Subject: Re: Hive Euthanasia

From: [email-masked]
Date: 20 May 1995 02:14:30 GMT

In <[email-masked]>, Joyce Deming <[email-masked]> writes:
>Can anyone tell me the best way to "dispatch" a hive?  We have a hive
>that seems to have replaced its queen with a african/hornet cross.  These
>gals are mean!  Normally, we would requeen with a nice, gentle Buckfast
>queen, but the thought of digging through the frames to find the old
>queen is more than we care to deal with.  We popped the lid a few days
>ago to check on things, and they haven't settled down yet.  We're still
>getting kamikaze attack bees taking out after us when we walk outside.
>That would be fine if we were at our old bee yard in the boonies, but
>the hives are at our house, and we certainly don't want our neighbors or
>their kids or animals getting stung.
> 
>We'd like to use something that's not going to contaminate the boxes
>or frames for future use.
> 
>Thanks for the help.
> 
>joyce
>[email-masked]
A couple of ways follows but actually it might be just as easy to dress 
yourself up well (thick clothes under a beesuit), have someone tape the arm 
and leg holes to your gloves/boots/veil and go to it. After all you won't
have to be careful about damaging the queen, you could shake the frames into 
something where you can then kill the bees etc.

There is a 'bromine' based gas that can be used to kill off a hive but you
probably need a permit to buy/use it (and it is nasty stuff to make a
mistake with as it will 'freeze' the nerves in your lungs - you suffocate).
We used to be able to get it as inspectors but I never personally used it.

We sometimes would pour gasoline into the top of a hive to stupefy(?)
bees before burning for foulbroud. It would knock down your bees, but would
take a while to evaporate (AND DON"T USE A SMOKER ON OR NEAR
THE HIVE FOR DAYS!!!) - you could shake the bees into a box and burn them.

Your best bet might be to use a CO2 fire extinguisher to knock down the
bees (eg freeze them), shake them out of the hive, bag and burn them, and
then install a new package. A block of dry ice in an empty super on top
would likely have the same effect (If I remember the CO2 will settle into
the hive and suffocate them) - never tried the block of dry ice.

Good Luck

R John Northcote

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From: [email-masked] (Woodrow W. Baker)
Date: 25 May 1995 22:21:58 GMT

Joyce Deming ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Can anyone tell me the best way to "dispatch" a hive?  We have a hive

Get a couple of pounds of DRY ICE, preferably in granules.  At night, 
seal the front opening of the hive up, so there is an opening just big enough
to stick the bee smoker in, and smoke the heck out of the hive.  After 
the smoke has worked, open the top. drop in the dry ice, seal the top and the
opening and just let it set.  The dry ice will really drop the temp to below
freezing, and if properly sealed, will ultimatly suffocate the bees.  Dry 
ice is carbon dioxide, which is heavier than air, and will displace it.

Cheers
Woody

: queen is more than we care to deal with.  We popped the lid a few days

If you can lower the temp sufficiently, you should have virtually 
paralized bees, and might be able to find the queen.

Cheers
Woody

--
Woody Baker Postscript consultant/ hired software gun /flintknapper
[email-masked]        [email-masked]
"If you ain't bleedin' you ain't knappin'" -->go ahead, ask me!