Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: KeyLargoBees on August 11, 2015, 05:01:18 pm
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The automated notification system was "down" so no calls or e-mails went out to beekeepers in the upper keys and the sorry sods flew Ariel spray flights this morning anyway....drinking coffee when the roar of the plane going over was heard I looked out back and both hives are in full on forage flight mode.....now I am sweeping up bees from in front of the hives and the mortuary bees are flying non stop removing carcasses from the hive.....no telling how many we lost between the 2 hives this morning.....I cant imagine the carnage at the 2 commercial beeks I know of in the upper keys....and worst case is we have no recourse but to complain and ask that they please check the system to make sure its working before they authorize flights.
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Call you bee inspector and let him know what happened. At least you will have it recorded.
Jim
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I did Jim.....the Mosquito control district stated they listed the flight on their web site 24 hours in advance and that the notification service is a courtesy they provide and they cant be held accountable for it not functioning. Since its been so incredibly dry this was the first flight of the year and caught me by surprise...I guess I am going to make a habit of checking the website every night before I go to bed...at least through the end of the wet season....to keep the girls safe the next time they fly.
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I have not had any problems with mosquito spraying even though is have seen the planes flying low over head. In town my bees are under a tree canopy. Not the best place for bees with SHB but it really seems to protect the bees. They usually spray right about dawn when the bees are mostly in the hive.
Jim
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I guess my girls are early risers....they are flying about 30-45 minutes before sunrise and the flight was about 30 minutes post sunrise so the early foragers were caught out....first year woes and a lesson learned.
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I guess I have it good. In Houston they fog with trucks, generally about 10pm to midnight. There is a lot of distance and foliage back to the hives. I haven't heard them recently; probably saving the money for cooler and wetter weather.
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I have not had any problems with mosquito spraying even though is have seen the planes flying low over head. In town my bees are under a tree canopy. Not the best place for bees with SHB but it really seems to protect the bees. They usually spray right about dawn when the bees are mostly in the hive.
Jim
Does that say something about how effective spraying is? And even if they killed 100% of the adult skeeters, eggs will hatch in a few days and you're right back where you started. Dumb, wasteful and useless spending of tax money just so they can say they're doing everything they can!
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Dallas,
I do see a big difference when they are spraying and when they are not. They have not sprayed my place this year that I know of and I can tell. I do not complain to keep from having them spray more than they do normally.
Jim
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they spray with trucks in my town. the guy who does the spraying does not spray where he knows for sure that there are hives. he does not spray my block or the one directly behind me.
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Down here in the Florida Keys the trucks are spraying a different type of pesticide targeted at the larval cycle....and with the hives in the back yard and the foragers inside for the night when the trucks pass at 10 PM there is virtually no impact. Its the aerial spraying at 30 minutes after sunrise that decimates the foragers. They are spraying a pesticide that targets adult mosquitoes and apparently bees as well. The lady I spoke to on Friday was truly upset about the situation and stated I was one of several people who complained and that due to the outcry they were going to make sure notifications went out before aerial missions were authorized......will believe it when I see it but I feel a little better about the whole thing now.