Todd Harmer

Without bees, there is no food, so keeping hives healthy is of utmost importance. That job is becoming more difficult thanks to an outbreak of disease and the effects of climate change.

That’s where special apiary inspectors come in, who check on the health of keepers’ bees to help prevent the spread of honeybee diseases and pests.

Marie Cairns, a bee keeper who runs a small apiary in the Cowichan Valley, had her hives checked on Friday by Tara Galpin, an apiary inspector for South Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.

“First of all, it was all about the pollination, but then the more you learn about bees the more fascinating they are,” Cairns said.

Cairns has been bee keeping in the valley for nine years. She got her inspection for free, as any bee keeper can, so she can sell some of her hive.

“You have bees and you want your own bees to stay healthy, so you want their bees to be healthy because they fly and bring back disease if you don’t or mites or anything else,” she said.

Galpin is looking for a few different diseases and pests. One that comes up often is the varroa mite, a parasitic mite that feeds on honey bees and causes a disease called varroosis.

“They feed out the fat body of the bee, so it’s like if we had the size of a rat on our human body feeding on our liver,” Galpin explained.

Unfortunately, Cairns’ bees had too many mites. “My first time failing,” she said.

But this experienced bee keeper is unfazed, and will work with the inspector to apply the appropriate treatment.

Galpin says unpredictable spring weather due to climate change—that have been cooler and damper—is helping to spread fungal disease and doesn’t allow bees to forage for food when they need it most.

Keeping bees in good shape is important, as along with other native pollinators they play a key role in sustaining B.C.’s food system, and contribute an estimated $250 million to the province’s economy.

The inspector says losses this year in bee colonies is between 30 to 40 per cent—climate change and the spread of disease keeping the pressure on bees and their keepers.

“More than anything, we need diversity of plants for our bees to forage from and diversity in our food landscapes,” she said.

Importing bees plays a major role in maintaining the bee population across Canada, and combined with the work of inspectors like Galpin, they’re ensuring bees keep food on our table.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Disease and climate change put pressure on bees and their keepers: apiary inspector | CTV News

The website site lists many supposed positive attributes of the product, but they have not been proven or vetted.

Before you consider ordering this product, please check with your State or Regional Apiarist and State Pesticide Regulatory Agency.  The National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC; http://npic.orst.edu/mlr.html) provides contact number for State Pesticide Regulatory agencies.

by Scarlett Howard, Alexander Mikheyev, Emily Remnant, Simon Tierney and Théotime Colin, The Conversation

Credit: Théotime Colin, Author provided Varroa mites—notorious honey bee parasites—have recently reached Australian shores, detected at the Port of Newcastle in New South Wales last year. If they establish here, there would be significant implications for agricultural food security, as honey bees are heavily relied on for the pollination of many crops.

However, while Australia is the last continent to be invaded by the mite, it has an opportunity to be the first to eradicate it.

Varroa destructor is a small mite that attaches to bees and eats their “fat body.” The fat bodies of honey bees are the insect equivalent of a liver. Varroa weakens bees, reduces their lifespan and increases the spread of deadly viruses.

Scientists need to be ready: this might be Australia’s best chance to collect important data on the spread and evolution of this parasite. Our new paper published today in Biology Letters outlines what questions scientists need to ask and what data they need to collect if Varroa spreads in Australia.

Such data could help us understand how parasites evolve, why Varroa are so damaging for honey bees, and how Varroa mites impact other insects and the environment.

Will Varroa establish in Australia?

Australia is in close proximity to countries that have the mite, including New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Indonesia.

This probably explains why invasive honey bee swarms are frequently intercepted at our ports, many of these carrying Varroa. Australia currently bans importation of honey bee colonies due to the biosecurity risk, so these interceptions are typically due to stowaway swarms taking up residence in shipping containers.

Previous invasions of Varroa have been successfully eradicated before establishing, but this time Varroa circumvented the biosecurity surveillance near Newcastle and spread locally.

The New South Wales Department of Primary Industries has been contact-tracing and culling hives in contaminated areas, and the spread has been slow so far. Australia has large populations of feral honey bees, which could potentially act as a reservoir for Varroa and are much harder to trace and control, so the department is tackling this with a wild honey bee baiting program.

What threats does Varroa pose?

Varroa mites are a threat to food security. Although Australia has an abundance of food and exports it to other nations, the price of food is likely to increase if Varroa escapes confinement.

