![\"hive-burning\"](\"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/hive-burning.jpg\" "\\"hive-burning\\"")
anyhow.<\/p>\nSpring\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waxing Beehiving Moon<\/p>\n
This morning:\u00a0 an auto da fe, an act of faith, but as you history buff’s know, also a burning.\u00a0 Acting on the word of Mcarthur Grant Genius, Marla Spivak, I burned my old hives and frames since I believe they had an infestation of American Foulbrood.\u00a0 They were old and came from my first bee mentor, Mark, so it was time to cycle them out of our bee yard anyhow.<\/p>\n
It took me a while to get them going, I felt a little bit like Crankshaft, pouring on the starter fluid, but finally the heat got high enough to melt the wax and then the fire burned, smoky and jumping high, all that work melting into flames.\u00a0 While they burned, I cleared plant matter out of the raised beds, detritus from last fall, readying them for planting tomorrow, I hope.<\/p>\n
(not mine, but a bee keepers fire)<\/p>\n
Purification by fire, burning out a disease organism that can stay in the brood cells for up to 50 years, a small flake filled with the virus, only waiting for a moment when it can awaken.\u00a0 This stuff can spread from hive to hive so scorched earth is the best answer.\u00a0 In addition, Marla recommends burning five year old frames and hive boxes just to be safe.<\/p>\n
The comb melted and spurred the fire higher, small bee bodies dropping from the brood chambers and the sides of the frames to the bottom board.\u00a0 It’s been awhile since I burned anything, but it did remind me of the old days in Alexandria, Indiana where we used to burn our trash in 50 gallon oil barrels.\u00a0 We had to poke it and move the the stuff around to insure everything got consumed.<\/p>\n
I’ll use the dead bees and the ash as a fertilizer for the raised beds, a whole cycle.<\/p>\n
If you go down further in my postings, you’ll discover the posting I removed earlier are back.\u00a0 My brother is now here in Andover, away from Thailand.\u00a0 Apparently an angry employer can retain foreign nationals for unfinished work contracts and Mark had a bit over three weeks left on his.\u00a0 Nothing happened, so he arrived safely around 12:45 today after the grueling 17 hours in the air from Bangkok.\u00a0 We’ve talked, he’s sleeping off his jet lag now.\u00a0 Both Kate and I are glad he’s here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Spring\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waxing Beehiving Moon This morning:\u00a0 an auto da fe, an act of faith, but as you history buff’s know, also a burning.\u00a0 Acting on the word of Mcarthur Grant Genius, Marla Spivak, I burned my old hives and frames since I believe they had an infestation of American Foulbrood.\u00a0 They were old and came … Continue reading Bee Diaries: April 9, 2011<\/span>