polyhives and petrol don't mix

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theworker

New Bee
Joined
Jun 24, 2011
Messages
7
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Location
ireland
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
12
I was faced a few days ago with a large laying worker colony in one of my polyhives. Queen did come through the winter OK but seemed to diasappear early March. Anyway they stated to lay drones a few weeks back and will not accept any eggs or a new queen. So i decided to destroy them as they had all the comb ruined etc and start again with a cleaned out hive.

So without thinking too much about it I didi the usual and closed it up one night and poured in a cup of petrol. Dali himself couldn't a done a better job on it. A surrealist nightmare is what happened with the petrol melting through the polyhive side and spilling the bees everywhere until they set in the melting plastic. Disaster.

What should I have done to kill a colony in a polyhive. What would happen to a foulbrood colony in a polyhive.
 
Not sure but a CO2 Fire extinguisher with the hive sealed inserted through a hole in the crown board should do it ... but why didn't you kill the queen and just shake the bees out and let them find another hive and beg their way in ? Seems a bit drastic to try and kill them all ...
 
shaken the hive out 10m or so from the site and let them join another. there was no need to kill them off like that surely?
 
So can I clarify, if you were to get laying workers... a shake out with them entering a Q+ hive would suppress their laying tendencies OR do they not fly back to the hive?
 
why didn't you kill the queen and just shake the bees out and let them find another hive and beg their way in ?
:iagree:

shaken the hive out 10m or so from the site and let them join another. there was no need to kill them off like that surely?

:iagree: :iagree:

Expensive though

More expensive than a new polyhive?

So can I clarify, if you were to get laying workers... a shake out with them entering a Q+ hive would suppress their laying tendencies OR do they not fly back to the hive?

yes, kill queen if you can find her, shake them all out in front of other hives and remove original hive - strong queen pheremones in their foster hive will supress laying workers need to lay
 
Not a lot of lateral thinking going on. A beehive is not a fire and does not need 'putting out'.

Nobody ever heard of a soda stream? Or a sparklets CO2 vial? Or an s30 valve and CO2 cylinder such as fitted to pressure barrels for beer and cider carbonation? Or a CO2 bottle and regulator as used in pubs or by those storing/carbonating their beer in corny kegs? Or a CO2 bottle for welding purposes.

I daresay sealing and filling with propane would do the job as well. Butane would be less volatile than propane and more dense.

Not even sure how quick CO2 might be - I know it will knock them down but does not actively kill the bees like organic vaours, such as petrol. More like asphyxiation than killing the quickly.



So lots of alternatives to petrol, but the fact remains that killing off bees unnecessarily is not the best way to keep bees.
 
Not a lot of lateral thinking going on. A beehive is not a fire and does not need 'putting out'.

Nobody ever heard of a soda stream? Or a sparklets CO2 vial? Or an s30 valve and CO2 cylinder such as fitted to pressure barrels for beer and cider carbonation? Or a CO2 bottle and regulator as used in pubs or by those storing/carbonating their beer in corny kegs? Or a CO2 bottle for welding purposes.

I daresay sealing and filling with propane would do the job as well. Butane would be less volatile than propane and more dense.

Not even sure how quick CO2 might be - I know it will knock them down but does not actively kill the bees like organic vaours, such as petrol. More like asphyxiation than killing the quickly.



So lots of alternatives to petrol, but the fact remains that killing off bees unnecessarily is not the best way to keep bees.

Argon, which kills the same way as Co2 is very quick, a few seconds (personal observation of a few bees) and the bee stops moving.Inert gases like these are used as anaesthesia for bees (hivemaker uses CO2) and prolonged (a minute or two ) immersion kills.
So they are out of it quicky.

Agreed a soda stream/life jacket bulb probably has enough volume.
 
So can I clarify, if you were to get laying workers... a shake out with them entering a Q+ hive would suppress their laying tendencies OR do they not fly back to the hive?

You have to remove the hive, all of it.

I once left the roof on and empty stand to fine they clustered under the roof. Remove the entire hive they'll find a new home.
 
So can I clarify, if you were to get laying workers... a shake out with them entering a Q+ hive would suppress their laying tendencies OR do they not fly back to the hive?

Have you ever heard the expression:"using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut"? Well, that is what you have done by destroying the hive (apart from the toxic effects of burning poly). A colony with laying workers is a relatively easy problem to solve and did not need such radical action. I am sure that if you had asked on here, you would have been given appropriate advice.
All you had to do was shake the frames infront of another hive. They would beg their way in and be accepted (or find a colony that would accept them). Generally, laying workers are not a problem in the new colony.
If the frames were REALLY messed up, you could cut out the wax and reuse the frames (sterilised with acetic acid). If you think the hive needed to be sterilised too, all you had to do was scrape off the wax and propolis then soak it in sodium hypochlorite (bleach).
I hope you will learn and not do this again.
 
Agree that summary execution isn't the normal way to deal with a DLQ or laying worker colony.

As to how to kill bees without destroying a polyhive - I've often seen detergent (foam from washing up liquid, per eg.) recommended as a way of killing bees, but I'm not sure exactly how best to apply it.
 
What would happen to a foulbrood colony in a polyhive.

An mildly infected EFB colony could be shook swarmed but a badly infected efb colony (or AFB colony) would be destroyed. Poly hives can be irradiated (at a cost) or destroyed (but don't stand near them if they're burned)
 

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