Rodent damage

[Moody]

Hi all
In my 1st year beekeeping and have made a regretful mistake.
I stored wet supers in the shed at the allotment in black bin bags. These were stacked and covered with board at bottom and top.

However, I left one on the table and appears a rodent rat/mouse bit through the bag and has started eating at the comb and chewed top bars. Pics attached

Question is, can the these and other frames still be used to collect honey for human consumption or are these now classed as contaminated due to rodent walking on them/ possibly attempting to eat?
Do I need to dispose of all of them?

Thanks I advance everyone for your time reading and help.

 

[Ian123]

Still look good to me…..

 

[JamezF]

Personally I'd not want to eat honey from frames that rodents had got at without understanding exactly what the risks were regarding the likes of Weil's Disease.

James

 

[Swarm]

Mice tend to pee on everything

 

[JamezF]

Mice tend to pee on everything

Rats are the same as far as I'm aware.

James

 

[Bryang]

Rats are the same as far as I'm aware.

James

Rodents cannot control their bladder, so they urinate all over the place.. Filthy animals... I hate rats with a passion..

 

[Garry R]

That's why I store my super frames in an old upright fridge (not working) . Block the drain hole keeps the wasps out and wax moth non existent. Also helps with acetic acid treatment.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Rodents cannot control their bladder, so they urinate all over the place.. Filthy animals... I hate rats with a passion..

This might offend some viewers so be warned.

 

[Amari]

We had rats feeding from scraps which fell to the ground beneath a bird feeder containing sunflower hearts hanging in a tree. I could sit eating my breakfast and see them come and go only 15m away.
Solution: I removed the feeder and placed cubes of rat poison in a suitable container at the site.
Result: Never seen a rat since.
BTW: on the advice of our local rat catcher the cubes are screwed onto a block of wood. This prevents the rats removing the cubes which they might store for future rather than consume there and then.

 

[plain_hunt]

Hi all
In my 1st year beekeeping and have made a regretful mistake.
I stored wet supers in the shed at the allotment in black bin bags. These were stacked and covered with board at bottom and top.

However, I left one on the table and appears a rodent rat/mouse bit through the bag and has started eating at the comb and chewed top bars. Pics attached

Question is, can the these and other frames still be used to collect honey for human consumption or are these now classed as contaminated due to rodent walking on them/ possibly attempting to eat?
Do I need to dispose of all of them?

Thanks I advance everyone for your time reading and help.

I had this happen, but knowing they pee wherever, I decided I wouldn't want to eat the honey from the frames, so destroyed the frames. Taught me to make sure they were out of reach of rodents in the future!

 

[ericbeaumont]

Do I need to dispose of all of them?

Rat. Burn the lot; not worth the risk or nagging worry.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I had a rat go through a stack of ten shallows of freshly drawn wet frames a few years ago. made a hell of a mess, and even though the majority of the frames were intact, the lot went on the bonfire

 

[user 20297]

We had rats feeding from scraps which fell to the ground beneath a bird feeder containing sunflower hearts hanging in a tree. I could sit eating my breakfast and see them come and go only 15m away.
Solution: I removed the feeder and placed cubes of rat poison in a suitable container at the site.
Result: Never seen a rat since.
BTW: on the advice of our local rat catcher the cubes are screwed onto a block of wood. This prevents the rats removing the cubes which they might store for future rather than consume there and then.

What poison do you use that doesn't end up causing unwanted poisoning of predators?

 

[Amari]

What poison do you use that doesn't end up causing unwanted poisoning of predators?

That's a sobering thought Beebe, Maybe I've been too complacent.
Roshield wax block bait contains 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one. It is an anticoagulant reversible with an injection of vitamin K so presumably is akin to coumarin a/c such as warfarin.
Do you have any info on the risks to predators? Presumably all mammalian predators will be susceptible, I don't know about birds and reptiles.
Trying to reassure myself that I'm not grossly negligent, and knowing a little about warfarin plus the fact that I'm on it (!) I doubt if there would be enough a/c in the prey to harm a predator whereas arsenic or similar would be more toxic.
Have our forum vets experience of predator poisoning by warfarin (as opposed to animals consuming the poison direct)?

