Mosquito Spraying: Sign of the Rapture?

And so it came to be that the NYC DOH decided that spraying more areas with little warning was a good idea. Congrats to Queens and Staten Island! You'll get your prize TONIGHT, August 17th, starting at 8 PM (weather permitting)!

August 17 8:00PM - 6:00AM

Spraying in Queens • Neighborhoods: Parts of Astoria, East Elmhurst, Steinway, Brookville, Rosedale, Bay Terrace, Beechhurst, Fort Totten and White Stone • Zip codes: 11103, 11105, 11357, 11359, 11360, 11370, 11377, 11413 and 11422 • Pesticide to be used: Anvil 10+10 (Sumithrin)

August 17

8:00PM - 6:00AM

Spraying in Queens

• • Neighborhoods: Parts of Astoria, East Elmhurst, Steinway, Brookville, Rosedale, Bay Terrace, Beechhurst, Fort Totten and White Stone
• • Zip codes: 11103, 11105, 11357, 11359, 11360, 11370, 11377, 11413 and 11422
• • Pesticide to be used: Anvil 10+10 (Sumithrin)

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE LARGE QUEENS MAP SHOWS ONLY ONE OF THE THREE AREAS BEING SPRAYED TONIGHT. CHECK YOUR ZIP CODES AND LOOK AT THE SMALL MAP ON THE LEFT TO FIGURE OUT IF YOU WILL BE AFFECTED!

August 17 8:00PM - 6:00AM

Spraying in Staten Island • Neighborhoods: Elm Park, Livingston, Port Richmond and West Brighton • Zip codes: 10302 and 10310 • Pesticide to be used: Anvil 10+10 (Sumithrin)

August 17

8:00PM - 6:00AM

Spraying in Staten Island

• • Neighborhoods: Elm Park, Livingston, Port Richmond and West Brighton
• • Zip codes: 10302 and 10310
• • Pesticide to be used: Anvil 10+10 (Sumithrin)

I'll warn you now that if you have hives in or close around these neighborhoods, you will see some losses of your foraging bees. Most will likely die out in the field, but some will make it back to the hive and get tossed out by the undertaker bees, so you might see more corpses than usual. Don't panic unless you see so many bodies that the bees can't keep up and you start to see them collected in large numbers on the bottom board.

However, there are some methods to minimize the number of bees killed by the sprays. For the full write up check out my previous post on the subject- Pesticide Sprays: Keep Your Hive Alive.

If you can't be bothered, here's the tl;dr version:

The short version:
1.) In the EVENING BEFORE THE SPRAY: Close up your hives with screen mesh blocking the entrance and a wet, breathable cloth draped over the front of your hive. This will prevent direct exposure of the bees to the pesticide, and help prevent the hive from getting covered with chemicals.
2.) In the MORNING AFTER THE SPRAY: Open the hive back up by removing the cloth and screen. This prevents your hive from overheating.
3.) GORGE YOUR HIVES with artificial feed (sugar syrup and pollen supplement) before and for several days AFTER the spray. This minimizes (but does not eliminate) the number of bees actively foraging and being exposed to residual pesticides.

P.S.

Dear NYC DOH,
Thanks for not providing accurate maps of your spray areas. You fucking suck.
Best,
Tim