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Author Topic: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please  (Read 10410 times)

Offline Old Blue

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I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« on: June 03, 2013, 03:00:39 am »
I need a clean effective way to kill one of my hives.  I would like to be able to salvage the honey and comb.  I have to stop my efforts to requeen them due to my host being chased out of his garden.  As soon as he told me about this I assured him I would kill the problem hive immediately.

I will have to close the entrance off in the evening to lock them all in but am unsure how to complete the kill.  Any ideas?

Old Blue
With no time to requeen :(   In.....
Kali-bone-ya

Offline ozebee

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2013, 03:26:37 am »
When AFB is reported in Australia, the colony has to be killed and equipment either burned or irradiated. The suggested method to kill the colony is to pour a cup of petrol into the hive - very effective but unfortunately it is not very friendly to honey. I have had to do this but for hives where I wanted to save the honey etc, I used a small amount of high % alcohol which did the trick ( 95% proof spirits is ideal). As long as the hive is closed and well sealed, the alcohol fumes will put them to sleep very quickly and no nasty fumes in honey. Just pour the alcohol along the walls and seal the hive.

Offline Simon

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2013, 03:39:09 am »
You can also shake them into a tub of soapy water if you don't have a supply of suitable high proof moonshine available.  It's pretty sad to watch, but at least your combs and boxes won't be damaged or have any chemical taints.  I suppose that, you may still get a few emerging brood from the combs, but a trip to the freezer for a couple of hours would kill any remaining larva etc.  If you use petrol, then you pretty much have to burn everything because of the contamination - not sure about the consequences of using alcohol though.

Simon

Offline RHBee

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2013, 06:06:48 am »
A 2gal garden sprsyer with soapy water. No need to wait just lift the lid snd spray. Put enough soap in the water to make bubbles.  :( This is acquired knowledge not experience. Not sure if this effects the comb, open nectar would be tainted.
Later,
Ray

Moots

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #4 on: June 03, 2013, 07:05:26 am »
Don't know the specifics, and have never done it.  However, I've read somewhere....possibly on this forum that Dry Ice is a very affective method for doing this.  I want to say you put a small amount under the inner cover and seal the hive, and it does the trick.  

I'll see what I can find....

OK...Found the thread, it was D Coates with the suggestion....unfortunately, I have no idea how much dry ice would be "enough".  Maybe he'll see the thread and chime in, or you could PM him, or you could just use a mess load of dry ice.  :laugh:
Here's the LINK to the original thread where he makes the suggestion...it's the third reply to the OP.

Offline cblewis

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #5 on: June 03, 2013, 08:29:25 am »
Dude......don't kill them!!!!  Move them somewhere else, sell them to someone who will care for them, put them on craigslist or something.  We have enough bee loss due to unknown circumstances, knowingly killing them isn't good.

Offline JackM

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2013, 08:53:59 am »
CBLewis;
I disagree, these have a hint of AHB in the first post and that line should now perpetuate if even in question.
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Offline blanc

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #7 on: June 03, 2013, 09:02:10 am »
CBLewis;
I disagree, these have a hint of AHB in the first post and that line should now perpetuate if even in question.
[/q
The poster only said it is a hot hive that is chasing the person keeping the bee for them. No need to kill but move them.
Blanc
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The fear of the Lord is clean,enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea ,than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Offline cblewis

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #8 on: June 03, 2013, 09:02:46 am »
Not sure how you got that. The original poster says the gardener was chased away, nothing about AHB (I'm assuming you mean Africanized Honey Bee).  I would be curious what he means by "chased".  We all know folks who are paranoid about "bees" in general because they think any flying insect is a "bee".  And If they are AHB, i think you mean they should NOT perpetuate instead of "now perpetuate".

I guess in short, they are his bees, kill them if you want.

Offline JWChesnut

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #9 on: June 03, 2013, 09:47:05 am »
 2 lb. block of Dry Ice.  Put under cover, in top super. Pull a garbage bag over the hive, tape down.  Will suffocate the hive without harming the honey.    I have done this to a AHB colony in ?2007, after getting the tip on this forum.

Interior San Diego county has endemic AHB.  Blue was the keep that was stung so badly he passed out at the drug store looking for Benadryl.  Saved by the  paramedics.

Save a jar of bees, so the AHB quick tests can be run.   This is measuring the length of the forewing (over/under 3/8")

Strong hives, ready to swarm, in California dry heat (it was 108 in the interior of my county this weekend) are aggressive and defensive.  Placed in an out-of-the-way yard and left alone, the hive may somewhat recover its composure.   But more likely, Blue wild swarms, and naturally requeened hives have gone AHB.

That said, most hives will lose defensiveness if split down to nucs.  All the queenless ones can be requeened with known gentle bloodlines.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2013, 10:02:06 am by JWChesnut »

Offline Jim134

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #10 on: June 03, 2013, 10:07:45 am »
I need a clean effective way to kill one of my hives.  I would like to be able to salvage the honey and comb.  I have to stop my efforts to requeen them due to my host being chased out of his garden.  As soon as he told me about this I assured him I would kill the problem hive immediately.

I will have to close the entrance off in the evening to lock them all in but am unsure how to complete the kill.  Any ideas?

Old Blue
With no time to requeen :(   In.....
Kali-bone-ya

 
Is this the only hive you got ???


