Oxalic Acid Treatment - Honey Question

Beekeeping - Basics
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Last year I used my vaporizer in the fall and of course had great results on no dead hives. I plan to treat again this fall (not the question, just the statement part)

Say the hive dies over the winter. Is the honey ok to consume in the spring? I know when you treat you are supposed to remove any supers, I think I would leave the box on that has their honey in it.

*the things you think of when you have a broken leg, sit on the back patio and stare at your beehives.

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The things most likely to kill the hive over winter are moisture, starvation, varroa and other stuff. Moisture is the biggy. I take my supers off as I have about a 5-6 month winter and I feed them fondant because it soaks up condensation within the hive. When it gets moist they bees slurp it up. I hope that helps and I know I’m forgetting some things but the wise peeps will add to the mix. :smiley:

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Hey Martha. I am good on overwintering now, I feel like I take out the threats.

My question was just on oxalic acid as a fall treatment, I only have honey that the bees use. I would most likely just give it to another colony if the hive did not survive. But, is it safe to harvest the honey if you chose to. Meaning, does the safety risk of using oxalic acid wear off over time or once you treat, NEVER eat that honey?

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It should be fine, with a couple of caveats.

  1. If you use oxalic acid, there will not be enough residue in the hive to make the honey toxic. If you use Apivar strips, I wouldn’t eat it.
  2. The honey may well crystallize over winter, so how are you going to extract it?
  3. I wouldn’t leave a Flow super on over winter, as they will gum it up with propolis, vastly complicating your harvest next year.

:blush:

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Thanks Dawn. I take my flow super off in the winter. I wouldn’t likely take any of the honey anyway if I ended up in that situation but I was curious. I would give to another hive or use it in a split. But the more I can learn over time the better.

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I really have no idea but I’m guessing that if you treated OA over capped honey I would eat it but not sell it if your hive dies. Then again you can use the honey to start a new hive. :smiley: However, right in the spring you will check your stores and they might be full but the queen gets laying rapidly and the honey gets sucked up by the bees. I’ve had to feed in that short break in zero nectar flow. I’m not afraid of the oxcilic Acid just the fumes.

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Always a great explanation about the treatment of the bees and the results of different products.

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