# Issues with Doing Cut-Out of Hive Recently Sprayed with Wasp Killer?



## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

I have removed them before , The good news is that over the counter stuff doesn't stick around long and kills most of the ones it's gonna kill pretty quickly they took some nursing but depending on how many are left it's doable. I bring one frame of my own drawn comb with brood and shake the bees off their comb in front of it like a shook swarm, I did not keep any of their comb or honey and did not need to use my vac but if I did I'd wait until all the comb and honey was out.


Edit: If it's a paying job or you are doing your friend a favor by helping then go for it, If they don't want to pay you and you don't have the time and resources to nurse it, politely decline the job.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Most often sprays do not penetrate into the hive enough to do much damage. Kills a few foragers, but that's about it. I've removed more than my fair share of sprayed hives and did not notice much adverse affects. Maybe I have been lucky so far though.
Friends get a reduced rate, but nothing is free.


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## LetsBeeColorado (Aug 14, 2015)

Mr.Beeman said:


> Most often sprays do not penetrate into the hive enough to do much damage. Kills a few foragers, but that's about it. I've removed more than my fair share of sprayed hives and did not notice much adverse affects. Maybe I have been lucky so far though.
> Friends get a reduced rate, but nothing is free.


Thanks for the responses, guys! I told her my hesitation to extract the hive due to the wasp killer use, but I told her that I would at least take a look at the hive and give my advice. 

Mr. Beeman - Do you also throw away all the comb and honey, or do you keep it for the hive? I've asked a few bee friends as well and the opinion seems to be split 50/50.


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## Northwest PA Beekeeper (Mar 28, 2012)

You have to remember, that most of the time, where they are spraying doesn't hit directly to where the bees are. Some of the bees die from it, as they are leaving or coming, right after it's sprayed, but the majority of the time, the spray doesn't hit the comb and honey.

The store bought spray just doesn't have much killing power - other than on contact.

Chances are your bees are also getting into other poisons out on their forage - farmers and landowners spraying weed killer, insecticide, etc. 

So, if you want to help the people out, it shouldn't be a big deal. I wouldn't use any of the honey from the cutout to sell to sell to somebody, but let it set for a bit for the residue to disappear and feed it back to your bees.

Now, if you go there and see it's a straight shot from the hole into the colony, that's a different thing.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I suppose if I had the time and they were paying me enough, I might do it. But I don't have enough time and I'm not going to waste it on sprayed bees. I would walk away...


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## Colino (May 28, 2013)

Here is one I did that was sprayed, I use this to educate people about spraying bee hives. There was enough pesticide residue in that mass that residue left in my pails killed bees. I took it all to the sanitary land fill and had the operator bury it.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h8d4d3v2264mog5/bicutout.png?dl=0


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## challenger (May 27, 2009)

I don't do cut outs on hives that I know were sprayed. Maybe this is wrong but I don't do them. I did one or two in the past and said no more.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

LetsBeeColorado said:


> Thanks for the responses, guys! I told her my hesitation to extract the hive due to the wasp killer use, but I told her that I would at least take a look at the hive and give my advice.
> 
> Mr. Beeman - Do you also throw away all the comb and honey, or do you keep it for the hive? I've asked a few bee friends as well and the opinion seems to be split 50/50.


I do not re use the comb. I have plenty of drawn comb to give them to start over. I do place them in a quaranteen area for a month before placing them in a bee yard.


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