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Offline Old Blue

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #11 on: June 03, 2013, 10:49:01 am »
Many thanks to all for lots of good info.  I will suffocate them.

I have to be able to kill them after I screen the entrance after dark - all of them have to be in the hive and this has to be carried out with no escapees.  Suffocation sounds like the best way.  Alcohol or dry ice sounds the best, I will think it through a bit before I give it a try.  I plan on using all the equipment with a better batch of bees.  I have several hives from whice to make nukes splits etc but now I will no longer be able to run feral bees.  I am now forced into annual requeening and treatments for mites and everything else that the ferals were resistant to.  I have already lost that option and am now trying to salvage domestic beekeeping at this point.

These are unworkable bees.  I can not open the hive for any reason.  The last time they were opened my host could not go out for two days and if this happens to any neighbors it will be the end of any beekeeping and another chunk of the population will be permanently against bees.  I am used to dealing with feral bees and they are uppity - but this hive is on a whole different level and I can not allow this one to survive.

Old Blue

Offline Dr. Cricket

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #12 on: June 03, 2013, 10:50:09 am »
You want to bee careful with the dry ice method. It will work, but if you don't leave them exposed long enough, the CO2 will just anesthetize them and then they will all come back at once and that would stink for you. If you have a shop vac, you could try that too - maybe in conjunction with the dry ice.

Offline Better.to.Bee.than.not

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #13 on: June 03, 2013, 02:10:07 pm »
to be sure, after you remove/dump the bees out of the hive, which should be done after they die down/go to sleep, then dump the lot into a bucket of soapy water without the comb. freezing them is fine if you care about recovery. dry ice is pretty cheap, use plenty.

Offline sterling

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #14 on: June 03, 2013, 02:38:27 pm »
Our state inspector uses starter fluid to exterminate hives. But I don't know if it ruins the honey or not. Take the honey frames off put in a box with a top bees and all carry the box a couple miles away then open the top and let the bees fly off. save your honey. Do you not have a place a few miles away you could take the hive after you screen the entrance and break the hive down into one box hives then in a few days give them all new queens?

Offline Vance G

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #15 on: June 03, 2013, 03:03:58 pm »
Keep it simple.  The dry ice and a trash bag is straightforward and fast.  Just putting a plastic bag tightly over the hive will do the same thing but takes longer and I am not into taking longer to kill something.  It will in no way hard the honey or combs either.

Offline beek1951

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #16 on: June 03, 2013, 09:45:53 pm »
Back40 or 50 years ago we used to burn sulfur in an old smoker
to eliminate sick hives and colonies we could not gain control of.

Offline JWChesnut

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #17 on: June 04, 2013, 12:13:50 am »
Back40 or 50 years ago we used to burn sulfur in an old smoker
to eliminate sick hives and colonies we could not gain control of.

The fascinating "Lower Saxony Heathland Beekeeping" series  uses sulfur smudge to kill the skeps for harvest.
See Heathland Beekeeping - 6 - Autumn Work in a Heather Skep Apiary

It worth watching the whole series from start to finish.

Offline Old Blue

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #18 on: June 04, 2013, 01:50:12 am »
2 lb. block of Dry Ice.  Put under cover, in top super. Pull a garbage bag over the hive, tape down.  Will suffocate the hive without harming the honey.    I have done this to a AHB colony in ?2007, after getting the tip on this forum.

Interior San Diego county has endemic AHB.  Blue was the keep that was stung so badly he passed out at the drug store looking for Benadryl.  Saved by the  paramedics.

Save a jar of bees, so the AHB quick tests can be run.   This is measuring the length of the forewing (over/under 3/8")

Strong hives, ready to swarm, in California dry heat (it was 108 in the interior of my county this weekend) are aggressive and defensive.  Placed in an out-of-the-way yard and left alone, the hive may somewhat recover its composure.   But more likely, Blue wild swarms, and naturally requeened hives have gone AHB.

That said, most hives will lose defensiveness if split down to nucs.  All the queenless ones can be requeened with known gentle bloodlines.

Thanks JW
I have settled on screening the entrance, sleeving the hive with a bag and putting a block of dry ice at the entrance and allowing the bag/hive to fill with CO2 and leaving it for a day.  What I am not sure of at this point is what to do with the dead hive after that.  I will have 1 medium and two large hives left after killing this one.  I have been keeping my brood nests open with two empty frames inserted into the broodnest every two weeks.  This has worked like a charm to keep my bees from swarming, growing the hives large and keeps my hives supplied with fresh frames of comb to replace my harvested frames in my crush and strain operation.  I don't know just what to do with all the dead frames of brood after this.  Maybe I will insert them into my existing hives to be cleaned up and used. 

I have heard that 70% of our feral hives are africanized in our area.  I'm 4 miles from the coast, so not interior and not hot weather but I think those africanized bees have caught up with me.  I first noticed this behaviour about 4 weeks ago during routine frame insertions.  The 3 large colonies I have had really started to bloom in population and were making pretty good use of 4 deeps and then this happened.  Well they will all be getting domestically requeened now. 

Old Blue
Tired of getting my butt kicked.  In.........
Kali-bone-ya

Offline squidink

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Re: I need to kill a hive - suggestions please
« Reply #19 on: June 04, 2013, 07:50:40 am »
Could the hive be sold to another beekeeper? Or possibly the hive relocated?