# Mouse poop on honey supers



## BorealBees (Jun 15, 2013)

Good day all! 

So this spring we harvested many honey supers that were left over from the winter. Unfortunately, they were all taken from hives that were busy at the beginning of winter and died by spring, even though they had plenty of honey. That is a question for another day. 

Most of the supers had signs of mice, with mouse droppings on top of the supers and maybe a few droppings on the wax. We have a ton of honey waiting to be harvested but I am nervous about the mouse droppings leaving seriously dangerous bacteria and viruses on our honey. Is there a good way to clean off the capped honey frames before I cut the comb out and crush it? Can I spray the boxes full of frames off with water and let it dry before crushing and hope that that does the trick to at least remove it? Is there a special cleaner of sorts to clean the capped comb before crushing? 

Thank you for your help with this! 

A bit dismayed and uncertain, 

Brook


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## stevethebeeman (Mar 27, 2013)

Bees will clean up the mouse droppings I wouldn't worry about any bacteria


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## BorealBees (Jun 15, 2013)

stevethebeeman said:


> Bees will clean up the mouse droppings I wouldn't worry about any bacteria


We actually lost all of our bees and are now left with just the supers. Wondering how to clean them before crushing and straining the honey. These supers were made last fall and were with the bees, whom all died, throughout the winter. When we went to go check on the bees a few months back, they were all dead, but the supers were full. We do not want to waste the honey but are afraid of the mouse poop that is on the wax and frames. Does that make sense?!

Thank you Steve for your reply! 

Brook


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## Axtmann (Dec 29, 2002)

If you see droppings, you can be sure there is mouse urine also on the combs. Save the honey for your next bee colonies, IMO it is garbage for human consumption.


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## BorealBees (Jun 15, 2013)

Super bummer, but kind of what I thought would be true. Thank you Axtmann.


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