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  1. #11
    Senior Member busybeephilip's Avatar
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    quote Jon :Washing soda is the usual way to clean.

    For a confirmed AFB infection I don't believe that 20% washing soda would be of much use in the case of poly hives. Washing soda will not destroy / sterilize AFB spores, which are highly resistant to destruction, but is used to aid washing surfaces clean from propolis and wax followed by a lot of rinsing then soaking in disinfectant the idea being to minimize the risk to an acceptable level by removing adhering propolis so that the surface can be disinfected, poly hives might have too many holes in the surface that would retain active AFB spores. In my opinion the only solution to sterilize poly would be to Burn, use irradiation or soak submerged in a barrel virkon-S overnight after scrubbing with soda. The chlorine in virkon might, i dont know, affect the poly box. Virkon-s is available in a safe tablet form and is not that expensive to prepare a 10% (10g/l) barrel load ( 40 gallons = approx 180 litres uses 1.8kg at £25-£30) which is only active USED freshly prepared. Alternatively one could use domestos bleach at a final 1% hypochlorite solution, you would need to check the hypo conc of the bleach bottle first which is usually around 4.5% (so you need to make a 1 in 4 to 5 dilution, one gallon bleach to 40 gall water, from the original bottle, again, an overnight soak is advised)

    Its easier to use wooden boxes and a blowlamp.

    Hope this helps a bit

    Philip

  2. #12

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    one hears a lot regarding AFB how many confirmed infections have occurred recently?

  3. #13
    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by newforestbees View Post
    one hears a lot regarding AFB how many confirmed infections have occurred recently?
    None detected in Dorset or Hampshire last year: http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/publi...Statistics.cfm

    It is a disease that spreads slowly (often by beekeepers) and can be overlooked by those with less knowledge or poor eyesight. So there are infrequent discoveries which sometimes give rise to a significant number of cases which, after they are eliminated, knocks it back again locally .... for a time. Worth being very cautious with old equipment and being attentive, but you are unlikely to see it in your own hives.

    Swarms are pretty low risk. Don't feed them initially and they'll use up the honey they bring making wax and clean up their mouthparts as they do so. It will be a couple of days before the queen lays if they were just given foundation then another three before there are any larvae to feed - which is why shook swarms often work for EFB (always under an inspector's direction).
    Last edited by gavin; 23-01-2015 at 12:23 PM.

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by gavin View Post
    None detected in Dorset or Hampshire last year: http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/publi...Statistics.cfm

    It is a disease that spreads slowly (often by beekeepers) and can be overlooked by those with less knowledge or poor eyesight. So there are infrequent discoveries which sometimes give rise to a significant number of cases which, after they are eliminated, knocks it back again locally .... for a time. Worth being very cautious with old equipment and being attentive, but you are unlikely to see it in your own hives.
    Spot on.
    It's given more air time than its worth because it is a statutory noticeable disease, I've heard it being called useful as its a "foot in the door"!
    Now, if we could redirect the energy and resources pumped into combating foul brood( which effects ~1% of colonies), into improving winter losses (which regularly takes >20% of all known colonies in the UK on an annual basis! ), then we might get somewhere towards sustainability, but that would take a bottom up approach starting with the bees themselves, and for whatever reasons the authorities shy away from such an approach, preferring to meddle on the inconsequential edges. Ho hum!
    Last edited by mbc; 23-01-2015 at 12:33 PM.

  5. #15

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    I was recommended this site elsewhere, and what a useful mine of information. Halfway through one of the poly v wood threads and leaning towards Sweinty poly Langstroths on the basis that they are brand new (no fear of infection) and should repay for their investment over the years.

    Certainly been cold down here, heavy frost so we do get our hard spells but not as often or prolonged up North.

    Many New Forest beekeepers take their hives onto the Forest, the local association charges a minimal fee per hive for heather honey

    one of their recent newsletters carried the story "Wrong sort of drone" where in the USA one of these devices was flown over a shopping mall being demolished. A local colony of bees objected to it and attacked it. Bystanders also were stung, and the operator forced to land the machine from the saftey of his car

  6. #16
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by busybeephilip View Post
    quote Jon :Washing soda is the usual way to clean.

    For a confirmed AFB infection I don't believe that 20% washing soda would be of much use in the case of poly hives.
    I agree. With AFB they would be best destroyed. I was only talking about general cleaning rather than removal of AFB spores.
    In NI there are rarely more than half a dozen detections of AFB per year. Mind you we only have 2 bee inspectors at the moment.
    We had a couple of cases of EFB in N Antrim last summer which were the first detected for many years. Virkon will sort EFB but not sure how effective it is with AFB spores.

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    Senior Member prakel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by newforestbees View Post
    I was recommended this site elsewhere, and what a useful mine of information. Halfway through one of the poly v wood threads and leaning towards Sweinty poly Langstroths....

    Certainly been cold down here, heavy frost so we do get our hard spells but not as often or prolonged up North.
    If I was starting again from scratch I reckon that the poly langs would be pretty high up my list of possible choices, all one size box.

    As for frost, we had our annual one last night so we should be OK till next January .

    edit: but, just to be clear, if I was planning on a lot of colonies it'd be wood all the way.
    Last edited by prakel; 23-01-2015 at 11:27 PM.

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