]

With a death over winter, a post mortem would be to check:

Are they not in contact with stores?  It doesn't matter if they have honey if they can't get to it because they are stuck.  If they are not in contact with stores they starved.

If they are in contact with stores, are there thousands of dead Varroa on the bottom board or the tray under the SBB (I would have it in, of course)?  If so, I think it's safe to say the primary cause was Varroa.

Are there a lot of little clusters of bees in the hive instead of one large cluster?  If so I would suspect Tracheal mites.

Are the bees wet and moldy?  If so I would sus-pect condensation got them wet and wet bees seldom survive.