Hive Cleaner

[philipm]

I've been thinking of making a solution for hive cleaning possibly containing propolis. Anyone on the forum got a good recipe?

 

[oliver90owner]

What is wrong with a bgood scraper and a blowtorch for timber hives? Washing soda and a good scrub for poly, followed by either hot lye or some formof good sterilisig solution. Remember that AFB spores are resistant to most cleaners/sterilisers.

Propolis won't clean anything - all it will do is coat whatever is there. If you must use propolis, why not clean, sterilise - and then coat everythin, if you must.

 

[Finman]

I've been thinking of making a solution for hive cleaning possibly containing propolis. Anyone on the forum got a good recipe?

Recipe: Go to Lidl and buy Killit Bang. Best fat solvent.

 

[pargyle]

I've been thinking of making a solution for hive cleaning possibly containing propolis. Anyone on the forum got a good recipe?

Thing is... why do you want to clean hives ? Bees are one of the cleanest organisms on the planet - the only reason to clean a hive is if it's a second hand one and you don't know the provenance or if you have had disease in one of your colonies.

The bees spend a lot of time and energy coating everything with propolis - trying to get rid of it just gives them more work to do. By all means scrape off excess comb and propolis that is affecting your inspections and tidy up supers at the end of the season before storing them but as for anything more - waste of your's and the bee's time.

As for Cillit Bang - yes it works a treat and I've used it successfully on a second hand poly hive I was given but it's vile stuff and the planet would be better off without it. Washing soda does just as good a job on poly (dissolved in hot water) with a bit of scrubbing and is so much better for the environment.

I make a propolis 'varnish' from hive scrapings and paint the inside of any new hives (and any second hand ones after cleaning) with it before the bees go in there - works very well and leaves the hive with a lovely 'bee smell' for them to move into.

Just put the scrapings in a jar, fill it with methylated spirits - lid on - shake it a couple of times a day for about 10 days and the propolis will dissolve and can then just be strained and the resulting 'varnish' painted on the inside of the hives. Put the strainings back in the jar, top it up with any more scrapings you have, add more meths and you have an everlasting 'varnish' pot.

If it was good enough for Stradivarius it's fine by me ...

 

[For want of a better word]

I've been thinking of making a solution for hive cleaning possibly containing propolis. Anyone on the forum got a good recipe?

Did you mean like "Hiveclean" a soon to be prohibited product that seems to me to be Vimto, a bit of propolis and sundry aromatic essences.... and at £20 odd per 450ml sqeezie bottle I thought there would be enough profit in it for the makers to have it licenced?

Yeghes da

 

[philipm]

Yes I already make propolis tincture for various uses mainly medicinal,pretty good stuff. Never used Hive clean but some people seem to swear by it.I do scorch my hives before use and never normally need to buy second hand as I make up my own when needed. I like the idea of meths and propolis for the inside of hives can't do any harm.