Dear editor,
A downtown Milton (resident) recently sprayed with a powder poison that killed bees, getting into his building’s walls.
People need to know this complicates things for themselves.
Once bees are dead, wax moths, small hive beetles and roaches come in to lay their young and defecate in the honey and comb. The larvae hatch out and slime the honey, and it becomes the foulest smell and runs down the insides of their walls. It then has become a nightmare to clean up well enough for that smell to go away.
Leaving any wax behind attracts next year’s bees to come back, and the cycle starts once again.
The easiest solution is to call in a beekeeper … Beekeepers are particular where they pick up bee colonies. If they’ve been sprayed it will contaminate their equipment and could kill off their own apiary of bees. Beekeepers can be found online through local or state beekeeper associations.
Please don’t expect a beekeeper to clean up the mess you’ve caused to your own house through spraying. It has become the consequence of your own actions — and actually well deserved, as you’ve destroyed pollinators that create our food.
Don’t spray — call a beekeeper or get a referral to someone who will save the bees and get rid of your problem
KATHY BLANKENSHIP
Milton
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: LETTER: Don’t cause more problems — call a beekeeper