Currently, pollination of crops in eradication zones such as berries in Coffs Harbor is at risk due to the removal of all honey bees in the region, which may lead to short-term increases in food costs.

Australia currently relies on pollination by commercial honey bees (yellow), supplemented by feral honey bees (brown), though we have many native bee species like stingless bees and blue banded bees that are also being used in crop pollination. Credit: Boris Yagound, adapted from Chapman et al. 2023, CC BY

However, establishment and spread of Varroa will lead to lower pollination and lower crop production across the country, which will raise the price of most fruit and vegetables that depend on bee pollination.

This could worsen the food affordability crises caused by the current inflation, affecting the ability of low income households to buy nutritious and fresh produce. Almond pollination has already noted a deficit of 80,000 hives in the last season.

Many of the honey bee colonies that pollinate our crops are thought to be feral, living in tree hollows or nest-boxes designed for native animals. These feral bees are not managed by beekeepers and so won’t be saved by the use of Varroa treatments, meaning they will most likely disappear.

To read the complete article go to; Opinion: Australia is in a unique position to eliminate the bee-killing Varroa mite. Here’s what happens if we don’t (phys.org)

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Opinion: Australia is in a unique position to eliminate the bee-killing Varroa mite. Here’s what happens if we don’t (phys.org)

Jamie Morton

Varroa mites are responsible for the loss of tens of thousands of hives in New Zealand each year, killing countless bees like this one. Photo / Supplied

A destructive mite plaguing our beekeeping industry may have been building up home-grown resistance to a widely used chemical pesticide, a new study suggests.

Flumethrin has long been a key tool for controlling varroa, but when researchers recently assessed its mite-killing performance at one apiary, they found concentrations of it needed to be 13 times higher than two decades ago.

They say the findings, just released ahead of peer review, warrant further investigation to see if miticide resistance is a wider, hidden problem for the $5 billion industry.

Since being first detected back in 2000, the varroa destructor mite has become the sector’s biggest headache, each year accounting for nearly half of colony losses and costing more than $1 million in mitigation efforts and lost honey production.

The new study, led by PhD student Rose McGruddy and co-authored by Lester, focused on two key chemical pesticides used for varroa control.

They were flumethrin and amitraz – estimated to be used by 78 and 85 per cent of commercial beekeepers respectively.

Typically, they applied one product in early spring, and another in late summer or early autumn.

“Mite resistance to flumethrin may help explain why the mite problem is getting worse,” Victoria University ecologist Professor Phil Lester says. Photo / Supplied

“We’ve heard differing reports of the effectiveness of chemical pesticides, especially flumethrin,” Lester said.

“The nationwide survey and Rose’s data suggest most beekeepers are satisfied with it.

“But there are others who think this product is much less effective than it used to be – some even stating it has failed to control varroa entirely.”

Unlike in the past, some beekeepers were now using more than two applications of it, he said.

In the study, the researchers drew on years of survey data, along with their own laboratory tests of pesticides.

“The key result was that we found that the concentration of flumethrin needed to kill mites was 13-times higher than it was in 2005,” Lester said.

“This result indicates that mites appear to have and are developing resistance to this chemical.”

There was no evidence of any resistance to amitraz, which is another key pesticide for mite control, as it appeared to be effective, he said.

The study team stressed this result didn’t mean that commercial products containing flumethrin didn’t work – and they might still be useful for mite control for many beekeepers.

“We’d also note that the mites we used for this work were from the Wellington region and we can’t be sure that selection for resistance has occurred everywhere equally,” he said.

“But the big implication is that resistance does seem to have developed. It could explain the limited success of control using flumethrin reported to us by beekeepers.

“Mite resistance to flumethrin may help explain why the mite problem is getting worse.”

While varroa resistance to the chemical had been observed around the world, the study team didn’t find any of the same genetic markers of resistance identified in overseas studies.

“The New Zealand resistance development seems to be via a different pathway for the New Zealand population of mites,” Lester said.

The study raised several questions that urgently needed answering: namely, whether such “home-grown” was occurring more widely and, if so, how.

More broadly, Lester felt new products were needed for mite control, with novel modes of action – such as new “gene-silencing” approaches his own group was researching.

“We need to carefully manage resistance, by ensuring good integrated pest management procedures, which include alternating control methods,” he said.

“New methods are desperately needed.”

