roundup spray

[whiteflyer]

Farmer next door is going to spray roundup on 20 ac. this fall. Is this going to harm my bees. Should I move them. wm

[RayMarler]

Move the bees. Spraying 20 acres, there's bound to be flower blooms, the bees will be gathering on them, they get sprayed, fly back home and the whole hive could die out. I'd move my bees. At least you are lucky to know in advance of the spraying. Watching a hive die out from poisoning brought back to the hive is not a pretty sight but one I have unfortunately witnessed on a couple of occasions.
Best of luck to you.

[Kathyp]

find out when he's spraying.  close the hive up the night before.  keep them in the day he sprays.  they should be fine the day after, when the spray is dry.  just make sure that when you close them, they have good ventilation.  hardware cloth works and an open SBB.

[acbs]

whiteflyer,
This link on "Protecting Honeybees from Pesticides" might prove interesting to you.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/AA145

Roundup is listed in Group III. Relatively Nontoxic and claims it can be used around bees with minimum injury, but to follow label instructions.  It is a herbicide and not an insecticide.  It depends on your view of "relatively nontoxic" chemicals and where you want to draw the line.  Some would not be too concerned about it, others are uncomfortable and uncertain about exposing bees to chemicals of any kind.  I suppose I lean toward the second view.  At minimum I would certainly do what kathyp has suggested, and depending on number of hives and the complexity of moving them, possibly follow RayMarler's suggestion.  Unfortunately with the wide acceptance that so many folks have these days about chemical use it's almost impossible to avoid all of them.  You could move them away from chemicals in one spot right into other chemicals in the other spot.  It's hard to totally protect something that flies for miles in all directions.  Hope this helps.
Arvin

[Keith13]

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,14353.0.html

More info on round up than you care to read

KEith

[tlynn]

they should be fine the day after, when the spray is dry. 

Great.  How about the people?

[Kathyp]

if they don't go out and lick the grass, they should be fine also.

[Keith13]

maybe it will kill the tree huggers :evil: :evil:

Keith

[whiteflyer]

Thanks for the info. I'll read what you'll suggested. I hope penning them up for a day will work. wm

[Camp9]

Round up won't do a thing to your bees, it's absorbed by plant tissue, deactivates when it hits the soil, and is rain fast with in a half hour.  Won't do a thing to your bees. 

Camp