How to clean extraction equipment?

[greatbritishhoney]

I don't think it's paranoid to want to ensure your equipment is cleaned properly. It may be efficient and thrifty to leave the equipment out for the bees to clean but there is no way it can be beneficial from a hygiene point of view (mice, birds??).
I feed food scraps to my dog but I don't let her lick the plates!

 

[Hivemaker.]

Paranoid, maybe, after going round with local bee inspector destroying lots of colonys with efb, after the owner decided to let the bee's clean his extraction equipment and 170 extracted supers as well, all his colonys were destroyed....along with several others in the area belonging to other people....including every feral colony we knew about.
Would be a popular thing to sugest in Scotland during that big outbreak of EFB and AFB. Perhaps it would be a good idea if Rowse and other big honey packers put all their equipment out for the local bee's to clean up as well.

 

[hallshoney]

I stayed at my sisters house last week near Hereford.The neighbor has 1 wbc in the middle of the lawn and he had just extracted 2 supers osr honey. He then put the wet supers, cappings on a tray, extractor in front of the hive for the bees to clean. Well every bee for a mile and a half to be exact. It was mentle.

 

[VEG]

Anyone that does that should be reported to the local bee inspector I for one would not hesitate to report them, if it meant my bees were safer.

 

[Chris Luck]

Hmmm, things pretty bad then over there, strange given all the inspections, treatments and manipulations.... still, it isn't like that here I'm pleased to say.

Anyone that does that should be reported to the local bee inspector I for one would not hesitate to report them, if it meant my bees were safer.

So, it's against the law in the UK?

Chris

 

[VEG]

Not against the law as far as I know but it is not good practice.

 

[Chris Luck]

Bad practice is a matter of opinion rather like most things.

Personally I never put supers out as I like to both replace them on the hives or store them over winter "wet" and I don't clean my spinner, Maturer or tank until the end of season in September, just keep them closed.

All my cappings and other honey residue is stored for feeding outside under cover in large trays in February and early March.

Given that I know my bees have no health problems I certainly can't be spreading disease.

Chris

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Given that I know my bees have no health problems I certainly can't be spreading disease.

Chris

I'm sure your bees are healthy Chris, but no beekeeper can claim to be able to spot all signs of disease with the naked eye, no matter how experienced.
Your system may work fine for you, but an element of caution is not a bad thing in beekeeping and it's important that new beekeepers understand the risks of spreading disease.

 

[oliver90owner]

I certainly can't be spreading disease.

That may or may not be the case and I will not argue it other than the 'certain' part.

The problem may not be your bees but others bringing in brood diseases. BDI is not worth the money for most - losing colonies (at how much each to replace?) and all the other rammifications (cropless with no bees, less insurance next time as you are now a higher risk, that higher risk of recurrence, the perceived stigma from your peers, the extra work to get back to your previous position, etc) make it a very uneconomic proposition for a small amount of honey fed back to your bees. Relying on all bees in your area being disease-free is the first mistake.

RAB

 

[Chris Luck]

Sure RAB but those bees will be visiting and mixing one way or another anyway, drones in particular, it may even be that a swarm from elsewhere moves into an empty hive OR, as many on here have done, actively provide bait hives with no apparent means to keep those bees that occupy it in a quarantine zone away from their existing colony or colonies. I haven't noticed an outcry about that, but I may well have missed it, I don't read everything. It could be supposed by some that swarms are healthy by their very nature, (strong enough to swarm), but this isn't always the case.

Chris

 

[oliver90owner]

Sure. Bees do mix. But there is a difference between relative neighbours mixing and transferring diseaes by local contact (slower spread) and inviting a whole horde of diseased bees to mingle with bees from a wide area.

Think foot and mouth, avian flu, swine flu - they all propagate much more quickly and over a wider area when sufferers or carriers are moving around. Similarly the spread of varroa was accelerated by beeks moving bees large distances. All common sense really.

 

[Poly Hive]

And as you know as well as I do "common sense" is in reality a very rare bird.

The very existence of the Darwin Awards proves the point if some what in the extreme.

PH

 

[Chris Luck]

Sure. Bees do mix. But there is a difference between relative neighbours mixing and transferring diseaes by local contact (slower spread) and inviting a whole horde of diseased bees to mingle with bees from a wide area.

Me thinks you exaggerate a little.

I notice no one wants to address my point about swarms, they can have come as far as foraging bees.

Here's a nice one to make people feel a warm glow, one of mine last week.

Chris

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Wow Chris, that is a big swarm.

I think the point is that just because bees will mix with other potentially diseased bees (e.g swarms), it doesn't follow that anything goes in terms of encouraging mixing. For example, I know I'm likely to get the common cold but I don't borrow someone else's used hanky - I take reasonable steps to protect myself from infection.

Somewhere between the "hands off" approach and the "chuck every known chemical at it" approach there is a happy medium.

 

[Chris Luck]

Somewhere between the "hands off" approach and the "chuck every known chemical at it" approach there is a happy medium.

I know, I know and I do try, honest, I even fiddle a bit, in fact I run a range of methods and approaches BUT no treatments, (other than the icing sugar because it's fun).

Now, where's my wooden spoon?

Chris

 

[SteveJ]

Always put mine outside and the bees come and clean it. Generally I take the cage out first so I can scrape out the last of the honey. Then let the bees do their job. Then I jet wash it to get any dirt out then warm water and detergent and followed by a final rinse. I also use some industrial cling film (the stuff they wrap pallets up with) wrapped round the top just to stop anything falling in when it is not in use.

Might seem extravagent but I used to be in the food industry and vagely remember the hygiene regs.

SteveJ

Let me clarify a few things. Yes I do let my bees clean out the extractor, there is nothing unhygienic in letting them do this as long as you are sensible about it. I talked to my mentor about this both he and his mentor have been letting the bees do the work for years and have never had a problem.

The bees themselves have walked over the frames so what is the difference with them walking in the extractor. The Honey is not wasted and is all removed from the extractor.

If there was EFB or AFB in the area or if I spotted something fishy in one of my hives letting the bees clean out the extractor would be the last thing I did. If you’re going to let the bees do the work then you have to be aware of your area.

After the bees have finished the extractor is dismantled completely and thoroughly cleaned. How many people actually do that.

SteveJ

 

[VEG]

If you do find anything such as efb/afb then it will be too late. The odds are not in your favour. I dismantle and clean my extractor after each use.

 

[mbc]

I notice no one wants to address my point about swarms, they can have come as far as foraging bees.


Chris

http://pub.epsilon.slu.se/1053/1/Avhandling.pdf

Swarms are unlikely to be the cause of spreading foul brood, according to this work its more likely to be spread from colony to colony with the apiarist him/herself as the pathogen vector

 

[Daisy]

Leaving equipment outside for the bees to clean is disgusting. May I suggest you go to BeeBase and read the Healthy Bee Plan 7th quarterly newsletter...and note the final section!

 

[drstitson]

"Sure. Bees do mix. But there is a difference between relative neighbours mixing and transferring diseaes by local contact (slower spread) and inviting a whole horde of diseased bees to mingle with bees from a wide area."

exactly - the odd bee swapping homes with a stomach full of clean nectar is low risk even if it comes from an infected hive...

BUT... feeding (pooled) potentially infected honey from 1 or more hives to all and sundry is asking for trouble.

think mad cow disease - infected "product" fed back to "producers"

or HIV/HepC in 1980s - risk of infection from a single blood transfusion was low BUT regular receipt of pooled blood products eg for haemophiliacs and voila - an epidemic within that population.