The Effects of Pesticide

Though it must be a horrible experience Michang, I wish to thank you for taking the time to post your findings here. The photos and your commentary in particular are a valuable resource. I do hope that the recovery process is swift.

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G’day Michang. So sorry to hear that.

Is it possible to find out when the farmer will spray and lock the bees in for a couple of days? It may help but then it may not.

I think my first worry for you in the beginning was the spraying of the crops locally. Can you move the hives to a better location?

This is what causes a great deal of problems on America when they spray the Almonds and other crops.

Farmer want us to pollinate their crops but have no respect for our bees. It is just so wrong. So sad for you.

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One of the things that San Diego county has done is create a registration process for beekeepers. While some view this as “Big Brother”, it can actually be quite helpful. If you register your hives, they will tell you when there is agricultural spraying nearby. They also notify of new pests and bee diseases. Finally, they will tell you whether a nearby resident has a formal letter from a doctor stating that they have a serious allergy to bee stings. They will not prevent you from keeping bees anyway, they just provide information and mediation in cases of concern. For 2016, the regulations and distances from neighboring properties have actually been reduced. I don’t think the requirements are too arduous, although I would prefer not to have to requeen every 2 years. However, they don’t police it unless there is a big complaint.

Sorry, I went on a bit, but the thing is, I like having information about spraying insecticides near us, not that this is common in an urban setting.

Dawn

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Well, you’ve probably go to the bottom of it.
Feed feed feed.
Thanks for posting all the pictures and good luck

It’s not beekeeping is it? It’s a pollination service. The pollinators are just a tool and are expendable.I look aghast at news reports of overturned beehive transporters where the fire services just foam the entire thing. I gave up eating almonds when I started beekeeping, couldn’t put one in my mouth!
Think about all the bumblebee nests tossed into the incinerator when you next eat a blueberry.[quote=“Valli, post:22, topic:4515”]
Farmer want us to pollinate their crops but have no respect for our bees. It is just so wrong.
[/quote]
I get the impression that these beekeepers don’t have any respect for their bees either. Use them till they drop and those that survive get open fed vast vats of corn syrup.Like I said. It’s not beekeeping.

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@Dee you’re right but it means people with money care more about the money not the pollinators

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What are your methods for managing varroa mites?

First of all sorry for the late reply guys & I would like to say:
Thank you so much everyone, this means a lot for me and my bees . .

Here’s what happen today:
I just checked every hives & frames, and found the bees began to recover from the disaster.
My strongest colonies activity is back to normal, the queen started to lying eggs, the nurse bees were busy feed the larva, and I notice some pollen there (I only gave sugar stimulant, but no pollen panties). I believe if there is some carbohydrate, the bees will start to forage again, then bring back with some pollen or nectar to the hive, and that is what happens.

I spray sugar syrup to help the bees and they look happy, try to drink as much as possible, also found some bees are performing waggle dance with pollen in their pollen basket. Every bees are now hanging in the frames, walking and meet other bees just like usual. The bees are healthy and flying everywhere, they even sting me twice :wink: We also clean the bottom board, give some frames to the bees (because most of the frames are now full with sugar syrup, so there is only little space for the queen to lying eggs).

@Valli
About the locations,this maybe your concern right now (me too!), to clear this problems I went to the local government, and I found headman of that locations. We were talking about this problems, and he said that he’s very shock and promise this situations will never happens again. As the local leader he will also tell this problems to the farmers and the benefits of the pollination (especially “for free”), so they need to respect me as the beekeeper too, because even a single beekeeper can make their agriculture activity better. Based on this conversation, I will left the hives as usual, but I will increase the frequency of inspections. I hope the local government will not disappoint me :slightly_smiling:

I think this is the best ways to educated the society 's about our little friends, honey bees & their benefits. I already upload this photo to social media, so the society will understand that “If the pesticides are killing honey bees, they are kill us too!”

Yes, of course

The bees inspector suggest me using “Fluvalinate” the most common way to managing mites in this country, but I’m not fans of chemicals so only used “SBB” right now :slight_smile:

Again,
Thank you everyone :smiley:

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Thank you so much for the update. I wish you and your bees all the best. I think they are very lucky to have a very good beekeeper looking after them.

