Closing up Hives During Pesticide Application

[luvin honey]

We rent out a portion of our land to an alfalfa farmer. He is spraying sometime this week and knows his spray is toxic to bees.

How do I go about safely closing up the bees during the time it will take for the spray to dry? What do I do about ventilation? They still have Boardman feeders and decent stores, so that part should not be a problem. Do I close up the night before to ensure nobody goes out to forage the day of spraying?

:-x :-x :-x to folks who need poisons to grow crops that the bees forage in!!!

[asprince]

Are your hives so close that you will have a problem with spray drift? Are they applying the spray by air? Is so, you should move them.

If not, you can screen them in and ask the farmer to spray late in the evening just before dark.

Steve

[luvin honey]

They will be applying via tractor, although so huge that the sprayer level will be almost level with my hives. The hives are tucked into a woody border immediately bordering the alfalfa field, which would be an absolutely perfect spot for them if not for this spraying. The hives are not movable. They are topbars screwed onto a cedar post/2x4 platform.

Are there any ideas for how to safely close them up? I thought it was okay to just block their entrance for a day but then recently read about the dangers of them overheating if they don't have a mechanism for cooling.

Most sprays require sunlight for a certain number of hours to allow the chemicals to be sucked in by the plants. I don't think getting him to spray at dusk is an option.

[BoBn]

I used to live near ag fields and they would notify me before spraying.  I used a canvas tarps over the hives soaked with water.  It worked pretty well keeping them inside.  It's like an artificial dark, rainy day.

This was before the days of screened bottom boards.  A screened bottom board is a definite advantage for ventilation when a hive is closed up.

[luvin honey]

An update: It went well! My husband ended up picking up some drywall tape that is like a sticky screen about 1.5" wide. I taped it over the entrances at 5 this morning--didn't get the warning phone call until then--and stapled it all the way around since the hives were wet with rain and dew.

They stayed inside until the spray was past dry and then came out to forage (hopefully elsewhere) until dusk. Thanks for the help! I would like to try the wet, dark sheets next time :)

Unfortunately, moving is not an option for me since all the hives are screwed onto 2x4s, which are screwed onto cedar posts. OTOH, there may not be a "next time" since this area will be heading back to organic bee habitat next year--yippeee!