Alternative to boiling infested frames?

[Worker bee]

[
Thanks; is this to help with sac brood?

it's a general treatment that helps a number

No, thymol helps clear nosema, but it shouldn't be much of a problem at this time of the year anyway.
Lemongrass? I don't know, make the hive smell nice? cobble up a quick Thai curry?

Lemmongrass makes it atractive to the bees and they take it more readily. Use lemongrass oil

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Lemmongrass makes it atractive to the bees and they take it more readily

Yeah, right,
Never had an issue with them taking it down without putting fairy dust in there to make it 'attractive'

 

[Worker bee]

Yeah, right,
Never had an issue with them taking it down without putting fairy dust in there to make it 'attractive'

I have mid flow they tend to totally ignor it

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I have mid flow they tend to totally ignor it

Of course they would - who would feed bees in the middle of a flow!?

 

[Worker bee]

Of course they would - who would feed bees in the middle of a flow!?

Someone who wants to give them some thymol as a precautionary the other option is to spray them down with it

 

[Erichalfbee]

Thymol honey?

 

[Worker bee]

Thymol honey?

That depends if you want to expand or harvest honey

 

[Erichalfbee]

That depends if you want to expand or harvest honey

If course but why would you want to give thymol in the middle of the year?

 

[Worker bee]

If course but why would you want to give thymol in the middle of the year?

To help a hive recover slow build up for whatever reason. Everyone has the way they do things but I find it gives them a boost. That could be just my observation but unless you try different things you will never know

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes if they have nosema that would help. I use thymol in winter feed but to my mind the smell of thymol would overpower the lemon grass and make adding it superfluous ?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Someone who wants to give them some thymol as a precautionary the other option is to spray them down with it

but why? especially slap bang in the middle of a flow all you are going to acheve is getting your honey contaminated by both sugar and thymol if it's only as a prophylactic then you put it in their winter food there is absolutely no need to feed them if they're piling in the nectar - they're obviously not unwell

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Correction - three contaminants, forgot about the lemongrass

 

[Worker bee]

Yes if they have nosema that would help. I use thymol in winter feed but to my mind the smell of thymol would overpower the lemon grass and make adding it superfluous ?

I usually buy the hive alive simply because I know its good stuff, I'm not sure if the seaweed extracts help but it's a good product. I'm going to try my own mix and experiment with quantities and compare it to the hive alive

 

[Worker bee]

but why? especially slap bang in the middle of a flow all you are going to acheve is getting your honey contaminated by both sugar and thymol if it's only as a prophylactic then you put it in their winter food there is absolutely no need to feed them if they're piling in the nectar - they're obviously not unwell

I wouldnt feed sugar or thymol to a hive I'm extracting honey from. If they are strong enough to produce a surplus then I wouldnt be treating them with anything at all

 

[plain_hunt]

[
Thanks; is this to help with sac brood?

If you’ve got frames that had sacbrood I would destroy them. The bee inspectors say it only survives a “few weeks” without brood, but overwinter isn’t long enough. I wouldn’t risk cleaning frames that have had disease in them, I’d burn/destroy them, and start again with fresh. It’s not worth the risk.

 

[Hachi]

I usually buy the hive alive simply because I know its good stuff, I'm not sure if the seaweed extracts help but it's a good product. I'm going to try my own mix and experiment with quantities and compare it to the hive alive

"Oh Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the WEE donkey" in May?????

 

[Malcolm Stamp]

Who here is in favour of chucking away and buying new? Surely being environmentally aware the best solution is to boil frames to recycle and send your wax off to someone like Thorne’s to sterilise and provide us with more foundation?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Who here is in favour of chucking away and buying new? Surely being environmentally aware the best solution is to boil frames to recycle and send your wax off to someone like Thorne’s to sterilise and provide us with more foundation?

Generating all the electricity needed to boil these frames clean and render down horribly black and manky wax will probably contribute more to global warming than just putting a match to them.

 

[pargyle]

Generating all the electricity needed to boil these frames clean and render down horribly black and manky wax will probably contribute more to global warming than just putting a match to them.

And hope there's nothing nasty in the wax you send to Thornes for them to 'sterilise' - I'm not hopeful on that score either !

 

[drex]

I cut the comb out of my old frames and put it in my solar wax extractor, which is then left to its own devices. The cleanish wax is then exchanged for foundation and I am always surprised at how much you get.
Frames are then scraped and boiled in an old Burco which was going to the tip as the tap did not work ( which I did not intend to use) . Only takes a couple of minutes in the hot water. Most of the woodwork is good enough to be used again, but any wonky bits are replaced. I probably do them 50 at a time.
For me it is a no brainer