Please keep us updated in future weeks and months, when you have time.

Dawn

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@michang. If the “head guy” lets you know the farmers are spraying , you could lock up the bees for a couple of days and feed them if required, depending on how much nectar and pollen the bees have.

Unless we educate these people it will keep happening. So sad really.

These producers want their crops but forget the bees are ours and we care for them just like cattle or crops.

Actually, that was one of the agreements between us :slight_smile:

Yes, you are right
We must give the government & the society a chance to learn from this sad event, they never see this before. Unlike your country, Indonesia is a country that lack of experience in the beekeeping, even the agriculture student here don’t know, the difference between wasp & honey bees. This situation will improve our beekeeping tradition here, and expand the practice of organic farming.

We are now preparing another location right now, near the resident area, but it will take some time. Once the preparation is done we will moved the hives.

Thank you for the advice @Valli @Dawn_SD

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Keep in contact Michang let us know how you get on

That looks like a deathshead moth not a wax moth. Wax moths are smallish(bee sized) and all beige/tan. You can see the skull markings on that moth as well. Deathshead moths raid the hive for the honey, and mimic both the smell and vibration communication of a queen which is how they get into the hive even though they are vastly bigger then the bees, the bees ignore them. They have a short window to steal the honey and get out before the scent wears off and the bees kill them. Looks like they caught this guy in the act.

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Oh sorry, you are right @adagna :slight_smile:
Yes there are 3 of them already dead at that times, but I never see this deathshead moth again now.

Thank you for the information :slightly_smiling:

Yes, of course :slight_smile:

Hi guys!

Today I want to show you, the current update of that bee yard. It has been 3 weeks after my last post in
this topic, so sorry for make you waiting guys.

1st week, we gave them sugar syrup (1:1) for every colony there, about
1-1,5 liters to every colony. They take
it, and their queen start to lay more eggs. The number of dead bees were
decrease massively, especially in front of the hive & in the hive. We checked
this twice in a week, and the they start to recover.


2nd week, the colonies activity was just as normal as before the
incident. They forage like usual, searching for food & resin. It began
difficult to open the inner cover, because they start to used propolis again.
There were many brood cells of worker bees, alongside the increase number of nectar
& pollen, they also began to cap the honey. I gave them back some of the frame that we
take before. As you can see in the picture, our flowers & corn are growing,
we also bought some seeds like cornflower, fennels, and other bee friendly
flower, hopeful the bees will like it.



(sorry for that bad faces :stuck_out_tongue: )

3rd week (yesterday), the colonies activity was just normal as
before, they start to lay drone eggs right now. I also see some drone in the
hives. The bees start to cap more honey, so we see some of the frames that
already cap 2/3. They start to fill the old frame that I gave to them, either
with brood or with food, also they have good storage of pollen & nectar. There
were also many young bees that emerge, starting to walk & explore their
home. The flowers are start to blooms, some bees were visited the flowers &
corn.


There was major event in this week, there are many TV channels here are talking
about the “wasp” that annoyed peoples, in Indonesia. They stung some peoples,
so they call the fire department to take care this problems, they said it was very
large wasp nest, and have some difficulties to remove it, moreover they don’t
have bee suit, but at the end they are success. The problem is, many TV
channels said “wasp” as “bees”, this may lead many peoples who don’t know think
the bees is dangerous insect.

Check this out guys:
1
2
3

Good news is, 3 weeks again my university invite me to speak about honey bees in
the parent gathering event. Hopeful we can educated more peoples about honey
bees, and their benefits. :smiley:

Thank you
Michael

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Hi Michael,

Thank you for the update. So glad to hear that you are recovering from your colony challenge. Please keep in touch, we care about your bees, and we can all learn from your experience.

Dawn

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After two years the poor chap might be dead but hopefully not :wink:

I’m struggling to see the connection. Is this an ad for Yale Pest Control?

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Yes. He has made posts like this 3 or 4 times. :nauseated_face:

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