On Tue, 1 Mar 1994, Jim G. Shoemaker wrote: > Jerry: > > Do you mean that none of the equipment can be used as any part of a honey > producing hive? > > Jim Shoemaker > [log in to unmask] > Jim: No, I mean that our research hives will never be used as any part of a honey producing hive. Irradiation, ETO, and heat have been used to sterilize hive equipment for honey producers. Some of the other chemicals that I mentioned may be good sterilants, but are not approved for use in hives used to produce honey, wax, pollen, etc. Considering the difficulty of registering Menthol for use in hives against tracheal mites, one would only embark on this path if the sterilant was super effective, non-harmful to bees, and not likely to present a hazard to human health. For our needs, we don't care about the food to human health transfer, it is not an issue. Our protocol will require us to destroy or sterilize all equipment at the end of the experiment. All of the equipment is in the form of mini-nucs. (Nucleus colonies in small hives) My students have often joked that we are the biggest "little" beekeepers around --- we run as many as 200 nucs (and mini-nucs) for our research purposes. Jerry [log in to unmask] The University of Montana