i'm sorry if this has been covered already- i tried looking through prior posts. Living in SW Arizona i had up to 8 hives at one time over the last 2-3yrs and never had a problem with CCD.... or anything else, for that matter. i was recently contacted by a local young lady who is need of assistance.... She had as many as 35 hives in her apiary and lost 66% of them (perhaps within the last year). My idea was to split her remaining 12 hives using the old hive boxes (brood and super) that fell to CCD.... Good Idea? Bad idea?
reusing ccd hive boxes....
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"Good Idea? Bad idea?"
Do you know whether, when, and with what she treated the colonies in the empty hives?
Do you know whether, when, and with what she treated the colonies in the empty hives?
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It all depends what caused the "CCD".
If the combs have not been eaten by wax moths you could check for signs of AFB. If no AFB then reuse the gear.
There are other things such as certain poisons that could leave contaminants but not practical to check for all of that plus it will not really be contagious, go ahead & use the gear.
Most of these cases with small part timers the cause was starvation, mites, or something of that nature which means the gear can be reused.
If the combs have not been eaten by wax moths you could check for signs of AFB. If no AFB then reuse the gear.
There are other things such as certain poisons that could leave contaminants but not practical to check for all of that plus it will not really be contagious, go ahead & use the gear.
Most of these cases with small part timers the cause was starvation, mites, or something of that nature which means the gear can be reused.
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The bees. Our circumstances are different I'm sure, but, if there was no treatment, I would cut out (or scrape out) any leftover pollen, then gradually freeze the equipment, allow bees to clean it, and reuse it. I would continue doing that and watch for any problems. If there had been treatment, I would completely remove the foundation, wax, and, particularly, leftover pollen, and reuse everything else. Others might simply reuse everything or toss everything. I hope it goes well.
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yes it is ok, if you are absolutely sure it was not an American foulbrood problem. if it is an AFB problem time for a big bon-fire. if the comb is real old I would replace it.
Thank you all for the insight. They never treated for mites and we don't seem to have problems with mites- possibly due to to all the copper in the state slowly working its way into bees.... They did have 35 hives at one location- It seems to me that some of the hives may very well have moved on for greener pastures. They also fed with sugar water- and i don't believe they added lemon juice to it. However, they do live very close to a pumpkin/corn farm. This is what really leads me to suspect neonicotinoids....
In the end, i'm going to reuse the boxes and try to keep her apiary at 24hives....
In the end, i'm going to reuse the boxes and try to keep her apiary at 24hives....
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It always surprises me why people talk about hive losses with no idea what killed the bees but say it wasn't mites there just isn't a problem with mites.
In this case you don't know what killed her bees. Mites are a major bee killer and should be considered as a possibility. There are ways to diagnose if mites killed the hives, that should be checked, if only to rule it out.
In this case you don't know what killed her bees. Mites are a major bee killer and should be considered as a possibility. There are ways to diagnose if mites killed the hives, that should be checked, if only to rule it out.
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