Mike bassett wrote:
  after you kill the hive, assuming you don't use sevin or something, is
it  ok to reuse the equipment.

  how do you kill the hives?

 Hello all,

 I carry the hive away from the other hives and shake the bees off each
 frame by tapping on the ground and put the boxes on the truck is the
way i do a weak queenless  hive or a weak  hive with laying workers.  A
weak queenright hive i don't want to carry through the winter i combine
with another weak queenright with a newspaper. I try to keep all my
yards the same going into winter.  All on skids in double deeps and
about the same strength to prevent robbing.
  I have not seen pms in my colonies since 1996 when i had a big
reinfestation  problem from feral colonies and beekeepers not treating
for mites.  I am  treating with terramycin now so secondary infections
from pms hive bees  wouldn't really be a big deal and the pms boxes
would be safe to reuse  in the spring if i did see a pms hive.
 I believe(my opinion) if you are seeing pms signs the hive is so varroa
 infested you couldn't save it if you wanted to. If you are unsure of
your diagnosis ask another beekeeper to take a look. As for actual
killing of the hive i really haven't had a need but beekeepers to the
north often kill all their bees and start with packages in the spring. I
think they simply blow the bees out of the boxes when there is no brood
now but use to use cyanid crystals years ago available from bee supply
houses.
 Sincerely,
 Bob Harrison