AFB Salvage

After conferring with several experienced beekeepers, we came up with a plan to try and save Cam's hive. I already pulled five suspicious frames earlier in the week but the AFB spores can persist in the stored honey and old comb. So what I did was to shake all of the poor bees out of the old frames onto all new foundation. I basically turned them back into a package so it was like turning the clock back to where I was a year ago. I can't use the frames of honey that I put in the honey bank last year either. Bummer. I can extract them later though because the honey is safe for people, just not for bees.
There's a feeder and a reducer on the hive now. I also gave them the first of three doses of an antibiotic. Toby's hive got a prophylactic dose too. Now I just wait for the bees to draw out fresh new comb and keep their feeder full. I might give them a pollen patty too. There's lot of pollen available, but they have no place to store it yet.
I did a mite count last week, too. What a pain. I put cooking spray oil on pieces of paper and put them on the bottom board. After several days, I pulled them out and tried to count the mites. Ick😁. I saw mites, dirt, pollen, bee parts, all kinds of debris. Hard to tell what you're looking at. Next, I'm trying a natural treatment with powdered sugar weekly for the next month. It's supposed to dislodge the mites that are on the adult bees. For the mites that are on the brood, I'm using the drone comb. I replaced the frame in Toby's hive and Cam's has been removed in the AFB process. Whew!