Does anyone know if honey can be tested to see if there are any residues from pesticides? I lost a hive that appeared strong and it seemed suspicious. - Dead bees piled on the bottom board and dead bees throughout the hive. Plenty of honey - both fully capped and some uncapped. I wanted to take the remaining frames to another site where I have a hive and let those bees have the honey. I was experiencing some robbing of one super that I left exposed to allow the fireants to leave. An excaped swarm (I assume) cleaned out the one super but the other super I left covered and on a stand whereby the fireants cannot reach it. That super looks untouched and I see no signs of the robber bees anywhere!
I wondered if perhaps there was something toxic in the honey that may have killed off the original hive and then did away with the robbers as well. If I could have the honey tested that would ease my mind a bit. The hive was located in the middle of my 129 acres and it looked as though it had been fumigated or something. It was situated on a large powerline right-of-way that is accessed by two very large power companies. They use herbicides but that shouldn't have hurt the bees I would think.
Any suggestions?
Pesticides are likely. Someone was spraying somewhere. They can be tested but it's expensive. Notify the department of Agriculture and see what they can do for you.
Your local county extension agent can probably give you some direction on this and is much easier to deal with than the state or federal agricultural departments.