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Offline hooyaman

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neighbor killed my bees
« on: July 13, 2009, 11:26:54 pm »
last week my neighbor sprayed my yard with roundup to kill the weeds. That would have been fine, but she also sprayed around my bees and wiped out 3 of my hives. I tried to rework them by putting brood in the hives that were without queens. I also found 2 queen cells in one of my other hives and put them in the other 2 hives that was damaged by the spray. Hope this works, cause if it dont I will be down to 4 hives.  Also I was concerned about the honey being contaminated by the spray. don't know how to tell and am scared to sell any of the honey for fear it may be poison.  Do any of you all have any comments on this?  :'(
                                                                                                   Thanks Jeff

Offline iddee

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #1 on: July 14, 2009, 12:33:47 am »
My comments would depend on if you gave her permission to spray or not.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

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Offline heaflaw

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #2 on: July 14, 2009, 12:36:14 am »
Roundup kills living things in the plant kingdom.  It seems like it would not kill insects.

Offline rdy-b

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #3 on: July 14, 2009, 12:45:14 am »
find out what was sprayed-Round up has never been a problem for me -or many other keepers  8-)
here is some info  http://www.biotech-info.net/glyphosate.html
 :)RDY-B

Offline Kathyp

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #4 on: July 14, 2009, 01:20:13 am »
i use roundup.  never had a problem with it.  i don't spray it on anything blooming and i try to spray late in the day.  roundup is used most on grass and the like. 
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline applebwoi

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #5 on: July 14, 2009, 01:46:06 am »
As others have said, Roundup won't kill the bees but if your entire yard was sprayed with Roundup, all your grass, flowers, etc would die.  I'd talk to the neighbor and find out what was really sprayed.  Has any insecticide been sprayed to control misquitos or other pests?  Is there a garden where Seven could have been applied?

Offline abacab

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #6 on: July 14, 2009, 03:11:04 am »
It is not exactly the subject here but according to some studies (Chem. Res. Toxicol., 2009 extracts below) R is more dangerous for people than for bees and worse, R is concentrating down the food chain.

A.


We have evaluated the toxicity of four glyphosate (G)-based herbicides in Roundup (R) formulations, from 105 times dilutions, on three different human cell types. This dilution level is far below agricultural recommendations and corresponds to low levels of residues in food or feed
(...)
This work clearly confirms that the adjuvants in Roundup formulations are not inert. Moreover, the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death around residual levels to be expected, especially in food and feed derived from R formulation-treated crops.

Offline beee farmer

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #7 on: July 14, 2009, 04:00:16 am »
I hate to sound redundant.. but I also spray around all my hives with no ill effect on bees.. what did she have in that sprayer last time it was used?
"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do"  Benjamin Franklin

Offline riverrat

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #8 on: July 14, 2009, 09:11:09 am »
round up will usually not kill the bees I would ask the neighbor what was sprayed I bet it wasn't roundup. when keeping bees with neighbors you need to kick the public relations into overdrive. go out of your way to make sure the neighbors remain happy. give them a free jar of honey every know and then and educate educate educate. make it known if they have a problem to by all mean let them know. I have several hives in town with limited trouble but I am constantly in contact with neighbors making sure it is not a problem. I wouldn't want someone next door with 100 pitbulls.
never take the top off a hive on a day that you wouldn't want the roof taken off your house

Offline Bee-Bop

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #9 on: July 14, 2009, 10:09:25 am »
Delete
« Last Edit: July 14, 2009, 11:09:17 am by Bee-Bop »
" If Your not part of the genetic solution of breeding mite-free bees, then You're part of the problem "

Offline Rabbitdog

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #10 on: July 14, 2009, 04:34:34 pm »
Send a sample of the bees to the bee lab.  They can tell you cause of death.  It was not the use of Roundup.   You could open the colony and spray it directly on the bees and really piss them off, maybe make them abscond, but you wouldn't kill the colony.  Bottom line, you lost 3 colonies ...... if not Roundup, what?  Your job to find out.  Don't wait until something happens to the others.  They will eventually get into the same source that doomed the other 3. 
Best wishes!
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Offline Bee-Bop

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #11 on: July 14, 2009, 06:51:24 pm »
Isn't the town of Dudley Missouri, { if I remember correctly about 4/5 blocks long and surrounded by miles of soybeans, cotton, corn & rice } ??
That's were I believe I'd look !!

