Wooden Feeders - cleaning mould safely?

[sheena]

Hi,

I've just been to check on my bees. I was going to give them some sugar syrup but noticed the feeders are looking a bit mouldy. I'd just left them in over the winter. How can I clean them safely? If I clean them with some washing up liquid ( and rinse well) would that possibly affect them? Also, if I don't get all the mould off is that bad for them?

I overwintered two hives, one very small. To my delight both seem to have survived the winter even though it was well below -10 quite a few times! The larger hive has the queen and she is laying! Gorse is nearly out so hoping for a productive spring from them. Not sure yet about the smaller one. The bees are flying and so on but I'd put fondant directly over the frames in the brood box (They hardly made any honey )and decided not to remove the fondant this week until I can put in some sugar syrup and the gorse actually blooms.

Anyway, if anyone has advice about making the moudly feeders safe to use I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,
Sheena

 

[Mike a]

Milton sterilizing fluid should be fine after giving them a good brush. Just make sure your rinse it well afterwards.

 

[richardbees]

ditto 'Milton' and a good rinse


(it's good enough for baby pandas!)

 

[Mike a]

Just read their website.

See Here

Milton Sterilising Fluid allows you to sterilise in just 15 minutes, killing bacteria, viruses, fungi and spores (tough dormant bacteria). It has been used in hospitals for many years as a simple and very reliable method.

Best of all its safe to handle, not need to wear gloves, googles or worry about breathing in any fumes and if you have kids you can throw them in as well...

(joking of course)

 

[Rosti]

and then dry the surfaces and paint with epoxy resin

 

[sheena]

Great, Thanks! I'd never heard of milton before.

 

[peteinwilts]

Great, Thanks! I'd never heard of milton before.

not had children then!

 

[Hivemaker.]

Bucket of warm water with some bleach in,wash then rinse.

Weak bleach will do no harm to bee's,some add 1 teaspoon of bleach to 1 gallon of thick syrup feed in autumn.

 

[oliver90owner]

Hivemaker,

I agree entirely. KISS principle in operation here. After all, Milton is only bleach, the same as in your bucket! Just that Milton is far more expensive.

Regards, RAB

 

[BobH1]

After all, Milton is only bleach ...

As someone on this forum says: "I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that". Milton is safe for babies to drink and I wouldn't give them bleach.

 

[Rosti]

Domestically available Milton is a low dose hypochlorite solution at about 2% w/v as used with some additional sodium chloride added (15%-ish), it is relatively safe because P&G go to some lengths to remove heavy metal ions which is what binds the some of the breakdown products into chlorates and thats the main diff – purity so reduced nasties left over. Milton also lacks the surfactants in other products which contribute to both their effectiveness (wetting ability) but also their human exposure risks again making it safer for human contact.
Milton’s ability to sterilise is dependent on effective pre-cleaning (removal of organic matter) so that the only thing that there is left to act on is any residual bug loading, great on hard surfaces such as plastic baby bottles and stainless. It’s efficacy on a lump of wood to ‘sterilse’ would be limited – free chlorine mopped up too quickly by the wood and the wood protecting surface internalised bugs. It’s effectiveness as a detergent when combined with a bit of elbow grease is OK but not special.
Sad to say some diluted household bleach will probably be both more effective and cheaper for the application in mind, given you are working on wood.

 

[Hombre]

Milton is safe for babies to drink . . .

I'm with RAB on this issue. It just happens to be a very weak chlorine bleach based solution <5% and probably doesn't include surfactants that some other products might include these days.

Her's the safety data sheet, just for reference.
http://www.milton-tm.com/c2/uploads/milton%20fluid%20safety%20data%20sheet.pdf

A weak bleach solution is also likely to be to more readily available in most households, whereas Milton is not commonly available as standard.

BobH1, I think that you need to think about magnitude of the statement you just made. Not rinsing a babies bottle/teat after soaking in Milton is not a hazard, but not to be confused with actually drinking. Agent Orange anyone?

On a slightly different note. Milton does not destroy oral thrush in babies, which can be exacerbated by parents putting a childs dummy in their mouth. Run it under the kettle instead, but let it cool before giving it to baby . . .