Dead outs, how best to protect comb?

D Coates · March 27, 2012, 03:10:55 PM

My bees did not winter well and I lost 14 of 15 deeps and 11 of 17 nucs. Many of the hives "Chimneyed" up to the top and starved while leaving 3 to 4 frames per side of uncapped honey. The nucs did similarly. While reviewing a dead out nuc I'm seeing mold and start up if there's no SBB. Even more disturbingly I saw an SHB walking around in there. I dispatched it but with the mild winter I realize the SHB's are already active and I will not get my replacement hives, mid April in time to defend the comb.

With the quantity of dead outs I've got how do I best go about protecting the frames?

iddee · March 27, 2012, 04:24:47 PM

Rent space in a walk-in freezer for 48 hours??

BlueBee · March 27, 2012, 04:35:13 PM

I don't have SHB to contend with so I don't have to worry too much until the moths start flying and BT works good on them. Obviously extreme heat or cold will kill about anything. Displacing the air with CO2 should also work, but I've never tried that.

AllenF · March 27, 2012, 04:42:25 PM

That is a lot of comb to watch out for. Iddee has maybe the best idea for that much volume. I really wonder if you can store them all and go through each and every frame for beetles before storing. I wonder if Paramoth would run the beetles out? It would keep the moths out until you can get bees on the frames.

woodchopper · March 27, 2012, 09:20:07 PM

Xentari is what we use. No need to air out the equipment before you use it again.

AllenF · March 27, 2012, 09:43:05 PM

I don't think Xentari or certan is labeled for SHB. Maybe somebody in the know will chime in.

BlueBee · March 27, 2012, 10:20:08 PM

I'm not in the know.....but I thought Xentari was a specific strain of BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) and that BT is mainly only toxic to early instars of Lepidoptera (ie moths and butterfly caterpillers).

woodchopper · March 28, 2012, 06:55:28 AM

Quote from: BlueBee on March 27, 2012, 10:20:08 PM
I'm not in the know.....but I thought Xentari was a specific strain of BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) and that BT is mainly only toxic to early instars of Lepidoptera (ie moths and butterfly caterpillers).

The OP, yourself and I are all North enough where the concern for wax moths should be much greater than SHB. I personally think the OP won't have much if any problems with SHB's in the next three weeks considering he only saw one SHB in all of his equipment. In the next three weeks I'd keep a good eye out for wax moths though because you'd be surprised how quickly they can wreck havoc when the warm days start up.

mwiehn · April 02, 2012, 02:43:07 PM

Like D-Coates I had a lot of losses this winter with lots of unguarded frames full of pollen and capped stores. To keep mold off I took out the insert from my screen bottom boards and took the insulation out from above the inner cover in February. No moisture issues or mold problems since, I figured the more air movement the better. It also seems to help with SHB as they don't seem to like the increased light levels coming in from top and bottom. I keep checking the frames periodically to make sure no nasty surprise is developing. I am hoping the cooler weather will keep the wax moths and beetles long enough in check for my replacement bees to catch up. So far I have a seen a few frames with very light wax moth damage. I killed a few beetles, but no further damage so far. I did consider rotating a couple frames at a time through my freezer, but the temps in the 40's during the nights lately seem to do a similarly good job at keeping the nasties out.

Good luck with your stored frames until you have enough bees again to patrol them. I feel you. Given this mild winter I have stocked up on beetle traps and already put several into my hives. This will be more like summer in the south in terms of fighting beetles...

D Coates · April 09, 2012, 12:40:55 PM

I appreciate everyones feedback. Here's an update. I was installing some nucs this weekend. I've been watching the dead outs closely for SHB or WM attacking the comb. Knock on wood, out of the many frames I reviewed I saw only two with some wax moth activity and they were next to each other. I was misting the examined frames with BT for insurance against upcoming attacks. I saw no SHB's and we've had a little night time cold snap here for the past few days that should keep everything bottled up a bit longer.

My ordered packages should be showing up this weekend so I MIGHT avoid having any serious comb problems.