<<<<<You paint a pretty grim picture.  On ocasion, some of my supers get
stored in a place where the moisture content is a bit too high and they
end up moldy.  There's no reason for me to expect disease in this case,
since they didn't come from dying colonies.  The bees clean them up just
fine.>>>>>
Will the writer of the above  please read my letter again. I made no
reference to stored combs, an entirely different situation.  My letter
concerned the re-use of old mouldy combs, in store for a year, and from a
colony which died out, cause unknown.  The cause might have been varroa, in
which case no danger in re-use, but it could have been a contagious disease:
the beekeeper did not know the reason for the colony's collapse.  Starting a
new colony with such combs, almost certainly containing nosema and chalk
brood spores if nothing worse, is not my idea of good beekeeping  and in my
view is asking for trouble.  Incidentally,far more work for the bees than
drawing out new foundation.            Sid P.
_________________________________________________________________
Sid Pullinger                    Email :  [log in to unmask]
36, Grange Rd                Compuserve:  [log in to unmask]
Alresford
Hants SO24 9HF
England