Maintenance of beekeeping equipment
The winter months can be used to clean all beekeeping equipment. This may not only help to prevent certain diseases, but it is also a pleasure to find tools in good condition in spring, and above all tools that are not sticky.
- The inside of the smoker should be burned out with a small blowtorch and brushed. Caution: the metal becomes very hot! The outside should also be brushed.
- The hive tool and spatulas should be treated with a blowtorch and disinfected with bleach.
- The bee brush should be washed with bleach.
- Empty wooden hives or nucleus boxes should be flamed and scraped on all sides.
- Every two years, it is recommended to completely clean each inhabited hive. To do so, the colony is transferred into a clean hive. A practical idea: clean even-numbered hives (according to their numbering) in even years and odd-numbered hives in odd years.
- Do not forget to clean the feeders every year. To simplify the task: at the end of feeding (feeders still on the hives), remove the bells or similar parts so that the bees can reach the container. They will clean it for you.
- All extraction equipment must be cleaned and dried after use. If bearings need to be greased, use only food-grade grease and in small quantities.
- Old frames should be stripped of their wax. They can be scraped, flamed, treated with bleach, and re-wired.
- Frames still in good condition (light should still be visible through them) should be treated against the wax moth and stored in a well-sealed cupboard or box. Products against wax moths are available commercially (e.g. B 401, Melonex, formic acid). If possible, the use of chemical products should be avoided (residues in the wax!). Alternatively, frames can be placed in the freezer for 48 hours or stored outdoors on supports that allow good ventilation. Remember to space the frames 2–3 centimetres apart, especially if they contain stored pollen. Freezing has the advantage of destroying wax moth eggs and thus preventing reinfestation, provided they are stored properly. It should be noted that above 1,000 m altitude, the greater wax moth develops only very little.
- Old wax can be melted down and returned to a dealer, who will exchange it for foundation sheets. Some dealers also accept unmelted combs, but care must be taken not to deliver combs that are still full of food or affected by wax moths.
- To remove food from frames, place them in a strong colony behind the division boards. Within two days, the bees will have emptied the comb. You can also place a super on the cover board, leaving a 2 cm gap, and lay the frame flat on battens. The bees will perceive this as robbing and the frame will be cleaned quickly. Do not hang frames freely in a tree or leave them exposed around the apiary. This creates a risk of robbing and disease transmission!
- Do not forget the visual aspect of your hives and consider repainting them from time to time. Use acrylic paints or varnishes.