Had a gentleman call me a few days ago with a tree had cut down that has bees in it. He didn't know it until it hit the ground (it was in the low 40's). He explained that he had cut the tree up except for where the bees were. Long story short he was about 7 miles away so I went over there to review the next day over lunch. I ended up with some honey on my fingers as I reviewed the damage. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, considering what had happened. I licked my fingers to clean them.
What the....? Hornet spray? The honey tastes like hornet spray smells? This isn't good. I called him up and asked if he'd used hornet spray on them. He said he had before he realized they were honey bees. He forgot to tell me and I forgot to ask. I told him to call me back in March if they are still alive but I'm not moving them to my apiary's to get poisoned honey robbed out of the hive if they die over the winter. He understood and I told him how I'd set them up for their best chance to survive.
Just a reminder, don't forget to ask if insecticides have been used on any bees whenever anyone calls with a bee related issue they want you to handle for them.
My method is to ask, when was the last time you sprayed them.
They usually blurt it out before thinking and I can move on to the next job. :buttkick:
yup. i got one that had been dusted. could smell it the moment i removed the first bit of siding. wasn't the fault of the renter. the home owner had done it before having the renter call me. she didn't know.
this is why i all but quit doing cut outs.
As a rookie/newbie I've considered doing the cut out thing. It seems to be far more time involved than I'd wish. Not saying I won't do one but splits may be more of my cup of tea.
I have collected a bunch of bees performing cutouts. I do get some that have been not sprayed and end up making a decent hive out of them.
I always put them in old equipment and away from my other bees until I can see what they have going on.
It doesn't hurt as much if you have to destroy old comb and boxes later.
Found out early on that there is really not any free bees out there.
Always costs you something.
I did one still dripping with insecticide. Ended with a queen and 1 frame of bees. A week later, I used it on a trap out. Came off with a good 10 frames of bees, a prolific feral queen, and an extra 100.00 for it being sprayed. Sometimes there really is a silver lining.
Iddee,
No real concern about the insecticide poisoning the cut out hive? Worse yet the cut out dying and the hive getting robbed thus transferring the insecticide to the robbing hives? I've always erred on the side of caution when it came to insecticides directly in the hive. Do your insecticide run ins turn out that way regularly or was this an anomaly?