Alternative to boiling infested frames?

[Erichalfbee]

Who here is in favour of chucking away and buying new?

Me

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Me too

 

[Hachi]

At 50p each ................ Me to

 

[pargyle]

In these circumstances ... it's a no brainer - cost more to clean them than replace them.

 

[North End Bees]

A session making up new frames can be quite relaxing whereas cleaning propolised old frames definitely feels like a chore.

I think last winter Thornes price was only @40p. Plus the old frames make ideal kindling for the woodburner (which is still being lit in our house every evening even though it's the middle of May)

Biggest advantage, regardless of time or money, is the piece of mind of not spreading unknown disease to new colonies.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

A session making up new frames can be quite relaxing whereas cleaning propolised old frames definitely feels like a chore.

 

[Spadger]

I bought a Burco to boil frames this year. Did 10. Sold it for the same price I paid for it. Add up the cost of the electricity, the cost of the soda, the time, the grotty jobness of it all ....quicker and cheaper (probably) to make up new frames, but recycle the wax of course.

 

[tchu]

What if I buried the old wax deep dow in my garden instead of burning? Would that be ok?

 

[Erichalfbee]

6 Feet?

 

[tchu]

6 Feet?

Was thinking of no more than 1 metre, in my garden; would this be good enough and if not then why not? Thanks

 

[Erichalfbee]

Was thinking of no more than 1 metre, in my garden; would this be good enough and if not then why not? Thanks

I was joking
Doing a little landscaping when we moved we found a car

 

[BeeJam]

What if I buried the old wax deep dow in my garden instead of burning? Would that be ok?

Why go to the effort of digging a hole and refilling it? Just burn them.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

What if I buried the old wax deep dow in my garden

because maybe you'll get 'robber bees' digging down and stealing the wax to take back to their colony of faginesque wax filchers

 

[pargyle]

I was joking
Doing a little landscaping when we moved we found a car

My Uncle, when he was called up for the RAF in WW2, put his motorcycle in a crate and buried it in my grandad's garden for the duration - it was 1940 and invasion was deemed imminent and he said he didn't want the germans to get their hands on it. He survived the war, dug it up and allegedly put some petrol in the tank, kicked it over a couple of times, got on it and rode it down the street. He swapped it for a pre-war Morgan 3 wheeler van (I remember the Morgan) which he kept until about 1958 when he bought a Morris minor van.

 

[North End Bees]

Why go to the effort of digging a hole and refilling it? Just burn them.

Digging a hole is relevant for burning frames from a colony which died from a suspected spore-forming disease.

 

[Erichalfbee]

My Uncle, when he was called up for the RAF in WW2, put his motorcycle in a crate and buried it in my grandad's garden for the duration - it was 1940 and invasion was deemed imminent and he said he didn't want the germans to get their hands on it. He survived the war, dug it up and allegedly put some petrol in the tank, kicked it over a couple of times, got on it and rode it down the street. He swapped it for a pre-war Morgan 3 wheeler van (I remember the Morgan) which he kept until about 1958 when he bought a Morris minor van.

I was once one of thirteen passengers we squeezed into one of those. Trundling through Bushy Park a policeman on a bicycle overtook us and stopped the car

 

[BeeJam]

Digging a hole is relevant for burning frames from a colony which died from a suspected spore-forming disease.

Agreed but that isn't the suspicion or suggestion here - if it is then the RBI/SBI should be involved. The thread is about cleaning frames or alternatives to it and the suggestion I was replying to was solely about burying them. Personally, for the cost of seconds from Thornes I can't be bothered with the faff of cleaning frames. I just stick them in the solar melter then saw them in half with a jigsaw and use them as firelighters. If I didn't have a wood burner I would stick em on a heap at the end of the season and burn them. I certainly wouldn't be going to the effort of digging a hole for them (with or without a service and a limit of 30 guests due to covid)

 

[North End Bees]

Agreed but that isn't the suspicion or suggestion here [...]
The thread is about cleaning frames or alternatives to it

OP asked how to dispose safely of 'infested frames' with the suspicion of Nosema.

 

[BeeJam]

OP asked how to dispose safely of 'infested frames' with the suspicion of Nosema.

My response was to the OP's suggestion " What if I buried the old wax deep dow in my garden instead of burning? Would that be ok?".

This thread is titled "Alternative to boiling infested frames?", not "How to dispose of frames"

I really don't think a suspicion of a bt of Nosema warrants digging a hole, placing the 5/6 frames from a polynuc in it, burning them then filling the hole in again.

 

[tchu]

because maybe you'll get 'robber bees' digging down and stealing the wax to take back to their colony of faginesque wax filchers

Thanks. I didn’t know honeybees could dig 1 metre down to collect/rob wax