Sterilizing used gear

[Skinner Apiaries]

So I've heard of flaming. Heard of bleach solutions. Usda touts using ionizing radiation. Let's talk cost effective vs actual successful application. I know a retired commercial beek that's burning mating nucs for firewood, as he's lost a lot to disease. Anyway to treat these boxes and use them..?

[Jeffzhear]

I think my weed burner (flame-thrower) is 150000 BTU propane...I scorch the insides of my used wooden ware. I bought it from the Northern catalog years ago.

[bdrowe]

The question is how clean do you need it to be?

There are different levels of "sterilization". Hospitals are logically very high.

The method I use it to briefly soak the equipment in STRAIGHT-A PREMIUM CLEANSER or B-Brite. They're the food safe sanitizers I use when making mead. I always make sure it gets well rinsed, a day of sun and a day of rain, before I would use it with bees again.

Of course this doesn't include cleaning up foul broods. Euro foul can be treated with oxytetracycline hydrochloride. American must be burned / destroyed.

Of course if you have plastic drawn comb you could also steam clean it.

[Jeffzhear]

Used equipment, I use my propane torch, I think it is 150K BTU from the Northern Catalog.....

[Skinner Apiaries]

Yea, bees die on alot of his gear. I gave up. He can burn it.

[blutick13]

I had some used equipment given to me and I put it in a lumber kiln at work. It stayed in there a week at 150F. This worked for me but try it at your own risk!

[B Reeves]

I have a document I can send you from Journal of Applied Microbiology 2001Disinfection of wooden structures contaminated
with Paenibacillus larvae subsp. larvae spores. they did a very thorough job
Bob

[Skinner Apiaries]

Reeves, Im gonna PM you, Id like to have that!

[honeydreams]

I am of the camp if some one is giving me used hive sans bees the frames get striped of the wax, and melted down for candles, the frames if they are wood become kidling, the boxes get broken down and keep my house warm for the winter. I will not put my bees at risk AFB spores are known to hang around for 75 years. even when a weed burner is put to it. so I take used gear and burn it in my wood stove.

[Skinner Apiaries]

heh. you're only worried about afb? My that's awfully zealous. IAPV and Krebs were far ahead in my worries. AFB I can at least shake them back out and shoot tylan to them. IAPV they die very quickly, and we all call it one form or another of CCD. In the case of this gear, bees just won't live on it. I was far more interested in studying the disease specific to this guys ouyfit and looking at methods of reusing dirty gear from a microbiology point of view, rather than captain obvious; firewood. Obviously gear is cheap, bees are expensive, this isn't lost on me.

[honeydreams]

Just FYI I understood your post from the begining, I just posted as to why I never use used hardwear. here is a link that you might like to read on how to clean dead out hives.http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/pdfs/AIASurveyResultsApril08.pdf
it gives two options one I can't pay for and the other is vage on how long to wait to use the hives?

[Skinner Apiaries]

Yea I wonder how much irradiation costs. Considering there are pallets of solid gear that are destroyed every year... meh. Researching this has been pretty deadend. I should just call ARS...

[Myron Denny]

If you do call ARS will you please post their recommendations?

Didn't I read when you start bees to use medication in the sugar syrup?