A question of content...

[Hill's Hivery]

BACKGROUND:
I ran out of honey to sell last year pretty fast and I have some new customers calling wanting honey.  I do not use any chemicals in my hives at all and never have.  I have a local beekeeper that will sell me honey wholesale, but he has used apistan and checkmite in his hives in the past.  He told me that he didn't use it last year from which the honey came from.

QUESTION:
Is there residual of these chemicals that could taint the honey?  I know from reading articles here and other places that the residual chemical treatments in the wax is being looked at for CCD and I was concerned with these residuals tainting honey.

Thank you for your responses!

[deantn]

You will have to make certain that when he used these chemicals he did so with his honey supers off of the hives. All of the chemical com. make mention of this so will have to ask him about when and how he used them before.
If he uses new foundation in his honey supers then the only chemicals you would have is from where the wax was gotten from. Seems like a lot of these companies are receiving chemically infused wax from beekeepers, so that means you get chemicals through them all.
Best scenario is letting the bees form their own wax from using a starter strip.

Glad to  see other beekeepers are getting away from using a lot of chemicals in their hives, good luck with yours.

[derrick1p1]

If he treated with honey supers off, then honey will be okay for consumption.  If it makes you feel any better, tests indicate that "untreated" hives can contain chemicals that you make have never used.  This can come from wax foundation.  I don't have the sources to site, but read it a few places and heard in a lecture last year.

Best of luck!

[Cossack]

If you have a concern trust your instinct.

Stay organic.

[bassman1977]

If you have a concern trust your instinct.

Stay organic.

I can't agree more.  I probably will never sell someone's honey unless I am absolutely sure of where it came from.  I would also be very less inclined to sell someone's honey if they used chemical treatments.  I would never want to tarnish my name because of selling a crap product, accidental or otherwise.

[iddee]

I would like to know how you go about removing the chemicals the bees brought in with the nectar, from the pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals sprayed on the flowers.

Hill's Hivery, go ahead and use or sell the honey, unless the other beek just died from an unknown poison.

[TwT]

if your just wanting to sale honey then buy from everyone and start you  packing company, if you want to just sale your own honey then just tell them people that they will have to wait, other beeks honey is probably fine to sale but I only feel comfortable selling my own, that's just me.... I only want my name to represent my own honey, not someone else's

[BjornBee]

I've posted this before but a couple things I just found out after testing my own pollen, which is said to be an indication of internal bee contamination, as they use saliva or internal fluid to form the pollen balls in collecting it.....

I heard the comments about all hives testing positive for fluvalinate and coumaphos on pollen samples, with the idea that it was from the contaminated wax foundation. Yet my own pollen, collected from hives on commercial wax foundation, tested negative for not one part per billion. My hives never had chemicals applied by a beekeeper. So I question the whole "Contamination from wax" story line. The wax may of tested positive in the samples tested, but it probably is not being transferred to bees or honey at any great rate. Although Maryann did indicate the levels from CCD tests were at levels so high, that this contamination in her opinion was from more than casual use of the strips. More along the lines of pure product (off label) being poured into the hive.

My tests also indicated that even though you can keep beekeeper induced chemicals out of your hives, the bees will drag stuff in from down the street.

And for you people thinking that you have no chemicals in your hives, even the commercial pollen I tested, the same stuff that was, and probably still being used, in pollen substitute and pollen patties, is loaded with chemicals.

After seeing some of the stuff I saw when inspecting...I'd be VERY hesitant to buy honey from a beekeeper in the club or down the street, that I did not know very well.

And I do not buy for a minute, this idea that chemicals can be used with supers off, then honestly expect the stuff that chemicals are in (honey, wax, and pollen) do not get moved within a hive. Anyone with an observation hive can see wax being moved, honey moved, etc.

*Nobody has a chemical free hive, regardless of whether you put them in or not. But that's not to say I blow the stuff off, and do not try the best I can to keep chemicals out of my hive.

