Irradiation is an excellent approach if an
irradiation facility is available. As your friend lives in
Vermont, a trip next spring to Worchester Ma. might be in
order. He can save his equipment for a small fee. Note the
prices listed below may be a little higher in 1997 as those
listed are 1995 prices.
I have talked to a few beekeepers who swear by the
irradiation of any hive that has died off. The installed
bees seem to flourish in the super clean hives.
The following was taken without permission,(it is on
the web) from the Worcester County Beekeepers Association
web page. "The Winter 1995-1996 THE APIARY NEWS". A
Publication of the Worcester County Beekeepers Association
http://www.nesc.org/~juggler/anwinter.html
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AFB Program Begins Now
Treatment of American Foulbrood contaminated hive equipment
for reuse using gamma radiation
by Don Sandstrom
Gamma radiation at a dose of 1.5 Mrad is a highly effective
method of making hive equipment contaminated with AFB spores
fit for use again. This also allows you to reuse all drawn
comb as well as the wooden ware.
The bees must be destroyed after you have determined that
your hive has been infected with AFB. Once this has been
done, all infected equipment must be placed in plastic bags
and then in corrugated boxes. These corrugated boxes must
measure 24" x 18" x 10". Each box can hold:
one hive body, frames, comb and inner cover
OR
one honey super, frames, comb, bottom board
and outer cover
OR
anything else that will fit without distorting the box.
Radiation treatment will be performed by Isomedix of
Northboro. The price last year was $365 which we hope to
obtain again this year. If we do, we should be prepared to
process 80 or more of these boxes to keep the price to a
minimum $6.50 per corrugate box. However, the price has not
been set as of yet and can not be guaranteed.
One (1) hive consisting of two (2) deep supers, one (1)
honey super, comb, bottom board, outer cover and queen
excluder will fill three (3) corrugated boxes. If the cost
is $6.50 per box, then the total would be $19.50. The
replacement cost of the wooden ware would be in excess of
$100. This procedure represents a substantial savings in
both time and money. As you know there is quite of bit of
used equipment on the market and to protect your investment
you should consider radiation treatment.
Corrugated boxes of the proper size (J24) and packing
instructions will be available at the January, February and
March monthly meetings as well as a map showing where our
storage facility is located. Please do not wait until March
to decide to treat. This time will be reserved for receiving
equipment which may need processing by new members of our
1996 Bee School. Times and dates will be established to
allow those individuals participating in this program to
bring their prepackaged materials for storage. The infected
equipment will then be transported to Isomedix by volunteers
several days prior to the actual run.
If there is enough interest, a date for processing will be
scheduled for some time in March. Equipment will be received
at the storage area in early March, and the deadline for
placing equipment in the Worcester storage facility will be
announced at the upcoming meetings.
Treat comb for wax moths as usual, but remove any moth
crystals (paradichlorobenzene) prior to bringing the boxes
to our storage facility. These crystals will evaporate in
the plastic bag during processing, making it harder to air
out the comb.
Contact Don Sandstrom NOW if you are interested in
processing any equipment this year.
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Jim Moore
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