Dead Bees... More To Come?

[Ob1wizbang]

  Hi. This is my first year of bee keeping, which also makes it my first year of aerial insecticide exposure!

  I have 4 hives on a farm place that my brother rents. It is surrounded by 40 acres of soybeans that his landlord still farms. There are cornfields on both sides that are farmed by other neighbors.

  In Iowa, insecticide can not be applied on crops with in a mile of a registered bee hive, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. This is a great law... as long as the pilot of the crop duster does not over look your location on the registry!

  The cornfield, an 1/8th of a mile away, got sprayed at high noon on Wednesday! I checked the hives after work on Thursday and there were dead and dying bees on the ground all around the hives. I tore one of the hives down, and the bottomboard was completely covered with the dead and dying. I took some photos and then swept it clean, so I could check it again on Friday to see if this acute or ongoing. My hives are on stands with SBB, so I could see from underneath that the other 3 were in the same shape.

  When I inspected on Friday, not only was the bottom board still clean, but the other hives had completely cleaned theirs too. So they look to be resilient after all.

  After talking to the pilot, it turns out he had looked at an out dated list, he apologized immensely, and said he would  turn it into his insurance to reimburse me for a reduced honey harvest. Since this is the hives' first year, I was not looking to take any honey anyway. And since it was a human error( I know the guy and he wouldn't pull something like this on purpose). I told him there was no reason to have this go any farther as long as the next time he goes up for a recreational flight, and has an empty seat, that he keeps my name in mind!
Mistakes happen! He grinfully agreed that he would!

Well now it turns out that he has been hired to spray the soybean field that is only 30 feet from my hives, and that he will let me know what mourning he will be spraying so that I can move or cover them, since they will pretty much be at ground zero.

Moving them does not look to be an option at this point. So if I close the entrances, slide the trays in to close the bottoms tight, and drape a sheet over the hives till noon(he will be spraying as early as possible). Do they stand a chance of making it with possible direct contact? And how long can they remain buttoned up if temps are in the low to mid 80's?

Any suggestions would be great?

Thanks,
Dave

Sorry for rambling!

[asprince]

What a bummer! This is why I have my hives on trailers. Moving hives can be difficult. If they can not be moved, I would screen them the night before and just before he sprays, I would cover them with a canvas drop cloth. Uncover them as soon as the spraying is over and unscreen 3 or 4 hours later.


Good Luck, Steve

[iddee]

AND wet the covers....

[Duck1968]

I would ask him what chemical he is spraying. Then look it up to get a better idea on how long to confine your girls.

Brian

[indypartridge]

I would ask him what chemical he is spraying. Then look it up ....

Definitely. Some of the insecticides used on soybeans for aphids & spider mites have long-lasting residual effects (weeks!).

[Ob1wizbang]

 Well they came through  without any "seen" losses. I screeend of the entrances, draped each hive with a cheap disposable 10'x10' plastic drop cover, leaving the SBB open. I let them sit for about 3 hours after the field was sprayed. They were very happy to be let out but I think they still blamed me for locking them up in the first place. :evil: 3 of them bounced of my veil all 75yd.+ to the car.

[asprince]

That is great news! I would keep an eye on them for longer term effects.

Steve