The industry’s peak body, Apiculture New Zealand, also said the study’s findings needed to be interpreted with caution.

“Because there has been growing discussion that resistance to treatments may be an issue in New Zealand, this research is of interest,” it told the Herald in a statement.

“However, although these lab concentrations differ to what was detected in 2003, they remain lower than what was detected in international apiaries with resistant varroa.

“Additionally, we note that the varroa tested in this research was collected from one apiary so it may not represent all regions.”

The group said this needed to be fully tested before any conclusions could be made regarding chemical resistance.

“As outlined by the researchers and by ApiNZ and our experts, the key to varroa management is ensuring the control methods are conducted as per label and rotated between treatment groups,” it said.

“Untreated colonies die. This does not change.”

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Has the destructive varroa been building ‘home-grown’ pesticide resistance in NZ? – NZ Herald

(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dalan Animal Health, Inc. (“Dalan”), the biotech company pioneering insect health with the world’s first honey bee vaccine, is proud to announce its first product shipment to a commercial beekeeper. The shipment is for Trevor Tauzer of Tauzer Apiaries in California and contains 500 doses, potentially protecting 25 million bees at an average of 50,000 bees per hive.

This milestone follows the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) granting a conditional license to Dalan’s first-in-class honeybee vaccine earlier this year. The vaccine is indicated to protect honeybees against the devastating American Foulbrood disease caused by the bacteria Paenibacillus larvae.

Honeybees are a critical component of agriculture. One-third of the global food supply relies on pollination, and healthy commercial hives are essential to secure high crop yields. However, honeybee colonies are plagued by American Foulbrood, with previously no safe and sustainable solution for disease prevention. Overt clinical cases of American Foulbrood are notifiable in the USA and Canada, and the only treatment method to limit the further spread of disease to other colonies relies on the incineration of bees and infected hives and equipment.

Tauzer, also a board member of the California State Beekeepers Association, said, “We are excited about the arrival of Dalan’s honey bee vaccine. This innovative solution will help honeybees prevent infection, avoid treatments, and focus on other crucial aspects of maintaining our bee’s health”. Tauzer plans to sell vaccinated queen bees through his queen-producing operation, Honey Bee Genetics, beginning this year. Queens can be purchased at honeybeegenetics.com

Dr. Annette Kleiser, CEO of Dalan Animal Health, emphasized the importance of the vaccine, stating, “Our mission is to protect our pollinators and promote sustainable agriculture. As global population growth and climate change continue, honeybee pollination will be increasingly vital to secure our food supply. This vaccine is a game-changer in safeguarding honeybees, and we’re excited to be at the forefront of revolutionizing insect care, which will ultimately impact global food production.”

Beekeepers interested in safeguarding their colonies with Dalan’s vaccine can visit the website at https://www.dalan.com/contact or call 844-483-2526.

The honey bee vaccine, manufactured by Diamond Animal Health (Des Moines, IA), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Heska (NASDAQ: HSKA), will initially be distributed on a limited basis to commercial beekeepers and queen producers.

About the vaccine

Dalan’s vaccine uses killed whole-cell Paenibacillus larvae bacteria and is administered by mixing it into queen feed consumed by worker bees. The vaccine is incorporated into the royal jelly by the worker bees, who then feed it to the queen. The queen ingests the vaccine, and fragments are deposited in her ovaries, providing immunity to the developing larvae. The non-GMO vaccine can be used in organic agriculture, and pivotal efficacy studies have shown its potential to reduce larval death associated with American Foulbrood infections caused by P. larvae.

About Dalan Animal Health, Inc

Dalan Animal Health (www.dalan.com) is dedicated to preventing diseases that affect invertebrates, increasing profitability and yield for producers worldwide. This platform technology uses transgenerational immune priming, allowing the maternal animal to pass immune modulators (e.g., antigens, anti-microbial molecules) to the next generation larvae before they hatch. Dalan plans to develop vaccines for other honeybee diseases and underserved industries, such as shrimp, mealworms, and insects used in agriculture. The company is headquartered in Athens, Georgia, at the University of Georgia’s Innovation Hub.

Contacts

Media Contact:
Ian Murphy
Phone: (310) 689-6397
Email: press@dalan.com

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230523005569/en/Dalan-Animal-Health-Ships-First-Honey-Bee-Vaccine-to-Tauzer-Apiaries-Potentially-Protecting-25-Million-Bees.

