Residues of any kind of drugs or chemical used in the colony may be transfer into wax.
Old brood combs contain wax moth and bee excretions, dirt which might cause contamination of the honey.
Use of pesticides for wax mouth control might contaminate wax and honey.
General Requirementsin Addition of bee frames
General demands on good hygiene.
Treatments should be documented and kept in records.
Recommendations for the industry
No veterinary drugs should be used. They are not prescribed in India for honey bees.
Regular hygiene and health check of brood and honeycombs. Honeycombs should be without impurities and those contained brood are ought to be renewed.
Optimize storage of combs protected from outside contamination or attack by pests.
Use wax/comb foundation (CF) sheets that contain no contaminants.
Control measures for wax moth, nosema spores and other diseases/pests should not contaminate the wax and honey in bee frames.
Bee box and bee frames of standard design should only be used.
Locally available seasoned lightweight wood to be used to prepare hives as per specification of BIS.
Note- Avoid use of unseasoned and heavy wood)
In an Apiary, over-stocking of colonies should be avoided, either by restricting the number of bee colonies to be between 50-100 or by maintaining a distance of 10 feet and 3 feet to be kept row to row and box to box respectively.
Brood chamber should not be nailed to the bottom board except for migrating.
Measures against wax mouth, parasitic mites and nosema should be documented.