Sterilise hive

[Mardak]

You get a trailer and ute load of stuff and leave it down there. They ring when they complete it all. Depends on quantity and cost of replacement of said equipment. You get the diseases through your equipment and your options are probably burn or irradiate as some disease stay active for over 40 years in hive ware. The disease can spread if not killed or irradiated. Some buggers (ex Ararat) from years ago sold on infected equipment knowing what they are sharing. Scurge of the earth those two.

[ncross]

Interesting what you say about the selling on of equipment that was infected and just down the road too. I'm glad that you say they are ex Ararat.

I have no reason to believe that any of my equipment is infected with anything. However, I decided to give the heat gun a go anyway. I ran it at max which in theory could be 600 degree celsius although I have no way of testing that. Certainly as I passed the heat gun over the box the wax and propolis melted and boiled instantly. I moved the heat gun at a medium pace and it not burn the wood at all. From all that you guys have said it probably didn't make any difference but old habits die hard and it made me feel better and certainly would not cause any harm. I used that equipment and used it for extra space for an expanding swarm.

There are many bee diseases and bugs that affect them but does using a heat gun help against anything at all?

If I had disease and it was a few boxes I wouldn't hesitate to burn it. Irradiation sounds like the ultimate and perhaps only good solution if you have a lot of hives which are affected with something nasty like AFB.