Mouse poop in honey

[omnimirage]

Suddenly have a mouse problem, and I find that bucket of about six kilos of honey has about five small nugs of mouse poop in it. It was sitting in it for about a day.

What should I do with the honey? Can I store it, and feed it to the hungry bee swarms I'll be capturing in the Spring? Or do I need to throw it out?

 

[beeno]

Suddenly have a mouse problem, and I find that bucket of about six kilos of honey has about five small nugs of mouse poop in it. It was sitting in it for about a day.

What should I do with the honey? Can I store it, and feed it to the hungry bee swarms I'll be capturing in the Spring? Or do I need to throw it out?

Bad luck. Not fit for human consumption due to risk of Weil's disease and our bee inspector would agree with that. Would agree with your suggestion of feeding it back to swarms to eliminate the risk of storage.

 

[Finman]

.
Mouse has harmfull diseases.

When you advertised already your poo honey globally, better to dig it into ground.

.

 

[thenovice]

question is, how did the mouse droppings get into the bucket of honey. surely you should have your buckets well closed during storage from a hygiene perspective AND a hygroscopic one. As finman states, if not only to preserve your own good name, do it for the reputation of the beekeepering community: get rid of the whole lot and have a good think about how you will tackle your honey production for the next season. If someone gets sick, we can expect changes in legislation, stricter rules etc... Not exactly promoting hobby beekeeping

 

[omnimirage]

I was straining honey in my shed overnight, I noticed it the following day. The mouse appeared to have walked into the strainer, and crapped overboard (didn't actually go into the bucket).

My online identity is not associated with my local self so I'm not concerned about any of that.

I am distraught about the affair and have been thinking of how to not let this happen again. My whole straining system sucks. I believe the mouses tend to come around the same time each year, so I could avoid straining and set up traps in preparation next time.

 

[misterbee82]

The bees could reuse it, but as stated by several members it is spoiled for human consumption. The hantavirus https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hantavirus is one of the largest health threats to humans.

 

[bontbee]

I was straining honey in my shed overnight,

I think that might be the nub of it - is it a dedicated honey extracting shed? (If so, it needs some serious attention). If not, why are you extracting/straining in a shed?!

 

[omnimirage]

Where else am I meant to do it? My bathroom?

 

[BeeJayBee]

Do you have a kitchen?

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Where else am I meant to do it? My bathroom?

I do it in a dedicated Honey Food Production Facility.

The rest of the year I rent it out to the wife. She calls it "The Kitchen"!!!

Dusty

 

[misterbee82]

I just hope you give the honey back to the bees and not have any further rodent problems. Better luck on your next attempt.

 

[omnimirage]

I do it in a dedicated Honey Food Production Facility.

The rest of the year I rent it out to the wife. She calls it "The Kitchen"!!!

Dusty

Very entertaining

The kitchen had more of a mouse problem than the shed did. Can't really do it in the kitchen anyway.

I've been thinking about moving my operation to another premise, I've been offered a shed that I can use solely for honey. He mentioned though that it gets mouses out there, and since I don't live there currently, I won't be able to check it like I can at my home. It is a bit troublesome. I think if I made a honey heater, it'd pour faster and wouldn't need to sit over night like I've been doing so as much.

 

[misterbee82]

Very entertaining

The kitchen had more of a mouse problem than the shed did. Can't really do it in the kitchen anyway.

I've been thinking about moving my operation to another premise, I've been offered a shed that I can use solely for honey. He mentioned though that it gets mouses out there, and since I don't live there currently, I won't be able to check it like I can at my home. It is a bit troublesome. I think if I made a honey heater, it'd pour faster and wouldn't need to sit over night like I've been doing so as much.

A honey heater? This is a piece of equipment I've yet to see. Also we were warned in our bee club that cooking honey above 120 degrees can remove a large amount of the health benefits.

 

[omnimirage]

It's what the beekeeper I volunteered with used. Some googling searching has found something similar to his setup:

http://www.beesource.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/chsthetr.pdf

Only, he simply used an oil heater, instead of lights.

I too wondered about the heating and I asked him about it, and he commented that he never heats it up higher than the temperature gets during summer.

 

[meetballuk]

Mead!!!!!!

 

[Davelin]

A honey heater? This is a piece of equipment I've yet to see. Also we were warned in our bee club that cooking honey above 120 degrees can remove a large amount of the health benefits.

A warming cabinet is an invaluable piece of equipment.
You are right about the temperature, should not go above 50C or 120F.

If you warm honey to 35-40C it goes through strainer much quicker.

 

[wessexmario]

If honey is not fit for human consumption then I WOULD NOT feed it back to the bees.

Where do you think the bees are going to store it ???
And what are you going to harvest next time ?

Sorry, but it has to be destroyed.

 

[omnimirage]

If I used it to feed starving bees swarms, wouldn't it be mostly used for nourishment and to build comb, and then stored away in the brood chamber where I wouldn't extract honey from?

 

[Rio]

If you have health insurance, keep it for your own consumption. Shame to waste it!

 

[MartinL]

Do you have a kitchen?

Probably not

It's all barbeques & 4X down there!

If you have health insurance, keep it for your own consumption. Shame to waste it!

Think there's a distinct Geographical bias creeping in here?