I lost my bees last summer and did not store my hives well. I put them into a plastic container, closed the lid and left them on my deck. I was hoping to use the forgotten hive for a new package I plan to purchase. This week I noticed bees going in and out of the container (Lid was not as tight as I hoped) so I took a look. Some of the frames looked OK, had drawn out comb and were a light color, others had very dark comb and some had white webbing on them. Are this wax moth remains.
My question, can I use any of these frames or is this a total loss and I need to disinfect the frames in bleach and start with new foundation?
D'sbees
Old hive
Re: Old hive
Sounds like wax moth damage--air out the comb and my guess is it will be alright to use. If it is not overwhelmingly webbed up, the bees will clean and repair the comb.
Re: Old hive
Pull out what webbing is easily removed and put your bees in. They will be glad to have the head start. They have been taking over old hives when the moths leave for 10,000 years. They know exactly what to do.
Re: Old hive
Thank you, I have also repinted and cleaned with bleach all the other wooden ware I have. One more question? Is it better to put the plastic frames into the bottom super or it does not matter?
Re: Old hive
I'm not sure what you are asking. If the comb is drawn, even if it needs repair, it does not matter if it is plastic or wax foundation. If you are trying to get the bees to draw wax on foundation, you don't want to mix wax and plastic undrawn frames in the same super. I'm not sure I would give the bees more than 1 super, even of drawn comb, when installing a package. I would want to see tht the queen is released and laying well before giving them additional space. I would then place the super with undrawn comb above the first super/brood box when there were bees occupying most of the frames in the first super.