Don't know if ya'll have heard about this yet.
> http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2011/dec/12/massive-kill-honey-bees-south-brevard-insecticide/ (http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2011/dec/12/massive-kill-honey-bees-south-brevard-insecticide/)
Scott
That's terrible. When somebody gets caught, they are going to be in a world of hurt.
Ugh...that is rough on those guys.
I knew local landscape company that accidentally put roundup in their sprayer tank instead of the insecticide they should have. They lost a lot of money that summer as they had to pay for a lot of new lawns, not to mention the lost customers.
With the additives we put give to the bees (fumigilan, oils), and the amount of other chemicals we have around for other insect problems, I can see that happening, although I would think it would be very unlikely.
Everyone here is a slowpoke....
Except that the poison is now known this sad event is old news. Here is a link from 09/30/11 telling of the same event. http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,34876.0.html (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,34876.0.html)
I especially wish to point out how many of you posting about the above link jumped to conclusions and wild index finger pointing about the source of this poison. It looks to me the poison was an ant bait. Ants are social insects too you know. These types of poisons or baits are commonly used to in Florida to control fire ant colonies. They are slow acting enough to allow for the worker ants to pass the poison around, even to the queen ant and brood. Some of these ant baits are white, powdery and look somewhat like sugar. It is very possible that this was a sad accident. I knew at the time that the acreage affected was to small for it to be a mosquito control operation gone bad.
"Tests by a U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory found the poison in a mixture of white sugar and water he uses to feed the bees, Webb said.
The mixture was in a large plastic container in the back of a truck parked at his Palm Bay house, he said, while he was away at a bee conference in Argentina."
Quote from: kingbee on December 13, 2011, 02:55:48 PM
Everyone here is a slowpoke....
Except that the poison is now known this sad event is old news. Here is a link from 09/30/11 telling of the same event. http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,34876.0.html (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,34876.0.html)
I especially wish to point out how many of you posting about the above link jumped to conclusions and wild index finger pointing about the source of this poison. It looks to me the poison was an ant bait. Ants are social insects too you know. These types of poisons or baits are commonly used to in Florida to control fire ant colonies. They are slow acting enough to allow for the worker ants to pass the poison around, even to the queen ant and brood. Some of these ant baits are white, powdery and look somewhat like sugar. It is very possible that this was a sad accident. I knew at the time that the acreage affected was to small for it to be a mosquito control operation gone bad.
what is the poison-??? we explored the possibility of the *fipronil*that is used off label in traps for SHB
yes they talked about the tote being poisoned--they also talked about the other keepers hives possibly
eating poisoned syrup from those same hives-seams kinda wham bam kill--versus a slow and steady die off from
low dose residual chem--whats going on still wondering -kingbee are you talking about boric acid--?
8-) RDY-B
Quote from: AllenF on December 13, 2011, 05:14:01 PM
"Tests by a U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory found the poison in a mixture of white sugar and water he uses to feed the bees, Webb said.
The mixture was in a large plastic container in the back of a truck parked at his Palm Bay house, he said, while he was away at a bee conference in Argentina."
Someone spiked the punch while the host stepped out? :-x
It was fipronil.
the pic of the guy holding the handful of dead bees --is that SHB trap on the pallet--is that where the fipronil
goes--ever watch the georga beekeepers vid on SHB--he got a system for them--DUNO--RDY-B
That trap to me does not look like a beetle barn. It looks like a corrugated sign. Still for the beetles, but we do not know what he used in them for the beetles.
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?action=post;quote=288908;topic=34876.0;num_replies=16;sesc=5a752b3fcd4b4c8d047d10bff77e4912 (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?action=post;quote=288908;topic=34876.0;num_replies=16;sesc=5a752b3fcd4b4c8d047d10bff77e4912)
Quote
I just had a phone conversation with a Brevard County Mosquito Control official. This incident took place in Micco, which is in a rural area in the far south of this county. He was very forthcoming, although he requested I not give out his name The chemical that MC sprayed down there was dibrom, a modified organophosphate used to kill adult mosquitoes. The spraying, by helicopter, began at 8:30 p.m. He said MC always sprays dibrom no earlier than one-half hour after sunset. They've been spraying it for 23 years and this is the first incident of this nature. They also spray dibrom in the marsh behind my house, and my bees have not, that I can tell, been affected. (They also use a granular form of BTi to kill the larvae form of mosquitoes.)
The Fla. Dept. of Agriculture took samples of the dead bees, which were sent to the state lab in Tallahassee. Results are expected in about 2 weeks.
He said both affected beekeepers were using fipronil in their hives for what he thought was mite control. Apparently they had used it long enough that they didn't think it was the culprit in this bee kill-off. Here's what I found out about fipronil:
"Fipronil is one of the newest names on the market for pest control, effective in the elimination of ants, roaches, termites, and other common pests. This Phenylpyrazole family insecticide packs a powerful punch, with a projected kill rate of up to 95% of ants and roaches within just 3 to 5 days.
"Fipronil's unique cascading effect eliminates entire colonies.
While most ingredients on the market are designed to kill household pests immediately upon contact, fipronil is unique in that it is a slow-acting poison which allows the poisoned insect time to return to the colony and spread the poison to others, resulting in more effective colony elimination."
The person I spoke with also alluded to the competitive nature of commercial beekeeping, an atmosphere in which sabotage could not be ruled out.
The sheriff's dept. is also investigating, but the jury is still out.
Laurel
Fipronil works through both contact and ingestion.
Fipronil is added to gel baits and bait stations and will poison an insect by simply making contact with fipronil or ingesting a fipronil-based bait. Once absorbed through the insect's outside skin or ingested, fipronil's ingredients launch a slow, deadly attack on the insect's central nervous system. This attack sends the insect's nerves and muscles into hyperexcitation, leaving it unable to perform basic functions like grooming and feeding itself. Eventually, the affected insect will die, but not before returning to the colony and passing the poison to others through physical contact, feces, and bait sharing.