Photo credit: Tina Sebestyen

By: Tina Sebestyen

In my May article, Control Swarming Without Splitting, I mentioned the benefits of re-queening colonies in July. To quickly re-cap, colonies that receive a ripe queen cell or mated queen in mid-July enter Winter with a cluster that has 3,000 more fat Winter bees, and similarly lower numbers of Summer bees that can’t really help heat the cluster or feed larvae. Also, colonies that get a new queen in July have queens that are less likely to swarm the next Spring, while also building Spring populations faster than their older counterparts.

There are also negative things that happen that cause queens to fail faster, or to be less able to build colony populations well. And these negative things are what we are purposely doing to our colonies… repeatedly administering organic acids (or inorganic ones). Because we normal beekeepers don’t see the damage caused by miticides like oxalic acid, thymol and formic acid, we treat our bees, sometimes multiple times per year with these agents of destruction. All of these acids cause damage to bees. Worker bees die after 38 days in Summer anyway, but what about our queens that are supposed to last multiple years? They get hit time after time. These acids cause thinning of the cuticle of the honey bee, shortened lifespans, damage the egg-laying capability of the queen or the sperm stored inside her and damage the sperm of the developing drones.1 Not that we shouldn’t be keeping mite numbers low, but there are other ways to do it besides with repeated acid treatments (we’ll discuss this at greater length in the next article).

Today, we’ll discuss methods of introducing a new queen that are more reliable than just placing a queen cell with a candy plug and hoping for the best. A queen cage with a candy plug might be alright, if conditions are perfect. What are perfect conditions for queen acceptance? The queen is recently missing, like you removed her five hours ago, or maybe yesterday. There are no queen cells growing in the hive anywhere. There is open and capped brood in abundance. There is a nectar flow going on. The bees are not of an aggressive nature. Unless all of those conditions are perfect, allowing the bees to remove the candy and release the queen comes with risks.

The number one thing a colony of bees needs to be ready to accept a new queen is brood in the hive. It is the combination of brood pheromone and queen mandibular pheromone that makes a colony happy. If one is missing, no one is happy. This is why you need more than one colony, so that if you lose your queen, and discover it after the brood has emerged (which will usually be the case), you have a hive to donate brood from. It is almost impossible to get a colony of bees to accept a new queen without brood pheromone, no matter how long you take in releasing the queen. Buy a sheet of brood from someone if you have to!

Placing a queen in a hive inside a cage doesn’t actually provide much Queen Mandibular Pheromone, since it is passed by touch throughout the hive, and they can’t really touch her very well through the cage. And, thinking like a bee… if there is no brood pheromone, whose fault is it? Answer: it is the queen’s fault. The bees don’t make the connection that it was the old queen’s fault, and not this one. They just know… poor QMP and no brood pheromone, we ain’t happy. If there are still eggs in the hive, the bees will usually start emergency queen cells, even though there is a caged queen, since they aren’t getting a good dose of QMP from that young queen whose pheromones haven’t developed too well yet, and that they can’t really touch. It is important to be aware of the likelihood of queen cells in the hive, since the bees would always prefer to raise their own queen (even if it wasn’t their own egg) than to accept your store-bought queen. Even if the sheet of brood you gave them had only older larvae on it, they may have started with a too-old one rather than wait to see if other things are going to work out. So, before you release that queen from the cage, shake the bees off of every frame in the hive, even honey frames, so you can be sure to inspect every square inch of every frame and kill every one of the emergency cells they started.

Letting her out of the cage sooner, so that they can touch her is not the answer, either, since they still know that she isn’t theirs. They will ball and kill her (they usually heat her up so much that she cooks, rather than stinging her). They must be ready to accept her before you let her out of the cage. There should be brood in the hive, and there must not be any queen cells anywhere.

Mother and daughter queens are together on this frame, which is unusual. I normally find mine at opposite ends of the brood chamber. Photo credit: Beth Conrey

It might seem like it would go without saying that there also cannot be a queen in the hive. You need to be sure. About 10% of the time, there is not just one queen, but rather, there are two, a mother and daughter working together. So, even if you just killed or captured and removed a queen, keep looking, there might be a second one. Hone your skills of finding the queen (also described in the May article). And, there could be a virgin running around in the hive. Virgins are skinny and fast, and hard to find, even for seasoned queen-spotters. Ask yourself some questions: has it been two weeks since I was in the colony? Is there no open brood, but just a little capped brood left? Is there even a remnant of a queen cell in the center of a frame? (The bees often break down an emerged queen cell within 24 hours). Those clues all add up to the possibility that there is a virgin in there. How can you know for sure that there is no virgin in the hive? Answer: ask the bees. Place a frame of eggs or newly hatched larvae in the hive from another colony (again, see why you need at least two?) If there is a virgin, they won’t start queen cells, if there isn’t one, they usually will.

Now that you have removed the old queen, and searched for a potential second one, or you have asked the bees if there is a virgin in the hive, and there is brood pheromone, you are ready to begin introducing a new queen. Step one is to remove the attendants from the queen cage. I know

… the books say that you can leave them, but I learned beekeeping from wise old guys who knew that the bees in that cage aren’t always nurse bees. Sometimes, they are just five random bees, some of whom might be foragers, and who the house bees in your hive will really want to kill, placing your queen in jeopardy as well.

