Hi Madeleine and All I recently recounted my system gleaned from an old tropical beekeepeing handbook of dealing with bee pirates (preadcious insects), wherebye a t shaped stick is placed near the hive and poison placed on the stick. Madeleine, you mentioned a fear that the bees may track this poison into the hive. This is not a problem as the bee wolves/pirates always sit about 1.5 meters away from a hive, hence bees never land on the t bar. If they did, they would die as well as contact poisons are nasty. I am however personally loathed to use such devices as I am fortunate on keeping my bees on pastures at present that have not seen a pesticide in ten years. The lands are part of a nature conservancy which a group of farmers use for farmin venison (Kuda/bushbuck etc) and hence not even dips have been used on the animals. The last time pesticides were used were to control a minor locust swarm, but I am told that should a swarm ever be found again the local authorities will be using a fungicidal spray which only kills locusts in future. Hope that helps allay your fears. Keep well Garth Garth Cambray Camdini Apiaries Grahamstown Apis mellifera capensis Eastern Cape Prov. South Africa Time = Honey After careful consideration, I have decided that if I am ever a V.I.P the I. may not stand for important. (rather influential, ignorant, idiotic, intelectual, illadvised etc)