Flow Hive Infestation Cleaning

Beekeeping - Basics
1

Hi, Maybe you could help me.
I recently received a hive from a friend that left the country. the FLOW HIVE is infested with wax moth and they also got into the flow frames and laid eggs so some of the cells of cocoons, also there are marks in the wood where the canons were made in the sides of the FLOW HIVE. I have some questions:

  1. I tried using hot water (70 degrees) it cleans out most of the moths and the all there larvas and cocoons. Is there any easier and quicker way to do it?

  2. How clean must the flow frames be before starting to reuse them? I am having a hard time getting all the glue/dung stuff off and out of of all the flow frame

  3. Some of the Moth cocoons were grown into the wood of the hive frame and after removing them they left little grooves in the wood frame. Must it be refilled to avoid them coming back? and how do I do it?

Thank you

2

With a little dish soap, that is the easiest way. If some is left behind, the only other option is to dismantle and reassemble the Flow frames, washing them when they are in pieces.

If the hive is strong, they don’t need to be that clean, but at this time of year in Israel, I would take the Flow super off the hive, as you are unlikely to have any more nectar flow until late January or February.

Not at all. If you really want to, you can spray the wood surface with unscented household chlorine bleach, diluted 1 part bleach to 10 or 20 parts water. Leave for 30 minutes, rinse off with water, and dry in a sunny place. That will kill any eggs etc. Don’t worry about the grooves in the wood, the bees treat them like wallpaper (they ignore them). :blush:

Good luck, and please let us know how it goes.

3

I’m assuming that the hive is void of bees.

I was given a hive in a similar situation last year. The bees died out 12 months earlier. This was a traditional hive. I cleaned everything off the boxes & frames before scorching all the wood & metal QX.

I didn’t have a clue as to why the hive died out, so scorching was my way of making sure that nothing sinister was lurking. There’s lots & lots of those grooves in my wood also.

I always treat any pre-loved beekeeping gear with a similar degree of caution. More so if a colony has died out in the hive.

4

Please don’t scorch plastic Flow frames. i know that @JeffH knows this, but I just want to be clear… NOT recommended. :blush:

5

Hi Dawn, I mentioned that I was given a traditional hive. I was at the point of rewording the very bit you highlighted as your reply came in. I DON’T scorch anything plastic.

To be a 100% sure that the plastic frames are safe to re-use, irradiation would be the best bet.

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6

You did, and I have a menopausal brain that could use a little mercy now. Sorry! :smile: Just wanted to be clear for any really new people who don’t know the difference between Flow and traditional. Not everybody reads the instructions… :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

By the way, those words “A Little Mercy Now” are not mine. They are from a really great song:

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7

Dawn, I got to thinking about those who don’t read the instruction. Not much else to do, there’s much welcome rain outside. We’ve had nearly 30mils in the last 15 hours!!!

In relation to those who don’t read the instructions. They’d only ruin one plastic frame by scorching it, before realizing “that’s not a good idea”. “Why didn’t I read the instructions”.

That reminds me of the Jerry Reed song where he asked himself “why didn’t I just learn how to cook”.

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