Once we get a honey standard in place, as is being pushed right now, a real possibility will be that someone in the industry, a competitor to honey perhaps, will have honey tested....and publish the results. Regardless of who does it, the public opinion on this whole "honey is pure" and the notion that it is chemical free...will be blasted out of the water. Then those people who make honey substitutes and other "manufactured" fake honey products, will gain from our industry wide use of chemicals.

It would be best if the bee industry cleaned up its act. Right now, you have major honey producers using chemicals, all the while fighting any actual testing of honey. Ever wonder why? That will not last forever. Walking around saying "It's pure" and "natural" and assuming it's "chemical free" has worked up to this point. One day it may not.

You can use chemicals right now in any amounts you would like. Nobody will be testing your honey. Nobody will be testing your honey whether it is clean or full of chemicals. Some beekeepers know that. And that is where the problem is. The public trusts the beekeepers, the beekeepers want to trust the next beekeeper, and so on. I could be selling the worst contaminated honey ever produced......and nobody will ever know. Nobody is looking....it's just easier that way.... ;)

[suprstakr]

I would not sell other peoples honey if you worry if it's as pure as you want it to be . The customers will know it's first come , first get , and your sales will not suffer for it . Only one person needs to findout your buying for resale and your word is dirt , and of course the seller knows and one of your customers might be his aquaintance . :-\




REMEMBER it takes 100 ataboys to wipe out 1 dumb____ !

[iddee]

Deception hurts everyone. Selling honey from other beeks does not. I keep the honey separate and tell the customer exactly where it came from. Reselling only gives me a larger variety. It doesn't hurt my business at all.

[IABeeMan]

If you have a concern trust your instinct.

Stay organic.

I think it is all but impossible to claim any hive product is truely organic. The only way you can is move the hives to the middle of a 40 square mile farm and make sure none of the road ditches are sprayed by the county, the neighbors don't spray the weeds in thier yard, stop using any fertilizers, weed killers, or anything else. Unless you have trained your bees and can actually manage where they go.

It comes down to are you wanting to sell "your" honey or sell honey. It is all up to you. If you want to sell it then by all means sell it. It is a double edge sword. On one side you could loose these customers because they will find another beekeeper. On the other you are selling honey that is not yours. If the customers eat honey regular and they run out and you are out as well they will buy from the next guy. Unless you have reason to suspect this beekeepers honey then I would not worry. The chemicals you mentioned were extremely popular for several years. I have read about bees having problems related to the chemicals but have yet to hear of a human dieing from these chemicals from eating honey.

[Understudy]

BACKGROUND:
I ran out of honey to sell last year pretty fast and I have some new customers calling wanting honey.  I do not use any chemicals in my hives at all and never have.  I have a local beekeeper that will sell me honey wholesale, but he has used apistan and checkmite in his hives in the past.  He told me that he didn't use it last year from which the honey came from.

QUESTION:
Is there residual of these chemicals that could taint the honey?  I know from reading articles here and other places that the residual chemical treatments in the wax is being looked at for CCD and I was concerned with these residuals tainting honey.

Thank you for your responses!

Yes there are residuals that can reside in both comb and honey. In Florida it is illegal to sell someone else's honey with making that distinct in the labeling or the business model of the company. Because then you are a distributor. Also you are responsible for what you are selling. If it is contaminate it is your problem not the person you bought it from. I am sure the lawyers would be sure to name everyone involved in the lawsuit. So you want your name on the defendants list?

I do not even use honey form cut outs for sale. I will give some back to the homeowner but other than I do not sell it. I may feed it back to that hive because a cut out is stressful but then the bees consume it and don't store it because after a cut out they usually do not have much for honey stores.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[derrick1p1]

Because despite the hives are foundationless and I don't treat with chemicals, I am sure there are chemicals in the hive b/c I don't know where the nectar/pollen is coming from.  When people ask if my honey is organic, I tell them no.  But I tell them my methods are. (but not even the sugar, wood, powdered sugar is organic).
This may not work for all beekeepers....because we all know that there is no 1 answer in beekeeping.
If I were to see honey labeled "organic", I'd probably turn a slight shade of red.