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Date: | Mon, 17 Apr 1995 10:08:13 -0400 |
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Hi.
This weekend I opened a beeyard I keep in Southern Maine (USDA Zone
6). The plan was to remove the winter protection on the hives, repair
any damage and install four new hives of package bees. It was my
intentention to "quickstart" the brand new hives with a few drawn-out
frames from the existing hives.
All the hives survived the winter. However there was alot of blue-
green mold on the frames of the bottom deep supers and the bottom
boards. I suspect I was over zealous in wrapping the hives and a
moisture problem developed. I've never seen this much mold in hives.
I was able to scrape the bottom boards clean, but, I was going to
reverse them (to their higher entranced "seasonal"side) anyway. The
problem I have is with the moldly frames. I did not want to use them
with the new hives. I was concerned the new hives might be too weak
at first to handle any disease or parasites associated with them.
Eventually, I replaced the mouldiest frames with new spares I was
carrying. But, I had to use far fewer drawn-out frames (the best
of the lot from the in-place hives bottom supers) then I would have
preferred in the new hives.
My question is what can I do with these moldy frames? Can they be
cleaned? Was I being over cautious? Should they be destroyed? They
are all Permadent(tm), so I'd like to save them if possible. Please
advise.
PLEASE RESPOND VIA E-MAIL. I WILL REPOST A SUMMARY WITH APPROPRIATE
CREDITS.
jps
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