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Author Topic: reusing drawn comb & hive bodies  (Read 1858 times)

Offline incognito

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reusing drawn comb & hive bodies
« on: March 20, 2020, 04:24:54 pm »
My colony that I started last year did not survive the end of winter.
A few weeks back the queen was still alive with a tiny batch of brood and hardly any worker bees. Lots of dead bees on the bottom board. Now the hive is lifeless except for robbers, which is fine by me because I fed extensively last year and I don't mind starting with drawn comb so I can be certain what is syrup versus honey.
How valuable are the frames with pollen from last year?
I separated the two medium supers from the two deep brood boxes thinking that the brood boxes may attract a swarm. Neighborhood bees clearly know where the hive is.
Am I being a bad neighbor to my fellow beekeepers?

What should I do in the next few weeks to protect and prepare the wooden ware and frames of drawn comb for a package of bees?
It is possible that I have some wax moth damage on the comb. Some of the drawn comb looks like it was scrapped down to the plastic foundation.
I do not have a freezer to kill small hive beetle or wax moth eggs. I could stack the boxes and put some bags of ice in the stack to act as a freezer. Would that work? I do have paramoth crystals.


Any advice is welcome.
« Last Edit: March 20, 2020, 04:48:03 pm by incognito »
Tom

Offline cao

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Re: reusing drawn comb & hive bodies
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2020, 12:59:11 am »
Bees robbing honey will often chew up the comb.   If you are getting bees to put on the comb in the next few weeks, I would not worry about doing anything.  It is still early for wax moths and Shb's to be much of a problem.  If it will be a month or more before bees are on the comb, then the freezer or paramoth crystals would need to be used.

Offline incognito

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Re: reusing drawn comb & hive bodies
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2020, 11:52:06 am »
Cao,
Thanks for the reply.
Tom

Offline beemantn

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Re: reusing drawn comb & hive bodies
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2020, 03:22:28 pm »
Agreed. In your area winter is on your side. Just a thought, if you feel it may become an issue you could staple some window screen over all hive openings to keep anything out. I have successfully done that several times here in TN when warm weather came a little early.

Offline Ben Framed

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Re: reusing drawn comb & hive bodies
« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2020, 12:00:56 am »
>Agreed. In your area winter is on your side. Just a thought, if you feel it may become an issue you could staple some window screen over all hive openings to keep anything out. I have successfully done that several times here in TN when warm weather came a little early.

Excellent Idea! May I add, as long as you are certain no moths have already laid eggs inside the comb or inside the hive area. As you said, winter is most likely on his side.  When or what temperatures, do moths usually start laying eggs and producing wax worms?

Phillip




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« Last Edit: March 22, 2020, 12:16:21 am by Ben Framed »
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