Be Go (blech!)

reinbeau · September 21, 2008, 10:07:15 PM

Due to the unavailability of Fischer Bee Quick we were forced to buy that awful Be Go. My husband can't smell it, but I can - and I can smell it on the frames downstairs. Is this stuff going to taint our honey? I am not happy at all with using it. Does the scent dissipate? Ever? Help!

JP · September 21, 2008, 10:57:55 PM

Ann, the odor will disipate in a few days, the fumes are quite harsh as I'm sure you can attest to. I absolutely hate this product and would not put it on my hives after having used it on cut outs this past season.

It stinks, is a MAJOR eye irritant and it definitely disorients the bees, I could give you examples of this.

I decided I would not be using it ever again.

...JP

woodchopper · September 22, 2008, 05:35:48 AM

JP, we were caught between a rock and a hard place. If we can find some Fischer Bee Quick in the next 10 months we won't be using this product again either. Thanks for the heads up.

JP · September 22, 2008, 11:28:12 AM

Quote from: woodchopper on September 22, 2008, 05:35:48 AM
JP, we were caught between a rock and a hard place. If we can find some Fischer Bee Quick in the next 10 months we won't be using this product again either. Thanks for the heads up.

Chopper, that's why I used the bee go as well, couldn't find any bee quick.

...JP

bluequeenb · September 22, 2008, 05:37:56 PM

we do not use either of those products and we have harvested over 1500 pounds from 17 hives this summer. We just brush and blow the bees away, granted we get loose bees , but i would much rather deal with that than the smell of bee go.
i think this is absolutely the worst smell ever.
yuck ! is right :-P

bluequeenb · September 22, 2008, 05:40:46 PM

the smell stays around and i could even smell it on the honey , i hate that stuff!

johnnybigfish · September 22, 2008, 08:30:00 PM

Whats it smell like?

your friend,
john

woodchopper · September 22, 2008, 09:03:42 PM

Quote from: bluequeenb on September 22, 2008, 05:40:46 PM
the smell stays around and i could even smell it on the honey , i hate that stuff!

How long after you extracted could you still smell it ? Just wondering.

rast · September 22, 2008, 10:26:01 PM

I used Honey Robber, worked OK. I could not detect any odor in the supers after about 10 - 20 minutes. It took me at least that long to get them off and home.
John, it smelled like cherry scented puke.
I was sparing with it and still had to blow some of the bees out. I hate trying to brush bees off of honey comb, honey always manages to get in the brush and then makes a mess.

Sean Kelly · September 23, 2008, 02:03:29 AM

I've always wondered about Bee Go and Bee Quick. So fisher's bee quick doesn't smell bad like bee go does? I've only used a brush which has worked fine for now but with 3 hives it's getting more time consuming. Plus it pee'd them off bad. If my other 3 hives didn't die I would have had to go with a chemical.

I've seen those "bee blower" things but wouldn't it be okay if I just used a leaf blower?

Sean Kelly

reinbeau · September 23, 2008, 08:03:38 AM

Sean, a leaf blower blows too hard for the bees. Fisher's Bee Quick smells nice, like almonds, or marachino cherries. The others smell like barf. One point towards the barf is it can be used at lower temperatures than the Bee Quick, but that isn't enough to get me past that horrid scent. I hope fisher's gets their bottling problems settled someday, we'll be stocking up!

Scadsobees · September 23, 2008, 09:37:49 AM

I think that you can use a leaf blower if you are carefull and don't get too close if the nozzle velocity is high.

I use my cheapie shopvac with the hose hooked up to the blower side. Works pretty well.

Rick