Second hand bee Hives

[Floyd]

Hello all,

My ever vigilant partner has managed to aquire 2 hives ( I believe they are commercial). Is it recommended to use second user equipment? They are clean but will probably need treating for wood worm (if so is there a bee friendly treatment)

I currently have 1 national hive and will hopefully be splitting the hive in the spring, will this creat problems for moving frames from the national to the commercial (if used)

My bees took flight today which was reassuring.

Many thanks

Lee

 

[Heather]

problems...Oh yes,

I have a commercial and national - they are different size frames
Commercial is wider so you cannot interchange. Bit of a nightmare when you have a bee problem and need to offer brood to another hive.

I am trying to lose the commercial but go for deeper nationals -at least the frames will fit - just that the shallower frames of the Basic national (if interchanged) will fit, albeit with a gap at the base. But that can be for drone production

 

[BKF Admin]

Good thinking Heather.

Floyd if you use the boxes dont forget to give them a good scorching with a blowlamp.

Scorch them black and scrape with your hive tool.

 

[Roger]

Hi Floyd
Cuprinol Clear is ok to use on outside of wooden hives but is a wood treatment not a woodworm killer. I believe that all chemical treatments for woodworm will be unsuitable for beehives.

I have read that steam cleaning hives and other equipment is supposed to be more effective than a blowlamp but have no reference for this, what do others think.

 

[mrDoe]

Could you fumigate the hives with a sulphur burn?

Wrap a stack of hive parts up with pallet wrap and put a burner tin with sulpher strips in it inside. Would that kill the worm?


Peter
Cambridge UK

 

[ian]

Hi Floyd

As already said give any second hand equipment a torch, also avoid any drawn comb from unknown sources.

You can pretty much coat up the outside of hives with any preservative/worm killer you like. just ensure you leave to dry and air well.
Cupronol(green) is accepted as being the best/approved treatment for hives, until last year when they changed the mix. They don't appear a forthcoming now. BUT DON'T WORRY TO MUCH


Regards Ian

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Having wire brished, then scraped then scorched some stuff recently, I am not convinced that it is entirely effective, unless, perhaps the wood is charred to a cinder which would then be next to useless. I am sure that some nasties would remain. Maybe this modern approach of steam cleaning would be better. Does anyone know of any trials done with different cleaning methods? Or is scorching just "something that we do"?

 

[jimbeekeeper]

Are people getting to hung up on things being clean?

just look at us humans, every cleaning product states it kills 99.999999% of bacteria etc, yet assma (?spelling), allergies and other "modern" probelms are on the increase.

Let kids eat mud and get a dose of bugs etc, they will be fine.

Anyway back on topic, regardless of what you do unless you do it correctly you might as well have not done it. a blow torch is what 300 - 500 deg C not much will survie under that.

 

[Finman]

Maybe this modern approach of steam cleaning would be better.

Propane flame is good and modern.

Virkon S is a chemical which you may use in many sterilizing.
If you have white non brooded combs Virkon S kills disese spores. You sink combs in solution and then shake end extract liguid away.

 

[Roger]

Hi Floyd

As already said give any second hand equipment a torch, also avoid any drawn comb from unknown sources.

You can pretty much coat up the outside of hives with any preservative/worm killer you like. just ensure you leave to dry and air well.
Cupronol(green) is accepted as being the best/approved treatment for hives, until last year when they changed the mix. They don't appear a forthcoming now. BUT DON'T WORRY TO MUCH


Regards Ian

Hi
Ian and Floyd,

Ian
I think your advice on applying woodworm treatment to beehives is ill considered.

When such a statement is made and goes unchallenged it is likely to be taken as fact by some members.

To be effective woodworm treatment needs to be liberally applied to all surfaces of timber. The containers of woodworm treatment I have read state that it is not suitable for beehives.

A quick google search on Flurox ? the insecticide in many current woodworm treatments reveals

? How does Flurox? work?
In technical terms Flurox? is known as an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR) and, as such, blocks the natural life cycle of the insect at specific stages of development. Flurox? prevents the production of chitin, which is the hard outer skin of the insect, also known as the exoskeleton. By interfering with the process of chitin production the larvae/insect cannot grow and therefore dies. Larvae can shed their skin up to 13 times during this stage of their life cycle, and it is this process that Flurox? inhibits.
If an insect is sprayed just prior to moulting it might survive the moult, but will die soon afterwards.
Eggs laid by adult beetles which have been absorbing Flurox? will be infertile.?

To be effective a good woodworm killer has to remain active in the timber for many years, decades even.

I would not want my bees anywhere near it.

Roger

 

[Hivemaker.]

If the company that makes Flurox were to contact bbka they might let them have some stickers to put on there product.

 

[grizzly]

lol
Hivemaker, you devil you.

Going back to the suplhur strips, i had been using these once a month in all my stacked supers, they seem to have kept any nasties away.
But i am a little concerned at how badly the wood and comb stinks, even with some gear stacked in a well ventilated barn, they dont half pong.

I have stopped using them for a bit.

 

[ian]

Hi Roger

I happily take your point, however if you read again I think you will find that I made a specific ref to cupronol and even specifically the green type as being approved(at least it was until recently)

I also gave specific instructions that any treatment should be applied to the outside and boxes well aired.

In the good old days many beeks would coat up the hives with creosote the bees inside. Go figure that one. Not that I would recommend that to the 100's or so beeks we see each year.

But with specific ref to your concerns. I generally Coat up hive parts with a standard spirit based Stain/preservative treatment when first made, and try each year to apply a coat when boxes come in for storage/Spring clean. It's normally the first to hand and what's the cheapest for the subsequent Coats.


So in order to put yor mind at rest I have some 200+ colonies in such boxes the rest in poly and as in previous years I will expect to lose 5-10% Winter losses. I have never noticed any effect on the bees.

You experience of course may be different and what you do is entirely up to you

Hive maker:

"If the company that makes Flurox were to contact bbka they might let them have some stickers to put on there product."

They would probabally have to part with some free sticky notes and pens to secure the deal.


Regards Ian

 

[rnorman345]

New 'buzzer' confused ~

Hi Heather, Floyd, Ian, Lee, Roger et al,

Okay what were the results - what did you do in the end and what was the outcome?

My ? was: There is residual woodworm in my hive; will woodworm treatment affect the bees after the worst of the smell etc has worn off? Also is there a good paint that I can use to paint it where the fumes etc will not affect the bees? Many thanks

From reading the thread it sounds like curpinol green is the thing and hope that it keeps the woodworm at bay too There will be a few months for the smell etc to air away

Creosote by the way is a natural product from coal (and crude oil?) - just concentrated - so the bees I presume will have just got used to it in the wild; just stinks for we humans. Mind you the modern equivalent has a quite different and vile smell - I must look at the table of contents

All best,

R newbie