MAQS Tainted honey

[Bee Bumble]

I used MAQS on some of my hives this year, three of which still had supers on them. I followed the instructions included with the bucket.
Three days ago I removed the the supers and I spun out the honey this afternoon. The honey smells strongly of Formic acid.
Has anyone else had this problem and does the odour dissipate, or is the honey ruined?

 

[For want of a better word]

Perhaps the supers should have been taken off before treating with formic acid ??... using the Precautionary Principle... feed the honey back to the bees?

Nos da

 

[irishguy]

I used MAQS on some of my hives this year, three of which still had supers on them. I followed the instructions included with the bucket.
Three days ago I removed the the supers and I spun out the honey this afternoon. The honey smells strongly of Formic acid.
Has anyone else had this problem and does the odour dissipate, or is the honey ruined?

I noticed this last year when i took 1 frame of honey from the bees. At the start of the season there was still some left in the super and they managed to fill it just a few weeks ago just before i removed it. Im hoping its properly dissipated because i didnt like the honey last year because i could taste it.

 

[beeno]

Well, that's a lesson to be learnt for all the proponents of the truth and accuracy of manufacturers instructions. Caveat Emptor always applies on the continent whilst the Brits are more gullible - a more effective socialisation process.

 

[Thymallus]

The honey smells strongly of Formic acid.
Has anyone else had this problem and does the odour dissipate, or is the honey ruined?

I have heard of several people with the same story. I'm also told the smell does dissipate...eventually, like in a years time!
This is despite the manufactures claims that MAQ's don't taint the honey.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I've never touched the stuff; too many reports of dead queens and too aggressive an acid for my tastes. And the hoopla about safe for supers never made any sense. Thanks for confirming and sorry for your loss.

Personally, I would not feed it back now, but keep it capped (just to really move the pH, perhaps treat it with acetic if the frames have had brood) then in spring when colonies are good and strong and supered, uncap it and put it on as infras. Maybe not on all my colonies so as not to risk 2 years' crop. They'll move it up in a trice and should knock out a lot of the FA in the process. Hopefully...

 

[masterBK]

Doesn't formic acid break down into harmless chemicals like water and carbon dioxide ? After a few weeks I took the MAQS out of the hives and it was hard to detect the formic acid smell on them and I have a very sensitive olfactory sense.

 

[enrico]

If you are worried then send a jar to the makers of maqs. Tell them your problem and ask them to test it. They should at least know that you are having a problem otherwise they can't cure it . Just for the record I have had no similar problems over the past three years treating with maqs.
E

 

[Pete D]

No problems with taint on the dozens of hives treated over the last 3 seasons.
Just took 4 firsts at honey show, no maq's odours or taste.

 

[pargyle]

Well ... that's interesting ..some with problems of taint and some without. So what's the explanation ? Is it how much is being put in the hives and how it is being applied ? The weather when it's being used ? The speed at which some bees remove the stuff ? Different batches at different strengths ?

MAQS was supposed to be the magic bullet but it strikes me that for every few successful treatments there is one that goes wrong - one way or another.

Personally, I think it's a very acrid smell to put in the hive and it does last quite a long time before dissipating.

Of all the treatments I've seen used the only one I would consider is OA Sublimation .. fast, little disturbance to the bees, no queen problems, really effective knock down, cheap as chips once you have bought/made a device to sublimate, you can take the supers off and do it and have them back on again in no time if you wish.

It's a no-brainer compared to the risks associated with MAQS.

But there again .. I don't treat my bees .. so all I see is other people putting this stuff in their hives and then wondering why their bees don't like it ...or worse, problems of the sort being described here and across the pond.

 

[alldigging]

Well ... that's interesting ..some with problems of taint and some without. So what's the explanation ? Is it how much is being put in the hives and how it is being applied ? The weather when it's being used ? The speed at which some bees remove the stuff ? Different batches at different strengths ?

http://nodglobal.com/maqs-usa/faq/


Temperature
Outside daytime temperature highs should be between 10 – 29.5°C (50°- 85°F) on day of application.
Night time temperatures are not relevant.