 

[user 20297]

That's a sobering thought Beebe, Maybe I've been too complacent.
Roshield wax block bait contains 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one. It is an anticoagulant reversible with an injection of vitamin K so presumably is akin to coumarin a/c such as warfarin.
Do you have any info on the risks to predators? Presumably all mammalian predators will be susceptible, I don't know about birds and reptiles.
Trying to reassure myself that I'm not grossly negligent, and knowing a little about warfarin plus the fact that I'm on it (!) I doubt if there would be enough a/c in the prey to harm a predator whereas arsenic or similar would be more toxic.
Have our forum vets experience of predator poisoning by warfarin (as opposed to animals consuming the poison direct)?
View attachment 35109

Sorry @Amari, I wasn't being accusatory; it was a genuine question.

Long ago I used to use the blue, wax blocks against woodmice getting into a cottage. The area is known for Red Kites and around that time there was a controversy about the birds being poisoned. That turned out to be a maverick gamekeeper and poisoned meat, but it got me concerned at the outcome of using this stuff. Where I live now we have buzzards, owls and stoats and I don't want to mess up the balance of the ecosystem.

The RSPB says its all about the way you use poisons and being scrupulous in finding the dead rodents. They also suggest using "first generation" rodenticides. This paragraph from the RSPB seems the most relevant:

"More recently developed, second generation rodenticides are more toxic products, based on one of four active ingredients - difenacoum, bromadiolone, brodifacoum and flocoumafen. The latter two can only legally be used inside a building or other enclosed structure in the UK."

We have a bit of a boom in the rat population around our hens and I've just been out for a pack of these and distributed a few sachets in the runs that are inaccessible to the birds. Unfortunately, it does contain difenacoum, but that is permissable to use outdoors.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/pest-sto...ck/7070x#product_additional_details_container

 

[user 20297]

Sorry @Amari, I wasn't being accusatory; it was a genuine question.

Long ago I used to use the blue, wax blocks against woodmice getting into a cottage. The area is known for Red Kites and around that time there was a controversy about the birds being poisoned. That turned out to be a maverick gamekeeper and poisoned meat, but it got me concerned at the outcome of using this stuff. Where I live now we have buzzards, owls and stoats and I don't want to mess up the balance of the ecosystem.

The RSPB says its all about the way you use poisons and being scrupulous in finding the dead rodents. They also suggest using "first generation" rodenticides. This paragraph from the RSPB seems the most relevant:

"More recently developed, second generation rodenticides are more toxic products, based on one of four active ingredients - difenacoum, bromadiolone, brodifacoum and flocoumafen. The latter two can only legally be used inside a building or other enclosed structure in the UK."

We have a bit of a boom in the rat population around our hens and I've just been out for a pack of these and distributed a few sachets in the runs that are inaccessible to the birds. Unfortunately, it does contain difenacoum, but that is permissable to use outdoors.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/pest-sto...ck/7070x#product_additional_details_container

Postscript to this; there were fifteen small sachets in the tub. Twelve hours after first application and after two top-ups when the poison had been taken, there is one sachet in the tub. I'm away to get a bigger tub. I would prefer to leave the situation to be sorted out by Nature and to just be a bit less generous and more careful with feeding the hens, but She Must Be Obeyed.

 

[user 20297]

Postscript to this; there were fifteen small sachets in the tub. Twelve hours after first application and after two top-ups when the poison had been taken, there is one sachet in the tub. I'm away to get a bigger tub. I would prefer to leave the situation to be sorted out by Nature and to just be a bit less generous and more careful with feeding the hens, but She Must Be Obeyed.

.......and then there were none.....sachets of poison that is!

 

[Sutty]

I had rats around my chickens too. Traps sometimes caught them in non-humane ways so I abandoned them. They seemed to get wise to poison, which I didn't like using either.
An air rifle with a night vision scope eradicated them quickly! Head shots only. Peanut butter on a stood-up paving slab is a great bait as they stay still to eat it and gives a safe backstop.

 

[Beesnaturally]

Strip out the wax and decide what you want to do with it - you probably can't melt it without rendering it sterile. Boil the frames in washing soda. Like new (apart from the nice brown colour). Nothing need be wasted.

You probably could bathe the good wax and frames in a strong bleach solution and be happy that it is sterile, but I boil rotated frames anyway, so in anything the slightest bit dodgy goes that way.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I had rats around my chickens too. Traps sometimes caught them in non-humane ways so I abandoned them. They seemed to get wise to poison, which I didn't like using either.
An air rifle with a night vision scope eradicated them quickly! Head shots only. Peanut butter on a stood-up paving slab is a great bait as they stay still to eat it and gives a safe backstop.

A mate with a couple of Jack Russels is effective too. Then you can still feed the Kites