Thanks for the replies all,
Scorched is the word not burn. Using newspapers to scorch with will require some thought on my part. I do want to use what I have. I used a primer for paint, nothing else, These are 9 years old. Pressure washing before hand did cross my mind, just not sure what to do at the moment. I'm not in a hurry with it so I'll ask questions.
Thought I'd crack one open and post some pictures. They all look like this now, to me, they don't look that bad. I'm looking at scorching as nothing more then a preventative, Ant's and what looks like a bad infestation of wax moth took over after the colony disappeared. Wax moth didn't seem to be a problem with the bee's in it when I was keeping a close eye on them. Ant's are / were my main problem.
Here's how I set them up, Please keep in mind this was my first time. I welcome any constructive criticism and suggestions. For honey, I tried medium supers and deeps, other then this and feeders, they're all set up the same.
This hive did ok for 3 years or so with one exception, I never re-queened, the colony itself was very slow in growth to start with but produced honey. Had a medium super on it at first then changed it over to a deep. They did get feed, I never harvested any thing though. I tried 10 frames at first in the brood chamber then reduced it to 5 and added as they grew. In the honey chamber was 9 frames and a feeder. A family member said they took some comb after the bee's left. Images should be click able if interested.
Top cover with a propolis trap.
Deep honey chamber with plastic framePlastic feeder used for dry feed.Plastic queen excluderBrood chamber with plastic framesInfestationBrood chamber with screened bottom board