Poly Hive
Queen Bee
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2008
- Messages
- 14,097
- Reaction score
- 401
- Location
- Scottish Borders
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 12 and 18 Nucs
as part of another project I approached the Ministry (FERA) some time ago about thier attitude to Poly units and the all important sterlisation aspect.
I attach their PDF file which arrived this morning, and from it quote:
"Cleaning and Disinfecting plastic or polystyrene hives
Plastic beehives have been used in Europe for at least 30 years. Although still
relatively uncommon in the UK, they are becoming more popular. Prior to
sterilisation, plastic hives and components need to be carefully cleaned, just as you would a wooden hive. i.e. freeze components to kill insect pests, lace onto a disposable work surface (newspaper or cardboard), scrape all parts as thoroughly as possible to remove adhering wax comb or propolis, and destroy all debris that you remove, by burning. Once your plastic hive is clean, it is ready to be sterilised.
However, options available are limited compared to the range of treatments you can use on wooden hives. Use of a blowtorch, for example, is clearly out of the question as this would simply melt the equipment, and the emperatures involved in paraffin wax treatment would also be inappropriate. Manufacturers of popular plastic hive brands recommend that the best available options are chemical disinfectants that contain hypochlorite or caustic soda, as described above for wooden hive sterilisation. Only hypochlorite-based products are recommended for AFB (see Dealing with EFB and AFB, below). Gamma irradiation should also be effective, but
no details are available at time of writing. Any cleaning and treatment agent or solution should be tried on a small component or area to check that no damage will be caused."
To most of you this is just another piece of information, to me it represents a giant step forward as now we have an offical method of sterlisation, and the beating stick for poly of AFB and EFB is negated.
I have to say I am rather pleased this morning, and pleasantly suprised too.
I now have even more reason to wear my shirt tomorrow. LOL
PH
I attach their PDF file which arrived this morning, and from it quote:
"Cleaning and Disinfecting plastic or polystyrene hives
Plastic beehives have been used in Europe for at least 30 years. Although still
relatively uncommon in the UK, they are becoming more popular. Prior to
sterilisation, plastic hives and components need to be carefully cleaned, just as you would a wooden hive. i.e. freeze components to kill insect pests, lace onto a disposable work surface (newspaper or cardboard), scrape all parts as thoroughly as possible to remove adhering wax comb or propolis, and destroy all debris that you remove, by burning. Once your plastic hive is clean, it is ready to be sterilised.
However, options available are limited compared to the range of treatments you can use on wooden hives. Use of a blowtorch, for example, is clearly out of the question as this would simply melt the equipment, and the emperatures involved in paraffin wax treatment would also be inappropriate. Manufacturers of popular plastic hive brands recommend that the best available options are chemical disinfectants that contain hypochlorite or caustic soda, as described above for wooden hive sterilisation. Only hypochlorite-based products are recommended for AFB (see Dealing with EFB and AFB, below). Gamma irradiation should also be effective, but
no details are available at time of writing. Any cleaning and treatment agent or solution should be tried on a small component or area to check that no damage will be caused."
To most of you this is just another piece of information, to me it represents a giant step forward as now we have an offical method of sterlisation, and the beating stick for poly of AFB and EFB is negated.
I have to say I am rather pleased this morning, and pleasantly suprised too.
I now have even more reason to wear my shirt tomorrow. LOL
PH