Lots of colony losses once again in 2023. There are three words I want you to remember: Varroa, Varroa, Varroa. And disappointingly, the majority of the beekeeping industry is still not using the Honey Bee Health Coalition vetted, accurate and usable Tools for Varroa Management Guide.

Varroa mites and the Varroa Virus legacy will KILL your honey bees.

In order to be a good manager of your honey bee colonies and reduce/stop losses from Varroa/Virus you, the beekeeper, need to be on your ‘game’ and be a Beekeeper not a Bee-haver.

The Honey Bee Health Coalition (HBHC) has the developed the key educational outreach tool for Varroa control titled, Tools for Varroa Management, A Guide to Effective Varroa Sampling & Control. The latest edition can be found at https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/HBHC-Guide_Varroa-Mgmt_8thEd-081622.pdf. It is based on Federal and State registered, legally approved products which require beekeepers to ALWAYS following label directions. This is all you really need to successfully manage for Varroa control in your colonies. To get you started, we will share some overview of what you need to think about and actually do.

In the Tools Guide each product will have the following individual points in a table: Name, Active Ingredient, Formulation, Route of Exposure, Treatment Time/Use Frequency, Time of Year, Registrant-reported Effectiveness, Conditions for Use, Restrictions , Advantages, Disadvantages, Considerations and a link to a Use Video.

Here we are only going to share Name, Active Ingredient and Conditions for Use, to get you started.

INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM) is a set of proactive, control methods that offer beekeepers the best “whole systems approach” to controlling varroa. See Tools Guide, pages 6-12.

ESSENTIAL OILS
Tools Guide pages 19-20

Name – Apiguard and Thymovar
Active Ingredient – Thymol
Conditions of Use – Temperature range restrictions: Apiguard – above 59°F and below 105°F (15°C to 40°C), Thymovar: above 59°F and below 85°F (15°C to 30°C).

Name – ApiLife Var
Active Ingredients – Thymol (74.09%), Oil of Eucalyptus (16%), Menthol (3.73%) = camphor ( essential oil)
Conditions of Use – Divide wafer into four pieces and place each piece in a corner of the hive on the top bars. Use between 65°F and 95°F (18°C to 35°C). Ineffective below 45°F (8°C).

NON-CHEMICAL / CULTURAL CONTROLS
Tools Guide pages 26-30

Name – Screen Bottom Board
Conditions for Use – Replace hive bottom; leave space below for trash (‘garbage pit’).

Name – Sanitation (bee biosecurity) comb management
Conditions for Use – Possible negative effect on bee population if five or more combs are moved at one time.

Name – Drone Brood Removal (Drone Trapping Varroa)
Conditions of Use – Only applicable during population increase and peak population when colonies are actively rearing drones.

Name – Brood Interruption
Conditions of Use – Need a queen or queen cell for each split or division created.

Name – Requeening (Ideally with varroa resistant stock)
Conditions of Use – Works best with proper queen introduction methods.

SYNTHETIC CHEMICALS
Tools Guide pages 16-18

Name – Apivar
Active Ingredient – Amitraz (formadine acaricide/insecticide)
Conditions for Use – Place one Apivar strip per five frames of bees. Place strips near cluster or if brood is present, in the center of the brood nest. Only use Apivar in brood boxes where honey for human consumption is NOT being produced.

Name – Apistan
Active Ingredient – Tau-fluvalinate (pyrethroid ester acaracide/insecticide)
Conditions for Use – Temperatures must be above 50°F (10°C). Do not use during nectar flow.

Name – Checkmite
Active Ingredient – Coumaphos (organothiophosphate acaracide/insecticide)
Conditions for Use – Wait two weeks after use before supering.

ACIDS
Tools Guide pages 21-25

Name – Mite-Away Quick Strips
Active Ingredient – Formic Acid (organic acid)
Conditions of Use – Full dose (two strips for seven days) or single strip (seven-day interval then single new strip for an additional seven days) per single or double brood chamber of standard Langstroth equipment.

