# Cutting-out Malathion poisoned bees



## Bugman610 (Aug 6, 2014)

Malathion is an organo- phosphate insecticide. Works fairly quickly killing insects. I believe if you could remove the container the other bees will be okay. Malathion has a very strong smell and when diluted with water will turn milky looking because of the emulsifiers in it. I would not to live in a house sprayed with it, not labelled for indoor use.


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

Bal said:


> I don't charge as I am a newbeek and I like doing cutouts to be honest. I need the experience and the bees (this is my fourth colony, all either from cutouts or swarms) but if those bees are going to die within a few weeks, I need to know as to not waste my time and effort on them.


If I found out they had been sprayed, I wouldn't be doing it for free at that moment. Do it for the experience, but make sure you charge for your time. I've done cutouts on bees that had been sprayed 10 or more feet from the actual nest where they were going in the structure. They carry it to the hive and it does a number on it. Those bees never did amount to anything. "You gotta know when to fold 'em."


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

Barry said:


> If I found out they had been sprayed, I wouldn't be doing it for free at that moment. Do it for the experience, but make sure you charge for your time. I've done cutouts on bees that had been sprayed 10 or more feet from the actual nest where they were going in the structure. They carry it to the hive and it does a number on it. Those bees never did amount to anything. "You gotta know when to fold 'em."


Great Answer. Although I realize with all the maladies we endure with bees it is becoming more difficult to keep a good number of hives, But I have never understood the thinking behind throwing good time and money after bad. 

There are good bees out there to be had, I would not mess with contaminated ones.


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## Riverderwent (May 23, 2013)

"Any advice will be gratefully accepted."

I would not do that cutout without being paid. I would not use any comb, brood, or honey from that hive even with payment. Fold.


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## ChuckReburn (Dec 17, 2013)

Malathion has a LD50 of less than 2 ug/bee and a half-life of 17 days.

In other words, it's at the top of the list of highly toxic nasty stuff and it hangs around killing bees for a long time.

Work it with disposable gloves, wash all your clothes, bag and dispose of comb and honey.


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## Bal (Aug 11, 2014)

Thank you so much for the advice. I won't do the cutout then. I wanted to do it for the experience plus helping the friend but if it will jeopardize my health and my colonies health, then it's best to stay away from them. 
Saying that, if I wanted to remove them with payment, would following advice here be ok? Like, using disposable clothing. I use dishwashing gloves for beekeeping; for cutouts I have triple coated rubber gloves so no stings can penetrate them. I also use tyvec suits which are disposable. I can use dishwashing liquid to kill the remaining bees, then remove any comb and discard it with the dead bees. Clean up the cavity at the end. Would that be ok to do and how much should I charge? The place is half an hour drive (40 kilometres) from here and the guy said he would remove the wood panels and replace them himself once I get the colony out. I suppose I'd better find out how much a bug remover charges for the job first and what is involved in the job he does. 
Thank you so much for helping, I really appreciate it.


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## franktrujillo (Jan 22, 2009)

I usually charge $450.00 to do a cut out if at ground level and price goes up depending how high and the location of the hive. last cut out I had to lay on my stomach and crawl under a water heater $550.00.is knowing the bees were sprayed with pesticide I don't even remove due to contamination my bee equipment will get.


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## Bal (Aug 11, 2014)

Thanks for this info. This hive starts at eye level and goes up 8 feet high from ground. So easy access but yes the contamination is bad so I won't even be able to remove and kill. I better call him and tell him that he will have to call a pest removalist. Thank you franktrujillo


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