> If you can use a bee blower to clear supers why cant you remove
> the supers and then use the bee go?
You certainly could, but you might end up using more repellent
and subjecting your honey to more Bee-Go than if you had left
the super on the hive. When the bottom of the super is open to
the air at one end, the fumes will quickly disperse.
> I used it last year on top of the hives and really felt bad about
> the foul chemical stench I left in the hives.
To say nothing of what it did to your honey.
The active ingredient in "Bee-Go" and "Honey Robber", Butyric Anhydride
(or, "Butanoic anhydride", as the EPA likes to call it) has not had any
registered "food use" application for years, and the tolerance for this
pesticide in honey was revoked by the EPA:
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/1997/August/Day-04/p20560.htm
(Search using your browser for "food use", and then scroll down to
the "B"s from there.)
That the stuff is sold for use by beekeepers still amazes me.
Of course, you were exposed to the stench yourself, so your nose
acclimated, so you may not have noticed the remaining odor left
in your honey even after you let it "air out" for a few weeks
in your honey house.
> I dont think it helped the hives any either.
The only collateral damage I have seen with my own eyes
when experimenting with Bee-Go has been the "stun" effect
on some bees, who not only do not move out of the topmost
super, but fail to respond to even a gentle poke with a
fingertip. They are having an "asthma attack" caused by
the butyric fumes. One hopes that the bee recovers and
survives to live a productive life, but no one has studied
this specific issue.
You could try using a "Breeze Board", as described here
http://www.bee-quick.com/bee-quick/breeze.html
(a breeze
powered "tubro-charged fume board"). This would move more
fumes through the super(s) in less time using less liquid,
and certainly works better than a traditional sun-powered
fume board.
If you don't want to build one, Brushy Mountain
http://www.beeequipment.com is making and selling the
wooden components, built to our specs for a mere $9.95
(they call it a "Ventilator Fume Board", item # 748).
You are expected to buy the metal components locally,
as it would cost more to ship them than they are worth.
At the Ohio Tri-County bee workshop, I was shown a prototype
for what was billed as "the Ultimate Fume Board", which was
only slightly deeper than a standard fume board, but equipped
with a computer fan powered by 3 AA cells blowing air upwards
through a fume pad slightly larger than the fan, and then up
against the "roof" where it would create a forced-air circulation
pattern down into the supers. It was below freezing that day,
so it was impossible to test it on a hive, but it looked like
a cute idea.
I use Bee-Quick myself, but I get it wholesale.
[This message has been edited by jfischer (edited April 16, 2004).]
