Apiguard and super comb

[East Yorks New Bee]

Newbie or is it Numpty question, will apiguard taint super comb for next years honey if I left one(empty) on while I treated my hive.
Why are you leaving it on some may ask,
Because of the number of bees in the hive, the brood box is full of bees and so was the super I have taken off and replaced with an empty one.

 

[Hombre]

Will apiguard taint super comb for next years honey if I left one(empty) on while I treated my hive?

Hi Beadons, I think you may have missed the thrust of the original question.
It probably isn't obvious that honey is tainted, and so EYNB is seeking the advice.

As I read it, the super is empty and merely extra temporary bed-space. The assumption is that anything that may become incidentally stored in there during treatment will be fed back to the bees.
Will the wax in the super become tainted? Personally I think not, but have insufficient experience to be able to make that a statement of fact. The logic that I use is that after treatment, the winter stores will be contaminated, but they should be pretty much consumed by the time for supering next spring. Honey that will go into the supers will likely be temporarily stored in those same combs and will not be considered contaminated once it is handed around and stored in the super. So it appears to come down to a matter of degree.
Again personally I think you are good to go, but would also be happy to hear the knowledge and/or opinions of others.

C'mon Beadons, you get to have a second shot. I hope you don't view my reply as any form of criticism, it's just that you seem to have misinterpreted the question and more brutal souls might otherwise jump on the case!

I suspect that honey stored during treatment would be fairly obvious, but the concern is slightly more than trace amounts that may not be obvious but will fail acceptable analysis..

 

[Hombre]

Sorry Beadons, no offence intended, I thought that your question was a misreading of the original question. Please forgive me.

As I think I mentioned, if you treat with supers on, there is likely to be an unpleasant(?) taste of thymol and it will be unfit for human consumption and certainly not saleable. With smaller amounts of contamination there may not be an obvious taste, but it could still fail very basic analysis and get the beekeeper a bad reputation or into trouble.

I understand, now, the point of your question, not as a response, but related. Perhaps it would have been clearer as a stand alone question of it's own.

Sorry that I confused you, initially, I hope that all is clearer now?
= = =
I have just returned from a three week holiday and the inspection of the first two colonies has totally surprised me. I came in for a cup of tea and will now go back and continue.

I hope that you have had a good first(?) season and that your bees are making more sense than mine at the moment.
Regards,

 

[Rosti]

Thymol residues can build up in wax during treatment. Any treatment has the potential to taint. What it taints depends on its composition. If it's hydrophilic (water loving) then the honey will be tainted; if it's lypophilic (fat loving) the comb will be tainted. Thymol is lypophilic, so comb is at risk.

Thymol will become gaseous with temperature and so over time, with warm conditions contaminated wax will clear itself, there is no easy way to predict how long this will take. If the comb is filled before the comb has cleared itself then taint is likely.

There is an irony here, a full super with honey present and therefore reduced exposed wax surface area is better protected than empty comb. The prospect of taint on honey itself is (in theory) low but if you are making comb honey or you have comb carryover into final product during extraction your product is at risk.

Hope that helps. As for the flavour imparted, I don't know. R

 

[jimbeekeeper]

Because of the number of bees in the hive, the brood box is full of bees and so was the super

Dave

I assume your reference to the hive been full was on an inspection during the normal day time?

You might be suprised at how few bees there are in if you where to inspect very late on or early morning before they get going. i.e semi sort of clustered.

 

[East Yorks New Bee]

Hi James
They were both very full at 7 am this morning. This is what made me put the empty super on when I put the clearer board on, so the bees had somewhere to go as there didnt seem to be enought room in the brood box.This colony is still on 8 full frames of brood and eggs and no sign of the queen easing up on laying.

 

[Hawklord]

This is what made me put the empty super on when I put the clearer board on, so the bees had somewhere to go as there didnt seem to be enought room in the brood box.This colony is still on 8 full frames of brood and eggs and no sign of the queen easing up on laying.

Same here Dave, looked in on Wednesday at my girls and there was 9 1/2 frames of brood/eggs. This queen doesn't seem to be slowing down.

 

[oliver90owner]

Watch out! I expect the ladies to know more about our up-coming weather than the met office, but consider what would happen if the queen is laying too late and the winter descends upon us very quickly. Full box of bees and little stores. A recipe for disaster.

I said about a month back that I thought the season was going to be another extended affair. Stuck my neck out as the bees were showing few signs of slowing down.

I am quite well prepared if it does not happen (ie winter arrives early), but those with only one or two colonies and little experience can easily be caught out.

Regards, RAB