From: "deelusbybeekeeper" <deelusbybeekeeper@excelonline.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 22:18:32 -0700
To: <BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: shakedown

Nancy wrote:
> So, Dee, a shakedown is when you make a new hive, basically, by sweeping all
> the bees from an infected hive into new undrawn frames - just as if you have
> a new pkg of bees and a brand new hive?

Reply:
Yes

> And in starting from "scratch" these bees digest all "bad" honey already in
> them including noxious spores that cause these various foulbrood?

Reply:
Yes for the most part, properly done, shaking can be undertaken so that the
reinfection rate is less than 5% . But the colony(s) must be watched and
looked at 30 days later and if seen reinfesting (normally fewer than 1-12
cells on a frame) these 1-2 new frames (normal amount found) are easily
removed and new ones inserted which normally ends the problem.

> Now, old books suggest one then burn old frames & hive bodies. Is this still
> called for, or is putting into solar melter enough? In other words, how
> drastic do you have to get? I presume that all larvae and from the "old"
> hive is to be destroyed one way or another. Honey going to human use rather
> than feeding back to any bees.

Reply:
Many have written that burning is too costly and efforts should be made to
replace this destructive method as too radical. Jaycox used to write and
talk about this and even in Canada at the Institut Armand-Frappier in Laval
it was mentioned as too costly. Sustained hot underwater bath with pressing
wax in double burlap sacks was suggested as another course of action. We
have also already talked about this here on BioBee and with the search
engine in the archives the information can be repulled up at beesource.com.

Putting into a solar wax melter is definitely not enough. And yes all combs
with foul cells are to be destroyed and/or properly recycled into usable
wax.

As for feeding the honey to humans please note ---If terramycin has been
used this is forbidden practice.

Regards,

Dee A. Lusby