I treated my flowhive with Apivar & Apiguard while leaving one super on. Would it be ok to still use that super for honey consumption in the spring? Will the bees clean out all of the chemicals? If not, and I throw away the honey, do I need to wash the frames or will the bees clean out the frames getting all those chemicals out so the new honey is chemical free?
Welcome to the forum, Clayton.
We all make mistakes and hopefully learn from them. It’s a mistake to treat using those products with supers on.
Apiguard will likely taint the flavour of honey, but not much else. It’s not lipophilic so it doesn’t accumulate in the wax. Cleaning the frames with any of the methods you described will likely prevent contamination of future nectar/honey.
Apivar (Amitraz) is a different beast. Synthetic chemicals are lipophilic, so a poison that accumulates in the wax. It can potentially contaminate any honey that comes in contact with that wax.
I wouldn’t take the risk, but risk assessment is a personal choice. If the contaminated frames are Flow, I would dismantle them and thoroughly wash in warm soapy water, rinse, dry and reassemble. If they’re wax frames, I’d either remove and discard all the wax and start again with new foundation or only ever use those frames in that box for exclusive bee consumption.
The lesson is to avoid the situation in future. Follow the label, remove supers(for human consumption) for those chemicals that require supers to be removed or choose products that allow supers to remain. Oxalic acid, FormicPro, Bayvarol.
Mike
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