Sid Pullinger wrote:
>
 
> Why take the risk for the sake of a few sheets of new foundation.  Unless
> you are certain that Varroa killed them the cause might well be contagious.
> Those old combs could carry brood disease bacteria, chalk brood and nosema
> spores and what have you, hardly a good way to start a new colony.
> Scrap them.  The wax can be recovered and sterilised in a solar extractor
> and turned into candles or whatever.  Clean the frames and give them a
> fortnight's fumigation with acetic acid and make a fresh start. The honey
> has probably fermented by now so will not be fit for feeding.  Your new
> package bees will be better employed drawing out new comb rather than
> cleaning up old stuff that has been in store for nearly a year.  After all
> this time you might find that the wax moth has been at work so you won't
> have to decide.
You paint a pretty grim picture.  On ocasion, some of my supers get
stored in a place where the moisture content is a bit too high and they
end up moldy.  There's no reason for me to expect disease in this case,
since they didn't come from dying colonies.  The bees clean them up just
fine.
 
> Incidentally, have you seen the article by Steve Taber in the January ABJ,
> where he points out the dangers to health from mould spores from old combs
> and dead bees.  I think it is worth condidering.
This is a potential problem, but I don't stir up the mold spores much
just putting the boxes back on the hives.  Anyway not like I would by
trying to clean it up myself!  And besides, that article is about the
hazards of sweeping and cleaning an indoor wintering or storage location
where dead bees have accumulated and molded.  That has to do with how
you clean up the area, not whether or not the bees get moldy comb back
in the spring.
 
Michael Reddell
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http://www.hotcity.com/~mwr