# why so negative about cutout honey?



## Branman (Aug 20, 2003)

Because non-bee-familiar homeowners' first reaction is nearly always to empty a can of raid into it.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

My opinion is that the bees made it and so it is honey. The biggest concern for me would be trust that the people doing the calling for the cut out had not tried other methods like spraying the hive before making the call. Anything else going on should be able to be seen while doing the cut out. It would not bother me to eat what the bees made and like you, I don't think they change how they make it based on where they make it.
Good luck
gww


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## amk (Dec 16, 2017)

Ok I get the spray part. Both hives I've got had been safe behind drywall. owners weren't even aware of exactly where they were.


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## mike17l (Jun 22, 2012)

amk said:


> Ok I get the spray part. Both hives I've got had been safe behind drywall. owners weren't even aware of exactly where they were.


That doesn't mean they didn't try to kill them.

For very good reasons, it is illegal to sell (and potentially even give away) cutout honey in Texas. It is not illegal to consume it yourself.

Many times I will taste cutout honey when doing a removal, but I never consume more than a taste, and that only from the most pristine area. Many times I will not even venture a taste. 

I have been called to remove bees many times when the property owner admitted they had orkin or terminex out for a couple treatments that hadn't work, and I was their last hope. Many times, I have to move cans of raid, wasp spray, or insect foggers out of the way before removing bees. I have removed bees from behind asbestos siding (had to remove from the inside of the home), from behind lead paint, from under a raised deck that goats regularly crapped on, from dilapidated structures filled with rat and roach feces, the list can go on, but I'll stop there. 

The fact is, you cannot trust the very vast majority of cutout honey. If I am certain that the bees were sprayed/poisoned the honey is junked, if I am relatively sure they have not been sprayed/poisoned then I will feed it to a weak yard in a derth.


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## fieldsofnaturalhoney (Feb 29, 2012)

amk said:


> Has anyone gotten sick from cutout honey? I just don't understand what I'm supposed to be worried about.


Yes, I am certain someone has You should be worried about the unknown as stated from others, not to mention the debris from dismantlement. Did I mention rodents? I have done several cutouts that shared their space


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## amk (Dec 16, 2017)

I guess to each is own people are to clean nowadays anyway. Granted I have very little bee experience but I doubt the hives I got swarming with bees let rodents crawl all over them. Even if they fogged the room I seriously doubt there would be much detectable raid in the honey. We eat worse than that anyway sausage and bacon cured meats etc has poison all in them. I guess it?s sounding like a mindset thing to me. But probably for a lot of y?all you have more honey than you could ever eat so you can pick and choose I on the other hand have what I got from the cutouts so I?ve been eating it.


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## mike17l (Jun 22, 2012)

amk said:


> I guess to each is own people are to clean nowadays anyway. Granted I have very little bee experience but I doubt the hives I got swarming with bees let rodents crawl all over them. Even if they fogged the room I seriously doubt there would be much detectable raid in the honey. We eat worse than that anyway sausage and bacon cured meats etc has poison all in them. I guess it?s sounding like a mindset thing to me. But probably for a lot of y?all you have more honey than you could ever eat so you can pick and choose I on the other hand have what I got from the cutouts so I?ve been eating it.


Honey is really cheap at walmart.


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## amk (Dec 16, 2017)

Haha so is ground beef but yet every year I harvest three to four deer and grind up. I take pride in doing for myself and not relying on Walmart for everything to survive.


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## mike17l (Jun 22, 2012)

amk said:


> Haha so is ground beef but yet every year I harvest three to four deer and grind up. I take pride in doing for myself and not relying on Walmart for everything to survive.


And if those deer were likely exposed to CWD, EHD, anthrax, blue tongue, or any other number of diseases, would you eat them? Would you shoot deer in an area you knew these diseases were an issue? Would you take that risk?


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## Beebeard (Apr 27, 2016)

Quick way to tell if a homeowner is being honest about if they have sprayed, offer them some of the honey. Their reaction tells you all you need to know.


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## amk (Dec 16, 2017)

The owner was there with me and ate the comb with me. Eating comb that has been sprayed is a valid concern to me but if that?s the only issue with cut out honey I?m good to go.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

mike


> And if those deer were likely exposed to CWD, EHD, anthrax, blue tongue, or any other number of diseases, would you eat them? Would you shoot deer in an area you knew these diseases were an issue? Would you take that risk?


It happens every year in mo. We have some counties that have cronic wasting diseise that the conservation is tracking and putting on extra testing during a protion of harvest. They give tips on how to handle processing and help not spread the disiese but they have not shut off hunting or put out a bunch of killers to kill and dispose of the disiese areas deer. It is still the hunters doing the culling and eating what they cull. I mean I hear you but real life is often not relating to extreem cautions that some have. The proof is in the pudding and not a lot of hunters are getting sick. Yes, when I harvest and process, I try to keep clean and look over what I am harvesting but will be honest, I have not been forced to throw any deer meat away yet. In the past we have had black tounge and other disieses. Living things get disieses. Many times more deer is ate with the possibilities of being disiesed cause over crowding is some times the cause of some of the disiese and the way to handle over crowding is to give out more tags and extend seasons so more are killed by hunters who eat them.
Cheers
gww


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## mike17l (Jun 22, 2012)

gww said:


> The proof is in the pudding and* not a lot of hunters* are getting sick.



SMH


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Because non-bee-familiar homeowners' first reaction is nearly always to empty a can of raid into it.

That's my main reason not to eat it. My second is all the debris that usually falls into and onto the combs as I'm doing the cutout. Dust from asbestos siding, dust from between the building paper and the wood. Sawdust from cutting the wood... I would be more likely to harvest the honey if it was in a tree and I was pretty sure they never sprayed it... but most of my cutouts are in walls. Most of my trapouts are in trees...


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