1st Timer. Hives bought at auction. How do I store them in winter?

[Wrightstuff]

Hello, I am new to the board. Last weekend I purchased some used hives at auction as I would love to get into beekeeping. I have about 12 supers, 7 deep boxes, many super frames (some with comb and some with wax foundation), etc, etc. I don't own or have room for a freezer. I am wondering the best way to store everything to avoid wax moths etc. I have a million other questions but thought I'd start with this. Any advice would be appreciated! I live in western Nebraska and cant wait to get started! Thanks, everyone!

[Dallasbeek]

Come the first cold spell, you'll have a big freezer in a shed, won't you?  You said in the question you live in Western Nebraska.  You have rough winters, don't you?  Go to your profile and enter your general location and it'll be easier in the future to get answers when you don't state it in the question, since a lot of answers depend on where you are. Have bees cleaned up the hives, etc. that you bought?

[hjon71]

I'm overly cautious about buying used equipment. Not knowing if they are from EFB or AFB infected hives is a gamble.
Now, on to the actual question. I'd throw them in some super size heavy duty garbage bags, tie them up tight and toss them in the corner of a shed till late winter early spring. Then you can deal with any scraping/painting if needed before you need to use them.

[Steel Tiger]

 Since you don't know the story behind the hives, a quick cleaning would probably be best. Chlorine bleach and water wiped on all surfaces will kill most deceases that may be present. Any comb you save and use is a gamble. Chances are there's nothing wrong with it but it would be disheartening to start your first hive and suddenly watch your bees die and you have to burn your hives because of some spores that survived in the combs. It's totally up to you whether you want to cut the combs out and scape the frames or use them. Personally, I would save them.

As soon as winter hits, you won't need a freezer in NE. Just wrap them in bags like hjon said and store them away until spring. I lost one hive at the beginning of winter last year. I lost my second hive towards the end of winter. I left them sitting until spring. The only problem I had were bees starting to rob them when it started getting warm. I chased them away, cleaned out the dead bees and put a new packages of bees in. They finished cleaning the hives and are doing great right now.

Good luck in your new hobby and ask your million questions. You should decide how many hives you're going to start with and order your bees early. Bee suppliers sell out quick, so you may want to order as early as December or January.

[Wrightstuff]

Wow great advice and thank you to those who responded! Will the winter cold kill the spores/diseases? I read something about a spray...I'm not excited about chemicals but would it be my best option if I wanted to save the combs?

[rookie2531]

Personally, I would melt and use the wax for candles, etc.. and scortch the boxes with a propane torch.

[Intheswamp]

Either you are going to gamble that you don't have any diseases in the equipment and comb and use your equipment, or you are not.  There's no 100% cure for AFB and the remedies available are limited and questionable in their effectiveness.  The standard rememdy is a match...burning the hives and combs.  That sounds severe, but AFB is the worst disease you can encounter, is very easily spread throughout a bee yard, and is deadly to bee colonies.  Other diseases aren't as deadly, but still will require medicating or either simply let the bees "live or die".

Having said that, it is a good possibility that the equipment is clean of disease and will be fine.  It is hard to know.  An experienced bee man might could look through the brood comb and tell whether there are any dead, diseased larvae in the cells, but even if none are seen it could still be diseased.  It's a gamble.

Does the equipment and comb look relatively "fresh", or does it look like it's bee around for a few years?  The fresher looking equipment I would feel more at ease with simply because it hasn't been exposed to many generations of bees or and maybe not exposed to multiple different colonies.  What was the situation of the auction?  Farm auction?  Antique auction?  Estate auction?  Bankruptcy?  etc.,....

I think in your location the killing cold will work fine for preventing wax moths.  Stacking the hives under an open shed, criss-crossed where light can get into the hives would probably work well....moths do not like light.  I did that for the first time last winter...it worked great and we are in wax moth paradise down here in Dixie.  Something that does work are a couple of strains of Bt...I've included a linked quote down below from Michael Bushes website.

Best wishes,
Ed

Bt aka Bacillus thuringiensis

Some people use Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) as either Certan or Xentari, on the combs. It will kill the moth larvae and seems to have no ill effects on the bees and studies have supported this view. It can be sprayed on infested combs even with the bees on them to clear up the infestation. It can be sprayed on foundation before putting it in the hive. It can be sprayed on combs before storing them. I simply haven't had the time to do this in years now, but, as I say, my management seems to keep them under control except in failing hives. But it would probably help in the failing hives if I had it on the combs ahead of time. Certan used to be approved for use on wax moths in the US but the certification ran out and there was no money in renewing it, so it's no longer labeled that way in the US, but is available labeled for that use from Canada and available labeled for use against moth larvae (but not wax moth per se) in the US as Xentari.

[flyboy]

I am usually the type of person that throws caution to the winds. My wife will confirm that I am not a perfectionist even a little bit. However I would be very wary of hives bought in this manner.

Why were they on auction? If the person died, then they're probably OK, provided they were in use in which case where are the bees?

I would hook up with a local bee club and ask around. If you tell us where you live we can probably help.

The reason I say this is that if someone had bees and they all died for some reason that might make them just want to ditch the hives in a way that no questions are asked.

Bear in mind that you will be investing a chunk of money in bees and then if they are contaminated you'd lose it all.....

Maybe contact a bee inspector. Here in Canada/BC the inspection is free or it was free when I had mine inspected. Our bee club arranges a day periodically when the Bee Inspector does about 1/2 dozen hives where the members can all go watch and ask questions. A truly amazing experience.

[BeeMaster2]

Take some pictures of the darkest comb you have send it to Buzzbee and he can post it for you. We need to bee able to look down into the comb. We are looking for little tongues sticking up.
Send them to      [email protected]

Jim

[biggraham610]

Candles for Christmas. As much as I love the thought of a truckload of drawn wax, If I wasnt certain of it being free of AFB, Im gonna have to suffer and make em draw their own. G :chop: