# sprayed bees



## chief (Apr 19, 2005)

I just got a call from a guy that wants me to do a hive extraction out of one of his walls. He admitted to spraying the hive with hornet/wasp killer to try to kill them but it didnt work. He sprayed them about three weeks ago. I have heard some of you say that you will not do an extraction if they have sprayed the bees. Why is this? I plan on adding them to one of my existing colonies for the winter (unless there are enough to fill an entire hive).


----------



## Konrad (Oct 7, 2004)

Not sure about the chemical thing...

I would be concerned when taken in bees of unknown "general health" and you could spread disease to your healthy ones.
If you do, I would keep them in quarantine for a couple of month.

Konrad


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

A lot of the bees may already be dead. The queen may already be dead. The combs are contaminated with pesticides so you can't cut them out and hope they will do very well. The brood may be dying from the pesticide. Even if they HAVEN'T sprayed them with insecticide at all, it's not very practical to do a cut out. If they HAVE sprayed them it is a total waste of your time, gas, efforts etc. Unless he's PAYING you enough to be worth removing the bees. The bees certainly aren't worth it now that they've been sprayed.

I'd just walk away. If they are still alive and thriving next spring, then you might consider it for a price.


----------



## iddee (Jun 21, 2005)

Sounds like an easy $350.00 to me. I would keep the bees away from my bees until they die out, OOPS, I mean until spring.


----------



## delber (Dec 26, 2010)

This is an old thread but in searching I was wondering how would you tell if a hive has been sprayed? If it was sprayed 3 weeks ago what does the inside of the hive look like assuming that it's still alive. In our world people lie every day. So "Did you spray them? No I didn't spray them" conversation could happen.


----------



## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

I did two cut-outs last year (same house, same day) where the homeowner had sprayed the two entrances where the bees were coming and going. I charged for the extractions. The entrances were a good 8 feet away from the nest up in the rafters. The one thing I noticed was brood that looked similar to foulbrood. Dead and dying brood mixed in with nice white healthy brood. When you see it, you know it.


----------



## franktrujillo (Jan 22, 2009)

there doomed i wouldn't place them in my apiary. i removed 2 like that and they both died its a waste of time and energy


----------



## delber (Dec 26, 2010)

Barry, What happened with them? Were you able to help them along? Did you get the queens, or were they hurt also? I know what a good brood frame looks like so I understand what you say "you'll know it when you see it". I have no experience with foulbrood (thankfully) yet. 

Would you think that the bees would clean out the dead / dying brood eventually? I have been told from an exterminator friend of mine that the posion from a can of wasp / hornet spray doesn't last that long. (perhaps hours) This was referencing a yellowjacket hive that was inside a cavity of a wall. I sprayed them with a whole can at the entrance and I think I killed only about 20 or so of them and they were as active as a full size honeybee hive in the middle of a warm summer day. How long after that guy sprayed them did you cut them out?


----------



## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

I used a bee-vac to extract them and put them on existing frames of comb I had. Didn't save any of the original comb. Both queens were captured and kept. One hive my daughter kept, and I the other. They progressed along all summer. She had two hives going into winter and neither one made it. I had a 35% dieback and not sure if this was one of them or not.

The owner had sprayed them days before. There was still a lot of white foam/residue around the entrances. I had him hose it all off before I did the extraction. Image 3 shows the comb with a lot of perforated cappings.

http://www.beesource.com/imgs/barry/cutout1.jpg
http://www.beesource.com/imgs/barry/cutout2.jpg
http://www.beesource.com/imgs/barry/cutout3.jpg
http://www.beesource.com/imgs/barry/cutout4.jpg


----------



## delber (Dec 26, 2010)

Thanks Barry for the pics and explanation. It's very helpful. I see what you were talking about regarding the cappings and brood. It seems that the worker brood is puffed up some and the brown spotty colors are also interesting. What is your take on why they perforated the cap pings? It doesn't seem that they were ready to emerge yet because the color isn't brown enough. Doing it the way you said may be the only way to hope they make it if I find this. Using a beevac and new comb. Seems to me that even the new comb would still get contaminated once they walk on it because the bees themselves are probably carrying some of the poison.


----------



## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

Knowing that they had been sprayed, I basically charged for the job of removing the hives, with no real value in the bees, to me. I'm sure there was some level of continued contamination on the new comb, but it would be minimal.

Not sure how these chemicals play out in degrading the bees/brood. It's one of those things where you know something isn't right seeing all the perforated cappings with "healthy" looking brood still in the cell. Would make for an interesting study to see how different levels of these chemicals affect the bees/comb.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>This is an old thread but in searching I was wondering how would you tell if a hive has been sprayed?

I stick my nose up to the hole and sniff. I also look for dead bees on the ground in front of the entrance. If it smells like Raid, I hand them a bill for showing up and I go home.


----------



## delber (Dec 26, 2010)

Thank you both for your thoughts. I greatly appreciate your time and experience!!! It would be an interesting study Barry, but I dont' think I'm going to take this one up.


----------

