>>When bees hold honey, they produce more wax. When a swarm hangs from a branch it holds honey but I don't believe it produces much wax. I have not seen a lot of wax scales even under swarm that were low to the ground. I did come across a swarm once that had been in place for 2 weeks and they'd started at comb building. But this swarm had lost its queen and was not going anywhere. >>This wax being produced by afb honey still has some measure of afb embedded in it. I did not know wax glands pass some/any foulbrood spores. It's hard to imagine it possible but I can't say it does not happen. I think there would be more spores in the hair on the bees' bodies. >>...bees do move honey around. This is very true. However, I don't believe bees hold the honey for 45 minutes or longer when they move the honey around. I'd think they'd want to accomplish the task asap. I think they deposit the honey in a new cell or pass it off to another bee to deposit in a cell within minutes in which case the proventriculus may not filter out enough foulbrood spores to make a significant difference. I do believe moving honey around does remove a lot of spores although it may not be enough to stop/prevent clinical episodes since one infected larvae will release millions or billions more spores. That's why I think TM gives the bees the time they need to reduce the spore counts to a level low enough that will not lead to clinical symptoms. This is provided, of course, that the bees are strong enough relative to the starting spore counts. I agree with Bob Harrison - a swarm placed in a foulbrood deadout will not clean it out on its own. It will not be able to get ahead of the spore numbers. Waldemar -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---