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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Spoiled Bees

My bees are spoiled.  I like to try to help them keep clean.  I haven't had a hive leave me yet! (bad reference to CCD - beekeeper humor)  These boxes, bottom boards, and covers are cycling through for WASHING, SCRAPING, PAINTING...and most importantly SCORCHING.  I'll take a propane torch to the insides of these....doesn't hurt - I guess the theory is to burn out any nosema spores, etc.

I have one hive left on the "beehouse" deck to change over to "fresh" outsides.  Then I have plenty of fresh equipment for the two packages coming in the mail...and swarm catch or two.

Moving all the frames into "new" boxes also lets you leave behind a lot of the old boxes sticky propolis "issues".  And it lets you get a real good look at every frame as they go into the new box.

2 comments:

  1. I never thought to torch the insides of boxes before. Cool idea. What kind of torch do you use?

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  2. A paint scraper does the majority of the work... A propane torch does the scorching.

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