insecticides/herbicides

[Cromwell]

I'm talking with a local farmer about placing some hives near his crops this spring. We're discussing which crops to plant to reduce the likelihood of needing to spray. He's willing to plant soybeans instead of greenbeans ("snapbeans" he calls them) since the greenbeans will definitely need lots of insecticide spraying and the soybeans might not need any. He said that usually the soybeans, at most, might need a fungicidal spray with "Ronilan" or "Thompson M." for the possibility of Asian soybean rust.

Question: any recommendations for references/advice on the safe deployment of honey bees in this kind of situation?

Many thanks,

David in Baltimore

[Ian]

Your doing the right thing. Talking to the land owner/crop grower is the best insurance from an insecticide kill off.
Just work with him, and accomidate his needs. It is his crop the bees are on

[Sundance]

When you get notice of an inpending perticide spraying what are you supposed to do?? Do you close down the entrance? If so for how long?

[Michael Bush]

A booming hive is difficult to shut down. But if you have a SBB and if you have a screened door (like Brushy Mt makes) it can help a lot. They need lots of ventialtion. The screened door allows a lot of bees to ventilate without letting the bees out. I often convert them to robber screens or skunk screens by putting a notch in them and partially blocking the bottom part, but you'd want them left open for this purpose.

Here's a picture of one that's been converted to a robber screen. You'd need them to have access to the screen but not the notch to let them out.

http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bush/ima...enHiveSide.JPG
http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bush/bush_bees.htm

Of course you have to close any top entrances too. You can screen the hole on the inner cover and take the lids off too to let more air through or put a double screen board or any other kind of screening on top with the lids off to let more ventilation through.

I figure the most critical time is when they are actually spraying. So hopefully only a day or less of confinement. It would be ideal if you could let them out before dark to relieve the stress of the ordeal.

[Sundance]

Thanks Michael

[Cromwell]

Many thanks for the replies.
Two questions:
(1) Michael, does that robber screen simply get placed in the front hive entrance?; and
(2) How do I find out more about the insecticide, herbicide, and fungicide properties as far as how long after the actual spraying there remains residue on the flowers that the bees can pick up and the likelihood of that residue translating into contaminated comb/honey? Is there any data on honey being tested for these chemicals?

Many thanks,

David in Baltimore

[scsasdsa]

pesticides are required to have this information on the label ask the applicator for a container or a copy. it describes how, when and how to use as well as when it is safe for traffic.

[Michael Bush]

>(1) Michael, does that robber screen simply get placed in the front hive entrance?; and

I put it in place and staple it on with a hand stapler (JT 21 or T50 style), and you don't really want a robber screen, because you don't want the notch to let the bees out. You just want the screen door I MADE the robber screen out of. [img]smile.gif[/img]

>(2) How do I find out more about the insecticide, herbicide, and fungicide properties as far as how long after the actual spraying there remains residue on the flowers that the bees can pick up and the likelihood of that residue translating into contaminated comb/honey?

Contamination usually isn't the big problem unless its pencap or some other kind of time release system, because most of the bees with significant amounts of pesticides don't make it back to the hive.

>Is there any data on honey being tested for these chemicals?

I don't know.