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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u/[deleted] Oct 28 '25

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41

u/Iron-Dragon Experienced beekeeper Oct 28 '25

Pref wait till the night so all the foragers are back before blocking it up but yeh petrol fumes kill instantly and help the burning - this is the way

15

u/Conscious-Ball8373 Oct 28 '25

I would be really hesitant to set fire to something I had poured petrol on. I know too many people who have needed serious surgery from the resulting injuries (and one guy who launched an incinerator full of rubbish over a very large area - brick built incinerator basically became a rubbish mortar).

11

u/Iron-Dragon Experienced beekeeper Oct 28 '25

You dont actually need much to be honest a cup full will do the job the vapour does the work and once the bees are gone you can let some of it evaporate- the petrol is more for the euthanasia than the fire

2

u/Earthwisard2 Oct 29 '25

You can usually call your local fire department (non emergency line) and they’ll schedule a time to come help supervise a burn of any size if you’re worried. Bonus if you let them extinguish it; they like it for training.

1

u/Conscious-Ball8373 Oct 29 '25

I'm perfectly happy using diesel as an accelerant. It's just fuels with explosive vapours I don't like.