Both of my hives died over-winter, and I'm looking to try again with a package or two this spring.
What steps should I take to prepare the old equipment (live bee's in it 2 months ago!) for re-use this spring to minimize transferring anything nasty?
Some of the frames have dead bee's stuck head-down in the comb, there is some honey left, a few spots have moldy/fuzzy looking nasty stuff...
Is it enough to remove anything not-nice looking, and place the frames in the freezer for a period (1-2 weeks?), or should I scrape everything off and make them start over? Burn all the frames and sterilize the woodware?
Dunno what killed them off, one was very healthy, one was weak going into winter... both dead out 100%. Did have a lot of SHB's in there...
Thanks.
- Kevin