Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[BridgetB]

Good news is that the gardens where I have 1 colony at present - we had a good meeting last week. In the garden itself they don't use pesticides and the roundup on the paths is done with a new gadget which has a shield so the dose is low and contained to that area to reduce drift. It turns out that the communication to the farm about the bees had failed hence not being informed about the spraying and resulting sick bees. I have now heard from the farm liaison person who is very happy to let me know about future spraying:

So what do other people do to protect their bees when they know the field nearby is going to be sprayed? How well does it work? What are others experiences?

[catchercradle]

In our area, the local BBKA get people to fill in a form that in theory means they get allerted if there is spraying close to them. None of my hives are within a mile of any fields now so I don't know if the system works or not.

[BridgetB]

I really meant, when do you close them up and open them? etc. Has anyone had a notification, closed their bees in and then opened them and has it helped to protect them?

[catchercradle]

A number of the conventional Beeks around here close them up the night before and open them 24 hours after spraying completed. I suspect this is find when the spray is fungicide on wheat but if on flowering crops I might want to go an extra day?

Dave

[BridgetB]

Thanks. Do they use foam or mesh to block, or something solid, what about ventilation? a day and a half is a long time. I haven't had this problem till now as my other apiaries are surrounded by woodland and pasture.

[catchercradle]

They use mesh. Like most conventional beeks these days they all have open mesh floors so ventilation isn't too much of a problem for them.

[BridgetB]

Of course, I can just lower the floor board and hope that the mesh is still intact. I think it is. It is hard to tell because I think they transfer honey through the mesh so it looks as though they are going in that way, squeezing between the board and the hive.