Name – Formic Pro
Active Ingredient – Formic acid (organic acid)
Conditions of Use – Both treatment options can be applied per single or double brood chamber of standard Langstroth equipment or equivalent hive or equivalent hive with a cluster covering a minimum of six frames. There should be a strip touching each top bar containing brood. Use when outside day temperature is 50°F to 85°F (10°C to 29.5°C)

Name – 65% formic acid
Active Ingredient – Formic acid 65%
Conditions of Use – Use when outside temperatures are between 50°F to 86°F (10°C to 30°C) and leave hive entrances fully open

Name – Oxalic Acid / Api-Bioxal
Active Ingredient – Oxalic acid dihydrate (organic acid)
Conditions of Use – Mix 35 grams (approximately 2.3 tablespoons) of oxalic acid into one liter of 1:1 sugar syrup. With a syringe trickle five milliliters of this solution directly onto the bee in each occupied bee space in each brood box; Maximum 50ml per colony of oxalic acid in sugar syrup; fumigation of two grams per hive in Canada and one gram per hive box in the U.S.; follow label and vaporizer directions.

Name – HopGuard 3
Active Ingredient – Potassium salt (16%) of hops beta acids (organic acid)
Conditions of Use – Corrosive—use appropriate clothing and eye protection. Might stain clothing and gloves.

by Zhang Nannan, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Researchers from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of California San Diego have predicted that the presence of Asian honey bee hornets would harm Apis mellifera colonies more than Apis cerana colonies because of their different exposure to Vespa velutina over evolutionary time. The study was published in Entomologia Generalis.

Collective defense is constrained by co-evolution with the predator. In social insects, such as honey bees, collective defense of the nest is essential. However, the potential cascading effects of predator attack on social insects—directly reducing the number of colony members and, indirectly, stressing the colony to reduce its reproduction—are not well understood.

Asian honey bees (Apis species) have co-evolved with predatory Asian hornets (Vespa species) and have evolved several counter-strategies. A. mellifera colonies can respond to attacks by V. velutina hornets by creating a dense “bee carpet” consisting of large numbers of bees gathered at the nest entrance. However, this defense is not always effective.

In view of this, the researchers measured hornet attacks and honey bee colony fitness proxies (number of eggs, pupae, and workers) in apiaries with both bee species but with and without hornets, and quantified fitness effects across seasons in the presence and absence of hornets.

They found that hornet attacks significantly reduced colony fitness of A. mellifera, but not A. cerana. A. mellifera, unlike the native A. cerana, greatly reduced foraging, and experienced higher hornet predation on foragers when attacked by the native V. velutina auraria.

They observed that hornet attacks elicited more guarding and stop signals from A. mellifera than from A. cerana. Attacks resulted in reduced queen egg production, fewer pupae, and fewer workers, and colony mortality in A. mellifera. In contrast, hornet attacks did not result in declines in the same proxy measures of colony fitness for A. cerana.

“In addition to direct predation, predator-induced stress may contribute to A. mellifera colony decline. Our results suggest that a largely ineffective defense, such as bee carpet response in A. mellifera, can contribute to population collapse in a social group,” said Prof. Tan Ken of XTBG.

More information: Shihao Dong et al, Honey bee social collapse arising from hornet attacks, Entomologia Generalis (2023). DOI: 10.1127/entomologia/2023/1825

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Honey bee populations may collapse due to ineffective defenses (phys.org)

Links:

Brendon.Mott@usda.gov

Early reports suggest Vancouver Island bees will continue to have a high mortality rate, says provincial apiculturist Paul van Westendorp.

Don Lambert, vice-president of the Capital Regional Beekeepers Association, at his hives.

Don Lambert’s honey bees have made it through the past five winters.

While B.C. beekeepers have suffered devastating losses from disease, parasites and bad weather for more than a decade, a select group of beekeepers on Vancouver Island is doing just fine, said Lambert, the vice-president of the Capital Region Beekeepers Association.

And they want to keep it that way.

“There’s a huge group of people who believe Vancouver Island should have a quarantine,” said Lambert, who has been a beekeeper for 12 years. “We’re importing bees from all over the world. Local beekeepers are importing bees from Tasmania. Are we bringing in unknown viruses? Are we bringing in more critters that shouldn’t be here? There are a lot of questions about that sort of thing.”

A quarantine was imposed in 1988 to protect the bee population on Vancouver Island from other bees on the Canadian mainland. During the quarantine, Vancouver Island beekeepers were allowed to import bees only from foreign suppliers such as New Zealand and Chile. The quarantine was lifted in 2010 despite objections from many Island beekeepers.

Although Lambert and others have been successful getting their bees through the winter, he recognizes that a lot of people lose their hives and the big picture for bee health “is probably not great.”