Ventilation
Ventilation
Should I close off all entrances except the fully open bottom board entrance?
A fully open bottom entrance, 13 mm (0.5”) in height, full width of the entrance, should be seen as meeting the minimum ventilation requirements. Having additional entrances does not seem to affect the efficacy of the treatment. Adequate ventilation is critical with this product.


Time is probably important.
If you were going to take off honey within a few days of removing the MAQS then you might as well have took it off first?

 

[pargyle]

Yep .. Strikes me there are quite a few critical factors when using MAQS ... but the OP was about tainted honey in the supers and they do claim in their literature that it is safe to use with supers in place ... so there are questions to be answered by the people who have used MAQS and found tainted honey ... what did they do differently ? Or, indeed, did they follow the instructions absolutely to the letter ?

 

[Mint Bee]

if anyone has a problem when using any veterinary medicines (suspect adverse reaction or lack of efficacy), it is really worth reporting this to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate so that the post approval monitoring can pick up on these observations and investigate what is happening.


https://www.vmd.defra.gov.uk/adversereactionreporting/

 

[Erichalfbee]

Of all the treatments I've seen used the only one I would consider is OA Sublimation .. fast, little disturbance to the bees, no queen problems, really effective knock down, cheap as chips once you have bought/made a device to sublimate

Well.......I have to agree there. I've just done the fourth treatment on three hives (two were left with just the three applications) and apart from some exuberant fanning there was little to tell you that anything was happening to the bees. When I let them out a few walked about saying, "whaaaat the ????" but most just shot out to forage as normal.
The knock down has been startling on some.

 

[Swarm]

People say they follow instructions but do they? Then we hear from others about critical factors when using a product they have never used.
Why would anyone remove honey supers to apply a product that suggests it is beneficial they be left in place?
Like MasterBK and Enrico, I have used this product since its launch and I have had none of the scare stories bandied around these pages, many of which are from those who say they have not/would never use it. That makes it hearsay for a start.
I was quite late with MAQS this year and the supers were cleared and removed two weeks after application (the strips were removed at the same time) They are all extracted now and all I can smell is the beautiful aroma of honey.

 

[Delgirl]

Well.......I have to agree there. I've just done the fourth treatment on three hives (two were left with just the three applications) and apart from some exuberant fanning there was little to tell you that anything was happening to the bees. When I let them out a few walked about saying, "whaaaat the ????" but most just shot out to forage as normal.
The knock down has been startling on some.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

People say they follow instructions but do they? Then we hear from others about critical factors when using a product they have never used.

Why would anyone remove honey supers to apply a product that suggests it is beneficial they be left in place?

Like MasterBK and Enrico, I have used this product since its launch and I have had none of the scare stories bandied around these pages, many of which are from those who say they have not/would never use it. That makes it hearsay for a start.

I was quite late with MAQS this year and the supers were cleared and removed two weeks after application (the strips were removed at the same time) They are all extracted now and all I can smell is the beautiful aroma of honey.

The great thing about this forum is you can read all the stories and reach your own conclusion, benefitting fom others' experience even if they are "hearsay".

Shame the manufacturer's post was removed; I thought it was responsive not commercial.

 

[beeno]

The great thing about this forum is you can read all the stories and reach your own conclusion, benefitting fom others' experience even if they are "hearsay".

Shame the manufacturer's post was removed; I thought it was responsive not commercial.

VW is a good case in point as to what lengths manufacturers go to in order to deceive the public and governments alike.

 

[Swarm]

Please explain how anyone can benefit from hearsay? Anyone can come along and say
" Oh, I've heard a lot of similar reports." Hearsay is meaningless.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Please explain how anyone can benefit from hearsay? Anyone can come along and say
" Oh, I've heard a lot of similar reports." Hearsay is meaningless.

I would have thought that that is exactly the sort of report (hearsay) that would be available on a forum of this sort.

If we were a scientific or academic forum, the posts might give details of controlled experiments with associated statistical analysis. As it is, a forum member, particularly one active in a local association, making the observation about a lot of reports of problems in their locality would be perfectly valid for a discussion because it might throw up an issue worthing of being reported to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. That organisation can do the science to check out the non-scientific observations of beekeepers from around the country.

CVB