Hello All,
the goal would be to kill the bees as fast as possible without contaminating
the comb.

 With today's problems I recommend a different approach to the hive after
depopulation than ever before.
Many people which simply toss another package or nuc in the deadout are
seeing issues within a few months.

Those culling comb and using one of the several methods known to kill virus
and also nosema ceranae spores are seeing better results.

Trying to replace bees in certain hive bodies without the above changes has
been problematic for many commercial beekeepers. of course they can say the
problem is Aussie package bees, poor queens or winter but it seems the issue
goes back to certain hive bodies.

To those beekeepers i say:
"stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different
result"

From the very start of CCD the USDA-ARS suspected the hive bodies held the
key to the problem.
In private conversations with USDA-ARS researchers I have been told they
really have no handle on what in the CCD deadout hive bodies is the problem.
No smoking gun.

Almost all point to the fact that other bees and known pests will not rob
the deadouts out as most puzzling.

The 400 hive experiment with Dave Hackenbergs hives (which all did poorly)
after radiation of the comb puzzled many researchers. In private
conversation most seemed convinced that whatever was in those boxes was not
fixed by radiation.

Although some CCD deadouts had fairly high levels of legal mitacides testing
showed that most the boxes were at levels below the known LD 50. The
symptoms of mitacide death were not seen.

The quickest way to healthy bees today is to split your hives and use 4-5
frames of foundation ( instead of old comb). The next year do the same until
the old comb is gone.

The curious thing is most commercial beekeepers when they use a treatment
they treat all their hives with the same product in the same way. Still they
keep pointing to deadout boxes which will not raise healthy bees for over
4-6 months. Other boxes given the exact same treatments over the last couple
decades keep super strong bees. Wax sent for testing has produced no smoking
gun however testing does not always cover all possible chemicals.

In short the phenomenon of CCD still puzzles researchers and beekeepers
alike.

bob

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Access BEE-L directly at:
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L