“What we have got to look at and ask is why are our local bees not thriving,” he said.

Early reports suggest Vancouver Island bees will continue to have a high mortality rate, provincial apiculturist Paul van Westendorp said Wednesday, noting there is an inherent risk overwintering bees in Canada.

Every May, the Ministry of Agriculture surveys large beekeepers to find out how their colonies did over the winter.

The results of the 2022 survey showed beekeepers lost 32 per cent of their hives, similar to what was seen in 2021, said van Westendorp.

Still, B.C. did not fare as badly as other provinces last year. The losses across the country were even higher, he said.

In Ontario, for example, overwinter mortality was 49 per cent in 2021-22, up from 18 per cent the previous year, according to the province’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Across Canada, the estimated average loss was 46 per cent.

The 2023 survey has not been done and final figures for B.C. won’t be available until late June, but van Westendorp said some early reports suggest high mortality on the Saanich Peninsula and other parts of Vancouver Island.

In the past 20 years, the mortality of honeybee colonies has increased on a year-by-year basis largely because of diseases and pathogens. The most important one affecting is the varroa mite, which feeds on both adult honeybees and larvae and pupae in the developing brood.

“They feed on the body fat and the blood of adult bees. The pressure of parasitism is enough for the bees to start to suffer and the colony weakens,” van Westendorp said.

In addition, a lot of beekeepers do not effectively control the mites, which also transmit viruses that can kill the bees later in the season, said the apiculturist.

“It’s a complicated picture that has made beekeeping a highly complex form of animal husbandry,” he said.

The picture is further complicated by beekeepers importing bees from other parts of the world, he said.

Like Lambert, van Westendorp is concerned about bees being imported from other countries.

Maybe that varroa mite from New Zealand is carrying a virus not seen here. “That is the inherent risk associated with importing bees from elsewhere,” he said…..

To read the complete article go to; Island beekeepers stung by fear of imported bees – Victoria Times Colonist

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Island beekeepers stung by fear of imported bees – Victoria Times Colonist

26 april 2023 Fight varroa mites

Véto-pharma just obtained the EPA federal registration for Amiflex^®, a 7-day-flash treatment for varroa mites that has been specially designed for commercial operations.

After years of rigorous R&D, Véto-pharma has obtained  federal registration for a unique and innovative amitraz gel formulation that’s specially designed to address the needs of commercial beekeepers.

This 7-day-flash treatment is temperature independent and comes in a tailor-made package to reduce labor costs. Its distinctive versatility allows for use in between honey flows and eliminates the need for a withdrawal period while delivering  accurate and controlled dosages.

Amiflex^® possesses optimal efficacy and comes in a fast and convenient ‘ready-to-use’ formulation that’s safe for colonies and affordable for beekeepers.

Optimal efficacy

Amiflex is a 7-day treatment that can be used 1-4 times a year. The new gel formulation provides a faster release of amitraz than plastic strip applications, achieving 94% efficacy on the 3^rd day of application and 100% on the 7^th day in broodless colonies. Amiflex also ensures a quick knock-down of varroa mites in the presence of brood with one or two applications, according to the infestation rate.

Ready to use and guaranteed safety

Amiflex was designed to be non-labor intensive, decreasing preparation and application time, while guaranteeing a high level of safety for honeybees and minimizing the beekeeper’s exposure to the product.

© Véto-pharma

Availability

Amiflex has been approved by the EPA and will be available soon to beekeepers in accordance with local state registrations.

—

In the meantime, you can learn more about Amiflex by visiting the Véto-pharma website:
www.veto-pharma.com/products/amiflex

And read more content on our blog about ways to fight varroa:
www.blog-veto-pharma.com/us/fight-varroa-mites

EPA RULES ON OXALIC ACID AND GLYCERIN

Below is an overview of the EPA’s response to Vermont’s approval of the use of Oxalic Acid and Glycerin for the treatment of Varroa. To read the entire response, see the download link.

