# Culling Comb



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Look for small dried up black scale stuck in the bottom of the cells. This would be indicative of AFB. Also a lot of sunken and pierced cappings left on the comb would make me nervous. If there are, you can open them up and if there are dried up pupae in there, then it's probably not AFB. AFB kills the larvae before they become pupae. A magnifying glass and a bright light are essential for us old people with poor vision.









But of course this is looking for evidence of brood dying in those combs. Without a microscope you can't see the spores and I wouldn't know what they looked like WITH a microscope.


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## Robert Brenchley (Apr 23, 2000)

If it's your comb and you know it comes from healthy hives, then itshould be safe. That said, beekeepers moving comb between hives is a major factor in the spread of the disease. A couple of years ago, we had the biggest ever outbreak of AFB in the UK. Over 100 hives, all belonging to one man. The disease must have been in his hives for some time, being spread around unnoticed. You need to be alert to what's going on in your hives, and then you should be safe, provided you don't use old comb from anyone else's hives.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Now that I am holding my operation to what I set my limits at, I'm going to start a AFB culling program also. Up to now I have been drawing too much foundation/hive to be able to handle a comb culling of a greater extent.
I figure about two old combs/hive every year for rendering and replacement on a two brood chamber hive should give me a ten year rotaion give or take a few years. Sounds manageable to me. Otherwise I am going to have to rework all my combs at once later on, and it might make things less manageable.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2005)

Hi Topbee, AFB actually kills brood in the late larvae and early pupae stage. Thats why you look for sunken, perforated cappings. If you have a bee inspector there he can diagnose it. If you know someone who has experience with AFB that you trust, he can help. If you don't trust the equipment as safe, it's best to cut out all of the combs, burn and bury the ashes, and boil the woodenware in lye water. Actually, the boiling is dangerous to you so you may as well burn the whole works.


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

Evening Brother and sister apiarists. Listen, alot of Myths abound about foul brood. The fact is every hive has most of the diseases that are out there. What happens is the level of the disease pathogens become greater than the capacity of the bees to remove them. Think of the hive as an organism with a virus or infection. Once the immune system (bees) becomes weak or overwelmed it succumbs. Beltsville showed that every hive tested had some level of foulbrood spores. They also found they could test our honey and tell us when to expect problems by the spore levels. Sometimes non-related problems(nectar dearth, queenloss,weather stress) cause diseases to take over. An extensive study in new Zealand, where no medications are allowed, has shown there is little evidence foulbrood is tranferred through contaminated brood boxes and bottom boards. It's the Frames(comb) and the honey. We culled over 1500 "old frames" over our 1st year of intergrated pest management and watched our foul brood problems drop to nil. We continue to cull old combs yearly, destroy infected bees and frames, be sure to mark and cull honey super frames from infected hives and medicate spring and fall. It sounds like a chore but it's the reality for now. Ultimately drugs will fail us so we need to keep working toward better bees and good management practices. NC Beeman hits it right on the head, Get rid of the infected combs and honey.


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## Jim Fischer (Jan 5, 2001)

Here's an easy system, I've used it for years.
Go to the office supply place, and buy a box
(or several boxes) of colored flat thumbtacks
in the current queen color (which is blue for
2005).

Newly-assembled frames, and recycled frames
into which new foundation is loaded each get
a tack of the color for the year deployed
in the top surface of the top-bar.

If you are just starting out, pick the two
darkest, mangy-looking unmarked frames in
each brood chamber, and replace them with
the new marked frames of fresh foundation.

After 5 years, any old frames in brood chambers
with the same color tacks get pulled out, and
melted down. The wax can be used for candles,
wood polish, anything but foundation. 

There ya go. If you stick with the system,
you have an easy-to follow 5-year rotation
system, and are only replacing 2 frames from
each brood chamber every year. 

No muss, no fuss, no record-keeping required.

And you don't have to do this in early spring,
you can even do it during a dearth after you
have harvested, although some feeding may be
required to get the bees to drawn comb
later in the season.

The "queen colors" are associated with the
last digit of the year, as follows:

White/Gray.....1/6
Yellow.........2/7
Red............3/8
Green..........4/9
Blue...........5/0


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## Terry G (Feb 6, 2005)

Let's talk sterilization of brood combs. Instead of melting perfectly good brood combs down. I always send my brood chambers to get sterilized with Electron Beams 

http://www.iotron.com/applications.html

We do not need to check every comb for AFB. We only sort out the broken, to old, to much drone, etc. We have had a lot of success with Irradiation. 

A package shaken into a sterilized super will not have any disease for at least a full year. It's like working whith brand new equipment except that it is drawn out. Even pollen and honey frames can be sterilized. 

Why does every talk about cuting out the wax foundation boiling the wooden frames and reusing the old frames? What a waste of time. Buy new stuff. you will save a lot of time and energy. New frames are cheap.


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## Walt McBride (Apr 4, 2004)

Gama radiation is clean,effective,quick,and expensive unless you have many boxes with combs to be sterilized. In the Southern California area
the minimun is $350.00 I believe. Also it is not available everywhere. 
Walt


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## Guest (Mar 4, 2005)

<A package shaken into a sterilized super will not have any disease for at least a full year>
I thought gamma radiation was more effective that that. Sounds like you may have a widespread situation and should go for "control" instead of eradication because of economic considerations, but I would never suggest that to a hobbyist or even a sideliner.


