Stan Sandler wrote:
>
> >        My question is this:  Would it be safe to use the remaining moldy brood
> >foundation for my second hive of package bees arriving this Spring?  Any
> >thoughts would be appreciated.
>
> Hives that die over the winter are generally pretty disgusting looking.
> However, when you clean the frames up a bit and give them to new bees they
> generally do a remarkable job of cleaning them up.  It takes them energy of
> course and new packages should be installed on the best combs available first.
 
I would agree in general with Stan's advice.  I often have frames filled
with dead bees and literally covered with green mold.  But honey bees
are great housekeepers, and love nothing better than to take an absolute
mess and beautify it.  In no time at all a good colony will remove every
trace of mold, dead bees and hard moldy pollen, polish the cells and
make them into a perfect nursery for the new larvae to come.  They will
also clean up frames that mice have used for a nest, filling the chewed
out comb and somehow getting rid of the nasty mouse urine odor (in this
case it's good to put the mouse hole between two good combs or cross
brace comb might result).  The only thing that seems to discourage them
is heavily webbed wax moth damaged comb - this I usually have to burn.
 
Ted Fischer
Dexter, Michigan, USA