Crop spraying

[MaryMac]

A field of oilseed rape, fairly close to my hives is to be sprayed in the morning using Biscaya, produced by Bayer. Despite googling and speaking to the farmer, I cannot find information regarding how long the bees should be kept shut in their hives. Can anyone help?
Thanks.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Mary, I don’t know how long your bees should be shut in, or if it will help at all.

On the Biscaya website it says, “Biscaya is a foliar neonicotinoid insecticide”.

I thought neonicotinoids were banned. Also, being systemic, will shutting them in help? And lastly, your bees will probably be ok!

It would be good to hear from other people.

[gavin]

Really sorry to be late with this reply. Biscaya contains thiacloprid which is regarded as generally safe for honey bees. There is research that shows adding certain fungicides to the mix can make it as toxic as imidacloprid and thiamethoxam but farmers will not be allowed to use those fungicides at the same time. The initial ban covered the three neonicotinoids which were used for seed dressings and not this one, but I don't know how that squares with the more recent decision to ban all neonics.

It would have made sense to shut them in while the spray was applied and while it dried on the plants. After that it *ought* to be OK and I'm sure I've heard one of the major commercial beekeepers report it had no effect on his bees but I can guess that you know yourself already whether there was an effect!

[Adam]

We don't generally hear much of bees suffering directly from spraying - although it does happen very occasionally. I hope they were OK; if there's any news I am sure we would like to hear!

[MaryMac]

We don't generally hear much of bees suffering directly from spraying - although it does happen very occasionally. I hope they were OK; if there's any news I am sure we would like to hear!

Thank you for your responses. I telephoned Bee Connected, a website set up to connect farmers to beekeepers. The man on the end of the phone googled the Environmental Impact Sheet/ Statement. Honeybees are supposed to be unaffected. In the event they were closed up at night and opened in the evening after spraying. The bees appear fine but there may well be long term implications. The spraying was for pollen beetle. This is the first time that the farmer has had to spray an insecticide and he wasn’t very happy about having to do it.