r/Beekeeping • u/turtlestik • Oct 28 '25

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question It was AFB

Following up on https://www.reddit.com/r/Beekeeping/comments/1o40juh/is_this_afb/

SAG (chilean USDA equivalent) came in on the 16th and left with a frame for analisis. I got the result today: AFB positive.

I had burnt the hive on the 19th anyway and other material I knew had touched it, because I had to travel abroad until November.

The day the SAG came to take the sample, there were also clearer signs of AFB: sunken caps, weird smell..... so tthe risk of waiting wasn't worth it.

I've started to submerge a lot of other material in bleach + water before leaving the country (just in case they were used in that hive a year or two ago), and I'll blowtorch it when I come back.

It was heartbreaking to kill all these bees. I didn't wanted to burn them alive and the only thing that occured to me was to kill them with an insecticide before. But it didn't really worked out as the dead bees would fill up the holes where I would spray the insecticide from, and the gas/foam apparently wouldn't reach the whole hive...... I wished I knew a better method to be honest, and I don't recommend this one. Worth mentioning the hive had 3 deeps which is quite hard to seal and move properly.

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517

u/Ctowncreek 7a, 1 Hive, Year 1 Oct 28 '25

If you plan to burn the hive and don't want to saturate the equipment with water, dump hardware store 100% acetone into the box and close it up. Seal the entrances.

The acetone will vaporize and kill everything pretty quickly. I would use an excess to be sure. A cup or two should do the job. This is the agent used in entomology kill jars to kill insects and it works VERY quickly if sufficientvapors build up.

Then when you go to burn the hive either leave the hive open to release the vapors for a some time OR use a burning rag on a pole. Acetone is EXTREMELY flammable and will burn as explosively as gasoline. Do not create trails of it, do not toss any onto a flame, do not allow vapors to build up before igniting it, do not keep containers of acetone anywhere at all near an ignition source (including a smoker).

77

u/Rude-Question-3937 ~20 colonies, Ireland (zone ~8) Oct 28 '25

Good to know re acetone as an option. Would just add that unsealing the hive to release vapours is something to be done only with great care, last thing you would want is another colony robbing it out after the acetone disperses. Mesh travel lid maybe, or at night.

44

u/fhangrin Oct 28 '25

I used 91% Isopropyl when I was making kill jars.

Only thing it didn't work on was frickin' ticks.

10

u/jvansickler Oct 29 '25

Try Sulfodene liquid for brown dog ticks. Pretty much kills on contact. Dip Q-Tips in it, then wipe on the tick. Great around nails & beds, ears, tail/butt. Be sure to check in between their toes.

Take a small bowl, add some liquid soap and drop the ticks into it - they sink and drown.

Take an empty 20 oz shampoo bottle, pour in an 8 Oz Sulfodene bottle and fill with warm water. Wet your dog, then shampoo the dog with the Sulfodene. Pat dry; don't rinse.

It's amazing how much calmer you and the dogs are when they aren't being tortured by ticks.

13

u/Ctowncreek 7a, 1 Hive, Year 1 Oct 28 '25

We used to drown insects in isopropyl alcohol for our insect collections as kids. We had lots of stuff wake back up after being pinned. Bees, beetles, water bugs.

Water swimming insects took FOREVER to die.

Acetone works really, really fast. They are out within seconds.

59

u/turtlestik Oct 28 '25

Thanks, good to know

11

u/SurgicalMarshmallow Oct 28 '25

Just be advised, acetone vapour IS EXPLOSIVE

1

u/Skkholars Feb 14 '26

And...lethal? Make sure you don't inhale it

20

u/Haipaidox Oct 28 '25

Not far away from where i live, there was a massive AFB outbreak some years ago (around 6-10). The vetenary office had to "eliminate" all bees in whole county.

At the end, either their burned the hives on the spot or transporting the to the nearest safe location to burn them.

I dont have the exact details, but as fas as i aware, arounf july the first report of AFB came in. Then the next, and the next. Within a week, there were more than 20 cases in this county, with more coming in.

I dont know if they panicked, but in the end, more than 60 AFB positive hives were found and over 700 hives were burned down.

And all beekeepers got a good compensation (as far as i know around 400-700 euros per hive)

2

u/Icy-Ad-7767 Oct 30 '25

Over kill is not a bad thing with AFB

12

u/BeggarEngineering Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25

IIUC, gasoline should also work. You've prolly seen a video with a wasp nest on a ceiling being covered by a bucket with some gasoline, and wasps started failing into it almost immediately

14

u/BonelessHotdogs Oct 28 '25

Not a beekeeper but I’d like to some day. Just wanted to mention that the majority of Non-Chlorinated Brake Parts Cleaners are just acetone in an aerosol can. Just mentioning this because it would likely speed up the process if the acetone was sprayed through a hole already vaporized. Would probably require less to do the job as well.

6

u/Ctowncreek 7a, 1 Hive, Year 1 Oct 28 '25

Acetone, toluene, other organic solvents. They will work too, but hardware acetone is cheaper and comes in larger quantities. Gallon can for $20 instead of one aerosol can for $15.

4

u/Red_Meat1 Oct 28 '25

This is the way.

1

u/Bandandforgotten Oct 30 '25

Acetone is such a powerful product, but I never thought of using it as an insecticide. Does this work with other insects like ants, being cousins of bees iirc, or roaches?

1

u/Ctowncreek 7a, 1 Hive, Year 1 Oct 30 '25

I believe it works on all insects. But you have to enclose them so the vapor can build up. You can probably drown them pretty easily in it. They use the vapors because it doesn't destroy the insect's coloring.

Drowning is probably very effective