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  • From: Liz Lindsey <liz.lindsey AT duke.edu>
  • To: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>, Phil DeGuzman <phil.deguzman AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: "ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Cleanup after wax moths?
  • Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 19:15:33 +0000

Dear Beekeepers,

Along this question, I have wondered what others do for cleaning old frames
and drawn comb from dead-outs and reductions. I mean when you have more
frames and wax to store than can be put on other hives.

For example I had 9 hives summer 2012, but only one survived through this
spring 2013. My first ever devastation in 7 years.

This summer, I left frames out in what sun we had. However, due to this
summer's non-stop rain, all of these frames look to have black mold spots. (I
am talking about just the wood, having pulled the wax off, say.)

It would be helpful to converse about how we all clean up wax and frames. I
would like to hear from both those that use cleaning products, and others who
do not.

Personally, I am wondering if I should burn the 200 or so frames, as I don't
want new hives to start with mold in the spring. Or do I sit and sand the
mold off of 200 frames with a respirator on?! What would you do?

Thanks, Liz


Liz Lindsey
Faculty Support
Duke University's Fuqua School of Business
100 Fuqua Drive, Box 90120, Durham, NC 27708-0120 USA
Tel +1.919.660.7788  |  Fax +1.919.660.7971
                           Watch our video at www.fuqua.duke.edu/wakeup

-----Original Message-----
From: ocba-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:ocba-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org]
On Behalf Of Randall Austin
Sent: Monday, November 11, 2013 2:03 PM
To: Phil DeGuzman
Cc: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [ocba] Cleanup after wax moths?

Phil,

All I do is pull off the worst fuzzy bits. The bees will take it from there.
A strong hive will turn a wax-moth mess into shiny new comb in short order.
There isn't any need to scrub or wash, and there's certainly no need to
remove relatively undamaged comb.

Randall Austin



On 11/11/2013 1:36 PM, Phil DeGuzman wrote:
> During our move to a new house this summer I had a dead hive that was left
> outdoors. Wax moths had a field day in there. I plan to clean it up and
> install new foundation for next spring. Question: is there anything beyond
> scraping off the dead wax moth remnants and maybe scrubbing with soapy
> water that I should do before installing new foundation ( and in spring new
> bees) ?
>
> Phil DeGuzman
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