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extracting honey from sick bees #880832

Asked August 09, 2024, 12:21 PM EDT

If a hive has more than normal number of walking bees, what precautions should be taken before harvesting the honey from that hive. Will the extraction equipment still be OK afterwards? I just treated the hive with Formic Pro now that the weather cooled down. I unfortunately do not have a recent mite count.

Oakland County Michigan

Expert Response

Thank you for reaching out with this beekeeping question.

What do you mean that you have "more than normal number of walking bees"? Are they walking inside or outside of the hive? Are you noticing about a few, dozens, hundreds, or thousands?

It's normal to find a small number of bees crawling outside of the hive. You may notice more bees crawling around the hive after opening/inspecting the colony, since young bees can't fly and some may fall off of frames during an inspection.

Other causes of bees crawling outside of the hive can include tracheal mites, certain honey bee viruses, and pesticide exposure. Here's what to do if you suspect your honey bee colonies are harmed by pesticides. If you suspect pesticide exposure, then you would want to exercise caution before extracting the honey and allowing it for human consumption.

You should not harvest honey until the Formic Pro treatment is complete, since the hive should not be opened during treatment (unless it's to apply the 2nd pad). More information on Formic Pro's application: 

We don't normally contain or destroy extracted supers due to honey bee disease/parasite concerns unless we suspect American foulbrood disease. American foulbrood disease spores can persist in beeswax comb and honey, but it's not known to cause adult bees to walk/crawl. 

Happy beekeeping!

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