Hello all, bee-lovers ! On Wednesday 17, May 1995 France Desjardins wrote : > I know that in New Zealand the beekeepers use paraffin wax to sterilize > hive parts from colonies infected with AFB. [some cut] ... On Thu, 18 May 1995 19:10:57 GMT Andrew Matheson answered : > It's simple thermal death (155-160 C for 10-15 minutes), coupled with > the fact that the liquid paraffin penetrates into the wood, reaching > any spores that have been locked away in wax or propolis deposits. > Beekeepers in New Zealand build paraffin dippers primarily for > preserving hive parts: the same temperature for only a few minutes > greatly extends their life, even for soft untreated radiata (Monterey) > pine. Microwax dipping : some remarks since we are using this process ... 1/ PROPOLIS and AFB spores beeswax is soluble in microwax and it is no problem to dip it in paraffin but propolis is not at all and the result is not very beautiful : a lot of propolis drops on the whole surface. Actually we have decided first to wash all the material while dipping for 10 min in a boiling alcaline water bath (different recipes). With a detergent, the beeswax *and* old microwax *and* propolis are dissolved. Without a detergent, both the wax become liquid and are floating on top of the bath (you must remove them) and the propolis is quite dissolved. After such a treatment the number of remaining foulbrood spores is reduced and the new wax dipping excellent : beautiful results and microwax remains clear. 2/ TEMPERATURE temperature of the wax bath : keep in mind that the different glues don't support too high temperatures. We are using polyurethane glues which support 130-140 deg C (from RectaVit). Don't forget that the thickness of the wood diminishes (about 1 mm). 3/ I'M WONDERING WHY no new paper (articles) about chemicals as fatty acids is published since the 2 articles in Apidologie 1993 vol 24(2) pp 89-99 (since 2 year today). Maybe no research is made in this line? Maybe the authors are waiting to publish their results at the Lausanne Apimondia Congress ? WHAT WASTE TIME AND MONEY FOR BEEKEEPERS WITH AFB in theirs own hives ! Can I suggest this ... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ In my mind, the case of "lauric acid" is a good choice because this product is stable even at high temp. and very toxic to AFB. It is not soluble in water, sugar syrup and honey, but it is quite soluble in the waxes (beeswax *and* microwax) and it is not expensive (about US$25/kg). It could be added in microwax before dipping. It could be added to the beeswax foundations. It could be serve to protect the other AFB contamined materials while dipping it in an alcoholic (methanol or ethanol 0.2-0.5 %) solutions after the alcaline cleaning. The "nec plus ultra" solution is to find a line of honeybees which secrete one of this fatty acids in her own beeswax ! Research work ! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I'm not able to experiment these possibilities for different reasons ! Seems there will be solutions for the beekeepers which live daily the AFB problem ! Hope this help to go ahead (forward?) ! Regards Jean-Marie <[log in to unmask]>