# newbie asking about using colloidal silver inside hive



## seasideroses (Apr 3, 2015)

2008 was the last posting on this, so want to re-introduce the question, and ask beeks their opinion on this:
Colloidal Silver is known to kill pathogens, and to be quite effective in killing bacteria and viruses. I use it extensively with good results.
I wondered about spraying the inside walls of the hives with it to augment the bees' own disease-preventative use of propolis, etc.
I wouldn't feed it to bees unless they were in fact sick with efb or afb or nosema, since it would also affect their good bacteria. But if there was disease in the hive, I might consider spraying a colloidal silver solution on the bees. 
Silver is not a chemical-it's a mineral, but, of course, it would be important to use the correct kind (not silver nitrate) and not too high a concentration-like 8 ppm?
But, so far, it has been found to be safe to use internally for people and animals.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

1) I don't want silver in my honey.
2) bees make their own anti-microbial
3) I don't want to kill the microbes in the hive. I want to encourage them.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmorethan.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfoursimplesteps.htm#ecology


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## Cyan (Jan 27, 2015)

Although I have briefly researched colloidal silver for personal use and it does have potential; I can offer nothing on it's use for bees. However, I'd definitely be interested in any research/study on the matter. It may or may not have some kind of use for bees- perhaps to help keep sugar syrup from spoiling? Idk. Michael makes and excellent point.


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## dudelt (Mar 18, 2013)

I totally agree with Mr. Bush. The microbes in the hive are all fighting for survival and trying to use the same available resources. The bad germs can't get a good foothold with all the other fungus and bacteria depleting the food supply. When you use any antibacterial / antimicrobial agent it gives an edge to certain resistant strains which survived the treatment. You have in essence removed the competition for the food supply. Those resistant strains that survived tend to be the really bad ones that you wanted to get rid of in the first place. They now have unimpeded access to the food supply and multiply quickly. Many bacteria and fungi are also allelopathic. Allelopathy is a biological phenomenon by which an organism produces one or more biochemicals that influence the growth, survival, and reproduction of other organisms. Thus, they keep the other organisms in check.


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## mlmihlfried (Apr 17, 2014)

basically colloidal silver is a crock. I am a newbie beekeeper but an old crotchety veterinarian. people have been rubbing it on their dogs and cats and injecting it in their cows teats for years none of it had any effect.

http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/PhonyAds/silverad.html


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## seasideroses (Apr 3, 2015)

Thank you, all, for your responses.
As for the silver killing off good micro-organisms, the idea I had in mind is that, when all of them are killed, then the good ones, which are naturally produced by the bees, will be the only ones that come back, since, hopefully, conditions are no longer hospitable for the bad ones.
That's what happens when I use it; bad bacteria go away, and I restore good bacteria by consuming yogurt, kefir, and other such things.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

It doesn't work that way.

When all the micro-organisms are killed bad one can move in with no resistance.

Bees don't naturally produced them, they have a symbiotic relationship.

There are hundreds micro-organisms that have evolved with the bee, if you destroy them where are the bee going to get new ones.

The bee's micro-organisms have been proven to inhibit AFB, EFB, nosema and many more bee diseases.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>As for the silver killing off good micro-organisms, the idea I had in mind is that, when all of them are killed, then the good ones, which are naturally produced by the bees, will be the only ones that come back, since, hopefully, conditions are no longer hospitable for the bad ones.

Unless they are sick then the good ones are the ones you are killing and you are making room for the bad ones. Also, they are NOT "produced by the bees". They reproduce from bacteria which will be gone if you kill it. What makes you think your bees have the "bad bacteria"?

>That's what happens when I use it; bad bacteria go away, and I restore good bacteria by consuming yogurt, kefir, and other such things.

You are innoculating yourself with SOME of the beneficial bacteria that should be living in your gut. There are actually THOUSANDS of bacteria that should be living in your gut and kefir and yogurt generally only contain about four of those between them. What will you feed the bees that will replace the 8,000 different microorganisms that are supposed to be living in the hive?


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## tanksbees (Jun 16, 2014)

A very small amount of hydrogen peroxide will keep sugar syrup from spoiling, this is a common trick for hummingbird feeders.

I have no idea what it will do to bees but it has to be better for them than mixing in silver.


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## hex0rz (Jan 14, 2014)

mlmihlfried said:


> basically colloidal silver is a crock. I am a newbie beekeeper but an old crotchety veterinarian. people have been rubbing it on their dogs and cats and injecting it in their cows teats for years none of it had any effect.
> 
> http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/PhonyAds/silverad.html


I can assure you colloidal silver is not quackery. I Use it and make it. It has uses in many things and even hospitals and organizations acknowledge it for it's uses.

I won't get into an argument with you about it and that's all I'm going to say.

On the other hand, using colloidal silver would get Very expensive.

I make quart batches that takes 3 hours for a 20ppm strength. I don't think it would be the most prudent when considering you can use other things that work just as good and less expensive.


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## dynemd (Aug 27, 2013)

Sorry seasideroses and hexOrz but using silver internally for man or bee is BS.


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## Cyan (Jan 27, 2015)

Not sure I believe in taking the stuff internally, but it does indeed have external uses that are fairly sound.


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## beewitched (Apr 15, 2014)

From Mayo Clinic web site FWIW...

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-l.../expert-answers/colloidal-silver/faq-20058061


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