• The use described (Oxalic and Glycerin) does not fall within the scope of exemptions from the term “to use any registered pesticide in a manner inconsistent with its labeling”
• “It shall be unlawful for any person to use any registered pesticide in a manner inconsistent with its labeling” as stated in Section 12 (a)(2)(G) of FIFRA
• The existing label states the following: “Only apply Oxalic Acid Dihydrate as a solution when mixed with sugar water.”
• Therefore, the instructions on the bulletin to mix the pesticide with glycerin are outside the scope of FIFRA Section 2(ee)

Download PDF

• Verena Christen

Scientific Reports volume 13, Article number: 1985 (2023)

Abstract

Abundance of transcripts of buffy (black symbols), vitellogenin (blue symbols) and hbg-3 (red symbols) in the brain of unexposed nurse bees (n = 10) and foragers (n = 10) from the same hive. Significant differences between nurse bees and foragers with p-value of ≤ 0.05 are marked with *.

Honey bees are important pollinators of many crops and contribute to biological biodiversity. For years, a decline in bee populations has been observed in certain areas. This decline in honeybees is accompanied by a decrease in pollinator services. One factor contributing to the decline of bee colonies is the exposure to pesticides. Pesticide exposure of bees, among other effects, can negatively affect orientation, memory, immune system function and gene expression. Among the altered expressed genes are transcripts of endocrine regulation and oxidative phosphorylation. Endocrine regulation plays an important role in the development of nurse bees into foragers and oxidative phosphorylation is involved in energy metabolism. Most of these transcriptional changes were investigated using mixed aged honeybees derived from the same colony. Experiments using nurse bees or foragers of the same age but from different colonies are rare. In the present study, effects of the two pesticides chlorpyrifos and pyraclostrobin on the expression of transcripts linked to endocrine regulation and oxidative phosphorylation in foragers of the same age from three different colonies are investigated to fill this gap. These two pesticides were selected because negative effects at sublethal concentrations on bees are known and because they are found in pollen and nectar of crops and wild plants. For this purpose, 20–22 days old foragers of three different colonies were exposed to different sublethal concentrations of the selected fungicides for 24 h, followed by analysis of the expression of buffy, vitellogenin, hbg-3, ilp-1, mrjp1, 2 and 3, cox5a, cox5b and cox17. Some significant changes in gene expression of both endocrine regulation transcripts and oxidative phosphorylation were shown. Furthermore, it became clear that forager bees from different colonies react differently. This is especially important in relation to the risk analysis of pesticides. In addition, it could be shown that the expression of hbg-3 in the brain of bees is a robust marker to distinguish nurse bees from foragers at the molecular biological level. In summary, this study clearly shows that pesticides, which are often detected in pollen and nectar, display negative effects at sublethal concentrations on bees and that it is important to use bees from different colonies for risk assessment of pesticides.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Different effects of pesticides on transcripts of the endocrine regulation and energy metabolism in honeybee foragers from different colonies | Scientific Reports (nature.com)

Book Announcement

BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS

A present book “The Wax Moth: A Problem or a Solution?” is a reference book it would be helpful for students doing graduation, post-graduation, doctorate, bee-keepers and academicians.

Wax moth is nocturnal holometabolous insect with major developmental stages including eggs, larvae, pupae and adults. Specific insect possesses variable larval instars which can be from 5-9 depending upon environmental cues. Larval forms are voracious feeder which destroy bee combs while feeding on bee wax, pollen, honey and exuviate of honey bees.

Wax moth is considered as major pest of honey bees which invade weaker colonies and force honey bee colony to abandon the hive. It is considered as major challenge of apiculture because of limited controls. Generally, apiarists use various synthetic chemicals to regulate specific pests, eventually which resulted in contamination of synthetic residues, in apicultural products and reduce market value of products.

One fascinating feature of wax moth larvae is their capability to degrade plastic which make this pest as useful organism. As accumulation of plastic pollution resulted in degradation of environmental qualities which challenge terrestrial, aquatic and other habitats, thereby wax moth can provide solution of this problem by facilitating biodegradation of plastic with help of gut micro-organism or without gut micro-organisms. Considering specific characteristics, title of present book is “Wax Moth a Problem or Solution ?’ as it is considered as major challenge for bee keeping  but concomitantly it can play important role in reducing plastic pollution.

About the author:

Dr. Lovleen, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor, in the Department of Zoology, School of Bioengineering and Biosciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, 144411, India. She has completed her MS, Ph.D. in Cytogenetics, from Department of Zoology, Panjab University Chandigarh. She has worked on evaluation of pesticide genotoxicity using insect genome, specifically on different mosquito species and Drosophila melanogaster.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: The Wax Moth: A Problem or a Solution? | EurekAlert!

