Desinfection.

[Vladimir]

Hello all!
Could you help a novice from Russia?
How are old uninhabbited hives desinfected?
Can one spot a varroa mite without a magnifying glass?

[Terri]

The man who taught me showed me varroa mites.

He used tweezers to take drone larvae out of cells that had been capped, and placed the larvae in a small glass dish.

The varroa were around the size of grains of salt, oval, and they were either white or brown. Some of the mites were able to crawl.

[Michael Bush]

>How are old uninhabbited hives desinfected?

I don't. But people who do either scorch them or dip them in boiling lye water. Since youre next question is about Varroa, are you trying to get them out of old hives? There won't be any Varroa in an old hive.

>Can one spot a varroa mite without a magnifying glass?

It's possible to see them. It's also easy to miss them.

http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bush/images/Varroa2.jpg
http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bush/images/Varroa3.jpg
http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/pest&disease/sl14.html
http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/pest&disease/sl15.html
http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/pest&disease/sl17.html

[Morris]

Vladimir, Do you know why the hives died? It could make a difference how you deal with it.

[Bee-wildered]

Michael, I wanted to thank you for posting the links fo varroa. Me seeing them in this manner really will help me in the future.

My question to all is do you treat only if you spot an infestation or every spring and fall. Here in Utah apistan is virtually useless.

[Vladimir]

Thank you for the photos, Michael.

Morris, I don't know. The owner died 3 years ago. The widow sold all the bees with hives. Only some old ones remained.
Anyway I'll scorch them with a soldering torch both inside and outside.

[Joel]

I'm with Michael, I don't see a need for disinfecting equipment other than comb and frames which as a rule we rotate out and usually destroy. There is a well done study out of New Zealand that indicates there is no evidence of foulbrood being transferred trough bodies and bottom boards. (as long as the bee have not attached comb to the sides and stored honey) Pests, nosema and chalkbrood would seem to me follow similar criteria. I'm going to post a new thread under pest and disease with a link from New Zealand which address some of this issue as well as foulbrood control without chemicals. It has worked well for us.

[Michael Bush]

>My question to all is do you treat only if you spot an infestation or every spring and fall.

If you wait to "spot" (as in see Varroa on bees) your bees will probably be dead before you realize they are infested. You should monitor the Varroa. That means ucapping drone brood, sugar rolls, or sticky boards.

>Here in Utah apistan is virtually useless.

Here too.

There are lots of alternatives. Oxalic acid vapor, FGMO fog, Sucrocide, small cell etc.

Read up on here and you can learn much about them.