Bee-Bop
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Offline Rebel Rose Apiary

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #12 on: July 14, 2009, 10:23:06 pm »
As some of you already know, I lost lots of my hives this spring due to spraying by air. That was supposed to have been 'just fertilizer' and it was not! It was a mix of two different sprays that was applied at a higher than recommened level....

I too am wondering what was in the sprayer before the Roundup was used. Another question that comes to mind, is why was the neighbor spraying around your hives in the first place? Is she the landlady or something?

Brenda


Offline beegrlAK

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #13 on: July 15, 2009, 01:08:28 am »
I'm so sorry!   Geez, I'm glad I live where people aren't in love with yard chemicals.
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Offline Wynoochee_newbee_guy

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #14 on: July 15, 2009, 02:28:58 pm »
my question is why are you having your neighbor do your yard work?
Its All Fun And Games Till I lose an EYE!

Offline hooyaman

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #15 on: July 15, 2009, 05:07:56 pm »
It was the roundup that killed the bees.  I forgot to say this roundup was commercial grade weed killer and u have to have a license to get it. she works at a grainary and one of the farmers gave it to her in syrup form and she mixed it herself.  Also I did not give her permission to spray, she thought she was doing us a favor by spraying so we didn't have to weedeat.  Although we told her not to spray anymore, the damage is already done. My concern was the chemical contanimating my honey and we were afraid to sell any of it if the honey was poison.

Offline Bee-Bop

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #16 on: July 15, 2009, 05:18:11 pm »
Intereastin read about Bees & Round Up.
http://www.biotech-info.net/glyphosate.html

A quetion how many of your bees do you see feeding in your yard ?

I have 6 hives, and I'd have to look very very hard to find any in my yard, about 2 acres mowed.

Bee-Bop
" If Your not part of the genetic solution of breeding mite-free bees, then You're part of the problem "

Offline hooyaman

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #17 on: July 15, 2009, 05:42:50 pm »
I understand that wal mart grade roundup probably wouldn't kill the bees, but this was commercial grade roundup.  This stuff is very poison and will kill anything if it is mixed strong enough. My concern is that the spray has mixed with my honey and is it safe to sell.  I guess I could send a sample to someone in Ag and they could test it for poison. O forgot to mention, that I did not give my neighbor permission to spray my yard. she was being nice and tried to eliminate my weedeating. she didn't know that crap would kill my bees. That's alright, The damage is already done now.

Offline iddee

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #18 on: July 15, 2009, 08:01:00 pm »
If it were me, she and the guy at the grainary would be buying me some bees. Especially him, unless he wanted to face the consequences of giving a controlled substance to a non licensed person.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Offline homer

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Re: neighbor killed my bees
« Reply #19 on: July 15, 2009, 08:30:07 pm »
If it killed your bees it's not likely that those bees were able to store any honey while they were dead :-D  And I can't believe that very much, if any, of the mist from the spray got into your honey supers.  Unless she sprayed it directly into the hives. 

I understand that commercial grade Round-Up may be stronger than residential grade, but how do you figure that it killed all your bees.  Even if it was sprayed around your hives and in your yard... your bees travel miles to forage and I don't see how the few bees foraging in your yard would bring enough of the chemical into the hive to kill the rest of the colony.  Herbicides are not designed to kill insects and I would think that it would take a huge, concentrated dose, directly into the hive and onto the bees, in order to kill the colonies.  It seems reasonable that there might be something else going on here.

 

anything