By Eurasia Review

Varroa destructor is an ectoparasitic mite that can cause European honey bee colonies to collapse by spreading Deformed wing virus as they feed. A study published in PLOS Pathogens by Zachary Lamas and colleagues at the USDA-ARS and the University of Maryland suggests a relatively small number of mites can contribute to a large number of infected bees.

Arthropod disease vectors transmit pathogens while feeding on susceptible hosts. However, little is known about how the feeding dynamics of Varroa spread viruses in adult honey bees. In order to better understand Varroa mite parasitism on honey bees, researchers conducted a series of experiments. First, they used fluorescent microspheres to test if Varroa were feeding on adult bees each time they entered a known feeding position. They next determined whether microspheres could be transferred from a Varroa to an adult bee via Varroa feeding by allowing Varroa to feed on bee pupae which had been injected with fluorescent microspheres. In the third experiment, researchers observed mites switching from adult bee host to host. The researchers then observed how a single mite could spread pathogens by feeding on multiple bees and calculated the relative risk of Varroa parasitism on adult workers.

Mites with high virus levels and which switched the most frequently contributed to the highest mortality in adult honey bees. Varroa are promiscuous feeders and switch hosts at a high rate. Mites switching hosts at the highest frequency were responsible for nearly three times as many parasitized hosts as their lower switching counterparts. Future studies are needed to better understand the mechanisms driving mites to switch hosts.

According to the authors, “Our work shows that viral spread is driven by Varroa actively switching from one adult bee to another as they feed. Relatively few of the most active Varroa parasitize the majority of bees. The ability to parasitize and infect multiple adult bees provides the best explanation to date for the maintenance and subsequent host-to-host spread of viruses among the long-lived worker bees common in these crowded and vulnerable colony populations”.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: https://www.eurasiareview.com/20012023-parasitic-mites-biting-rate-may-drive-transmission-of-deformed-wing-virus-in-honey-bees/

By Louise Franco

A honeybee vaccine, meant to protect honeybees against the deadly hive bacteria, has been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The fatal honeybee infection is known as the foulbrood disease, which is known for killing honeybees and decimating honeybee colonies.

The USDA approval of the world’s first honeybee vaccine will allow its full distribution and usage.

Prior to the approval, the honeybee disease has reportedly weakened and destroyed bee nests, which significantly affected the insect’s population in some areas.

Being renowned agents of pollination, honeybees are crucial for the survival of most of the world’s flowering plants through the dissemination of their pollen that could enable the production of seeds.

During a press release earlier this week, biotech firm Dalan Animal Health, a company that pioneers in insect health, stated that the USDA “granted a conditional license” for vaccinating honeybees against the American Foulbrood disease (AFB) caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae, as cited by Business Wire, an American media company.

With regard to the latest developments, it is an exciting step for beekeepers as they have relied on antibiotic treatment with limited effectiveness for too long, requiring large amount of time and energy to apply to bee hives, according to Trevor Tauzer, who owns Tauzer Apiaries and a board member of the California State Beekeepers Association.

Furthermore, honeybees are important component of agriculture, accounting to a relatively large portion of the global food supply that relies on pollination.

In addition, healthy commercial hives are necessary to secure high crop yields.

However, honeybees are plagued by AFB with reported clinical cases in the US and Canada, as cited by the media company.

Vaccine Usage

Created by Dalan Animal Health, the vaccine is considered to be a breakthrough when it comes to protecting honeybees, and a precedent to changing how we care for insects that impacts food production on a global scale, according to Annette Kleiser, the company’s chief executive, as cited by The Guardian.

As of latest updates, the vaccine will be used by the US government and will be initially available for commercial beekeepers in an attempt to curb cases of foulbrood disease.

Despite the vaccine development, there is still no cure against AFB. A number of cases in the past have ended up in using the said conventional antibiotics or killing the infected honeybees.

What is the Foulbrood Disease?

As further explanation about AFB, the Pennsylvania State University in November 2022 states that the American foulbrood is a bacterial brood disease that only targets honey bee larvae, leading to the death of colony in only three weeks.

The honeybee infection is most commonly transmitted via spores of the bacteria, which can be dormant inside colonies or used equipment for at least 70 years.

The disease received its name since it emits a “foul” odor when the bacteria kills a honey bee larvae after receiving the spore-contaminated food from nurse bees when it is being fed, the Penn State explained.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: US Approves World’s First Honeybee Vaccine Against the Deadly Hive Bacteria | Nature World News