Bees have spent a hundred million years in wet molding tree trunks. They clean those right up! The frames that have 20 percent or more drone comb are good candidates for swarm traps or use as the very outside frames where the bees seldom lay in them. You in Bozeman do not have the same conditions as those east of the Mississippi where pesticide is everywhere. You do not have a pesticide buildup in your frames and dark means nothing. Those dark combs also are candy to waxmoths. I spray mine with Aiazawa strain BT to keep them from being moth damaged. Keep those deadout frames they are valuable.

 

Put them back on and let the girls clean them up. Boys dont do house work.

 

How do you guys feel about the diharia stains? Only a few real bad boxes of frames but plenty of here and there frames. I put on winter patties on a few hives in March and that was a bad idea I think. They are pretty gross. Thanks for the replies

 

I don’t have enough colonies to have 20 to 30 dead outs and I would think the commercial guys would be all about time management ... so what they would do might be very different than what a hobbiest or sidelines might do....I would like to know also.

Probably the two things I hate most about beekeeping is cleaning up old frames and replacing foundation and putting frames together...yet that is what I was doing this weekend. Any obviously moldy frames of old pollen, or frames with dead brood ( pms type frames), get the foundation removed, old comb scraped off, soaked in a chlorox/water, rinsed with clean water, air dried and new foundation. This also takes a lot of time so a big operation might, I would think, just might find it more cost effective to just purchase new.....again, would like to know.

 

deleted..

 

Not sure I follow your post? Of course I don't manage to kill hives? I don't want nosema, mites foulbrood or any other yuck and I do not enjoy dead bees. But as fate would have it I lost 22 hives . And now not only do I have to get that sorted , I also have to deal with what's left of the carnage. So...that's why I asked to hear from people who may have insight? So unless iam missing something how are you trying to help? Sorry to have to post things like this it is much more fun not to but I know there are beekeepers here who have to deal with several hundred lost hives every year and part of that must be dealing with the equipment.?

 

Not sure I follow your post?..

You have a point.
Deleted my own post.

 

Try posting it in the Commercial section of beesource, you might get better information there.

 

I'll tell you what not too do... don't leave them somewhere to think about it for long. Quickly, bees will rob out anything they can, which is not all bad, unless you had plans for recovered honey frames. Soon after, wax moths will set up shop, shb will start sliming, and ants will bring eggs in to the cool shelter and set up shop. Most of this activity will make these frames less than what you have now. If storing for any time, spray bt and or freeze, then stack boxes on a screen with a screen top. Seal ALL gaps to keep the above pests out and maintain airflow. As others mentioned, best course is to have a strong hive clean a box or two at a time. Best of luck, and take care of these. Comb is king!

 

I have about 30 deep dead outs from a gentlemen that got sick and was getting rid of them, I will tell you what I did that has been working so far. I brush off dead bee's, shake out any dead bee's, ants, etc that laid eggs. I let them back in the sun with wind for a day, then I put them in the freezer for 48 hours then I store in the garage. If I dont end up using them I will rotate in the freezer again. Put them back on strong hives and they will clean them fairly well. I hate wasting drawn out comb, be it that my constant seasonal battle is to get more drawn frames.

 

if the diarrhea is from feeding the winter patties I wouldn't worry about it. Mold isn't a big deal. But I have a pretty low threshold for trashing old frames that are not in good shape. Just my opinion.

 

Similar question to the OP, I have dead out frames with lots of pollen/ beebread that has started to mold. Will the bees still use it? I have put the frames out for a while and all the homey is gone but not the pollen. If I put it on a strong hive will they clean it out or just store honey in it and leave the cells full of old pollen?

 

I have dead out frames with lots of pollen/ beebread ...

Bees will likely ignore it unless are very desperate.

Harvest it all.

I just harvest it. Even little moldy - still harvest. Bee bread is precious.
Has been discussed; I even gave people a video how to do it.

PS: assuming the comb with bee bread has NOT been treated with chems.

 

I'd fill a large cooler with hose water. Add few squirts of Dawn dish soap. Brush junk off the comb as you say. Then plunge frames with open and skanky comb up and down in the cooler of soapy water. Gently brush with a soft brush. Older comb is pretty tough and much of the soiling will come off. Then hose off. I use the shower setting. Then air dry. Be careful when putting in the sun, or you will melt the comb if it gets too hot.

 

I don't experience many deads-out these days, but used to - loads of them - back in the days before I started using Oxalic Acid.

Before talking about which frames/combs to recover, it's important to determine the cause of any dead-out. Neither starvation nor Varroa present a problem, but Foul-Brood does. If you suspect either of the Foul-Broods, then don't hesitate or procrastinate looking for potential remedies - just burn those combs, frames and all, then flame the insides of those boxes.

For non-disease dead-outs, much depends on the extent of Wax Moth damage. If there are large clumps of web-nests, then carve out the worst of them. If more than (say) 25% of the comb is lost, then call it a day and condemn the whole comb. Otherwise, put what remains in the freezer for a couple of days to kill any remaining larvae, then return that comb to the bees for repair. Best to use either a queenless colony if you have one, or a nucleus colony, in order to ensure that worker cells are drawn within the repair zone.
Starvation dead-outs ? Not a problem - the bees will pull out and dispose of their dead colleagues.
Dried-up pollen ? The bees will tear-down the cell walls in order to excavate the hard pellets, then re-build the comb as before, so not an issue.
Frames with dried diarrhoea on them ? A small amount needn't be an issue, but if it's extensive, then perhaps soak the comb underwater overnight and then gently brush and hose-off the worst.

Faced with 300 such frames, I'd be inclined to first separate them into 3 piles: those with serious Wax Moth damage which need immediate attention (or they'll only get worse, and then infest others); those which appear salvageable (and can therefore be returned to the bees straightaway); and those which have an uncertain future. Good luck working with those ...

Regarding mouldy combs. I find that sometimes the bees clean 'em up and then use them - but sometimes they just won't. In which case there's little to be gained by trying to force them to use those combs. "Let the bees decide".
LJ

 

PC - I'd look at each and think, "What if I were the bee?" Is this frame really worth trying to rescue, or should I drop kick and throw it in the solar wax melter? I really cannot see wasting a good year making my bees do anything but draw out good combs, fill them with brood, pollen, and nectar. The worst part is wasting the peak of the nectar flow doing regressive work - trying to fix up jealopy frames and take them Talladega for the NASCAR races. Its a waste of time and way too much effort. Besides that, you're beginning a game of Winter-kill roullette later on by holding back their population and honey / pollen storage for the year.

Give them good, new foundation, feed them top-notch food, move them to the best locations each week. Stop trying to save a buck here and there at the cost of a good nectar flow. You bees will return the favor and you'll have a supercharged honey system.

I'm not saying, "Trash all old combs" ... use the best of them, but think about how much work you are asking the bees to do. Also make sure the best combs go to the brood area. Slightly damaged combs are OK for storing honey upstairs. Rotten and too-much-work combs get melted (first in the solar wax melter, then graded by color, then in the double boiler and cast in to bricks) and sent to Dadant for wax rendering into foundation.