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## Terry G (Feb 6, 2005)

I don't know what Gama radiation costs but Electron Beam is $4.00 cdn per box. I said 1 year no diseases because there is a lot of cross contamination in a commercial outfit.

Yes I do have a wide spread situation with rAFB. Thus the need for Sterilisation as one aspect of our diease control. Through irradation I have noticed the benefits by compareing unsterilised hives to sterilised hives

A hobbiest of sideliner could combine with some others to make the minimum order for irradiation. 

It takes a lot of effort for a bee hive to draw out new comb. The money spent of irradiation is easly justifyed to faster brood production, disease free enviroment, and increased honey. production.

Gama radiation is the prefered method of sterilization b/c Gama penetrates the honey and pollen further that electron beam. We don't have a gama plant in Western Canada. Just a Electron beam plant of the west coast.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>>Gama radiation is clean,effective,quick,and expensive unless you have many boxes with combs to be sterilized. In the Southern California area
the minimun is $350.00 I believe. Also it is not available everywhere.


Yikes, not that expensive here. A little more expensive than Terry

Here an empty super costs about $7 and a brood chamber with honey costs $14, or just about double an empty super.

But an old dark brood frame might as well be replaced, and decrease the risks of chem residues ect.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Empty meaning no honey in the comb


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## Jim Fischer (Jan 5, 2001)

E-Beam is neat stuff. Gamma radiation will
turn your woodenware into swiss cheese after
some number of passes, but certainly will
kill anything alive.

But yeah, I recycle combs not to control AFB,
but instead, to prevent build-up of not just
miticides, but environmental pollution as well.

With a regular recycling program, my assets
in the form of drawn comb are real assets
with a real value. If you think about it,
bees don't live long, trucks wear out, and
honey house equipment loses value every
year, so the only "tangible asset" one really
has is drawn comb.


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## Terry G (Feb 6, 2005)

Ian what facility's are you familiar with? Is there a iradiation plant funcioning in Manitoba? Or do you need to ship everything to Ontario?

Just wondering where those prices are coming from?


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## guatebee (Nov 15, 2004)

Has anyone done fumigation with methyl bromide gas? In my country this procedure is a requirement when shipping lumber, grain and other edible stuffs into the US. As a matter of fact, our regional animal/plant health inspection service follows strict procedures dictated by the USDA.
Methyl bromide is not so expensive; although it is a very toxic gas (a biocide) aimple plastic tarps can be used to cover the fumigating material.

Has anyone had experiences with it?


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## Terry G (Feb 6, 2005)

There was a time then Ethelyne Oxide (I believe)was used to control AFB spores in honey comb. It is not used any more because of the danger to the end user and operator. Here in Alberta we used to have a trailer that would go from beekeeper to beekeeper and sterilize empty supers during the winter With EO


It is still used in China to Sterilize pollen. 

About Bromine Gas, does the gas kill the AFB spores? or is it only used to control insect and bug infestations?


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## guatebee (Nov 15, 2004)

Methyl bromide gas is a potent biocide, meaning it will kill all living things, including spores.
I recently got an email explaining the use and safety of it in bee equipment. I will dig that mail out and share it with you.


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## Henry (Sep 17, 2004)

I'm not sure but I dont think you can buy Methyl Bromide anymore, at least not from the shelf anyway. Several years ago we used it under plastic to kill whatever was in the ground preparing for tobacco plants.Then float trays came along at that was the end of "plant beds".
It was very deadly. People killed ground hogs with it.Put a can at the entrance to the den and shoot it with a 22. 
Henry


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## dcross (Jan 20, 2003)

What's a float tray?


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## Henry (Sep 17, 2004)

A styrofoam piece with about 250 cells that have a tobacco seed planted and the tray floats on a bed of water with fertelizer inside a greenhouse.Was pretty common a few years ago.
Not anymore. 
Henry


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>>Ian what facility's are you familiar with? Is there a iradiation plant funcioning in Manitoba? Or do you need to ship everything to Ontario?

I am familiar with the new Pinnawa plant, here in the eastern side of Manitoba. These costs are off the top of my head, but I believe they are right on the money. At our last local bee convention they did a presentation on this. Real interesting.


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## Jim Fischer (Jan 5, 2001)

Ian, who is southern Califorina is willing
to do this? I have yet to find anyone in
the US who was willing to do this on a 
regular basis, and gave up looking.

> In the Southern California area
> the minimun is $350.00 I believe. 
> Also it is not available everywhere.


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## Terry G (Feb 6, 2005)

The only company that I have found that has Sterilization plants through out the USA is Steris

The closest plant to me is in Sandy, Utah

http://www.steris.com/isomedix/

you should be able to find a plant in your area through this site, or mayby one in southern California

Mayby Ian has a different company in mind?


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## Terry G (Feb 6, 2005)

Ian is this the Facility you were talking about in Manitoba?

http://www.acsion.com/index.cfm?pageID=35


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>>Ian, who is southern Califorina is willing
to do this? I have yet to find anyone in
the US

I didnt say I knew anyone in southern California who would do this. I said here, in Manitoba, Canada. 

>>Mayby Ian has a different company in mind? 
>>Ian is this the Facility you were talking about in Manitoba?

Yes, as I had said earlier,...
This is what I had said,

>>I am familiar with the new Pinnawa plant, here in the eastern side of Manitoba. 


Sorry not to respond. Been in the hospital for the last few days,,.....


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