Here are some tricks to help you get the attendants out without losing your queen. If you are lucky enough to have all of your bees in your own backyard, the bathroom is the perfect place to do this, especially if your bathroom doesn’t have any windows in it. If it is completely dark, take your queen cage and a red headlamp in the bathroom, put the plug in the sink, pull back the screen on the face of the cage and dump all of the bees out into the sink. Bees can’t see red, so they won’t fly, they will just walk around in the sink, so you can pick your queen up (without touching her abdomen!), put her back in the cage, push the screen back in place while you can see that you are not crushing the queen anywhere, and snicker about how your family will appreciate the rest of the bees that are now loose in the bathroom.

When searching for a queen to remove her, first look at the pattern of bees on the tops of the frames. She will be in the center, under this five inch circle of concentrated bees.

I usually wait until I am in my apiary (an hour from home) so I can be sure that I still need to introduce the queen. By the time one shows up by FedEx, something might have changed, and a queen in a cage without attendants won’t live long at all, so I don’t remove them while I am still at home. Sit down with your veil in your lap, and hands and queen cage inside the veil. When bees are lost, they go up and to the light, so if she gets away from you, the queen will just end up walking around on the inside of the veil, so you can catch her and put her in the cage all alone. Don’t forget to let the other bees out of the veil before you put it on!

Both of these techniques require you to be able to handle the queen without damaging her. Practice on drones until you are confident in your ability to grab them by their thoraxes (fuzzy front shoulders) without touching their abdomens. If you aim directly for those shoulders, you will often miss and get the abdomen, since the bee isn’t stationary, but has forward momentum. Timing is everything. In hunting they call it leading… aim a little ahead of where you see the target, and by the time your fingers close, the shoulders, and not the abdomen, are what are between your thumb and forefinger. I use my non-dominant hand, and don’t think I could catch a queen with my dominant hand, but you might be different. Try learning with your non-dominant hand (so you can use a marking pen in your dominant hand), and if you can’t learn to do it, use your dominant hand. Practice, practice, practice, on drones, and then on workers who can “reward” you if you grab the abdomen.

Now, there is no other queen, virgin or queen cell in the hive. There is brood, and there is a queen alone in a cage. You are ready for the next step. Leave the cork over the candy, and place the queen cage near the top of a frame that has brood on it, preferably in the bottom box. Near the top, because if it gets cold and the cluster contracts, we want the queen to be in the center of that cluster. On brood, because that is where queens should be, where QMP and brood pheromone go together, and where the cluster will be keeping it warm. I like to use a large rubber band to secure the queen to the frame. This way, I don’t have to worry about something turning or twisting as I push the frames together, and I know for sure that the bees can access the screen to feed the queen. Someone will always feed the queen, even if they are aggressive towards her (and they will be, at first).

Feeding sugar water helps the bees be happier while they are getting used to their new girl. Leave the queen in the cage for three or four days, then check to see if the bees are ready to accept her. There will be a ball of bees around the cage. If it is a single layer of bees, that is a good sign, whereas a huge ball of bees is a sign that they are still not ready. Run your finger down the face of the screen, and the bees should move easily out of your way. If any of the bees are even a little difficult to move, it is because they are biting the cage. Even one bee biting the screen spells trouble. If they all move easily, they are just there feeding the queen. The safest thing to do is to now let the bees have access to the candy. This will be a little extra insurance, since it will usually take the bees 1½ to two days to release her.

Be sure to check one more time for queen cells. Check every frame. I’ve seen queen cells on the outside honey frame. Shake the bees off or blow them around enough to really see that there really are no little queen cells in the center of a frame all covered in bees.

If you really must release the queen as soon as you are sure they are not being aggressive towards her, then be sure to remove enough frames to reach down into the hive and let her walk out onto a frame near the bottom. Queens that have not been laying are quite capable of flying. If you release her on top of the frames, she quite often will fly away. It is possible to catch a flying queen in your bare hand, just be careful not to crush her. If you miss catching her, leave the hive open and just stand back and watch. She will sometimes come back, and the scent of bees will bring her home. I once had a queen pass by the open colony twice, picking up a bigger comet of trailing bees each time she passed, before she finally landed and walked down between the frames. Even if you don’t see her come back , give it a couple of days before you check to see if she indeed returned and is laying eggs.

The reason we are going to all of this trouble to introduce the queen is that the bees can usually get through the candy in a day-and-a-half, while it will usually take three to four days before they are not aggressive towards her if she is alone in the cage, and sometimes many more days if there are attendant bees in the cage.2 When we discover that our colony is queenless, we want to hurry up and make it right. But, rushing so much that the new queen gets killed is not making it right, and is certainly not faster. Take the time needed to do it right!

Tina can be reached at bee.seeking@gmail.com, or a list of available talks can be found on her web site https://beequest.buzz/index.html

Tihelka, Erik. “Effects of synthetic and organic acaricides on honey bee health: a review.” Slovenian Veterinary Research 55.3 (2018): 114-40. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Erik-Tihelka/publication/328200942_Effects_of_synthetic_and_organic_acaricides_on_honey_bee_health_A_review/links/5bc24d02a6fdcc2c91fb762d/Effects-of-synthetic-and-organic-acaricides-on-honey-bee-health-A-review.pdf
Mangum, Wyatt. Queen Introduction, Part 4, The Effects of Attendants, American Bee Journal, Volume 160, No. 9, Sept. 2020, pg. 957

Dr. Tracy Farone

Technical Updates
By: Dr. Tracy Farone

It is mid-May here in the foothills of Pennsylvania. The locust trees are in full bloom. It looks like it will be a good year for them. “Good for the bees,” says the beekeeper voice in my head. The white-tailed deer have changed color into that beautiful reddish brown that pops out within the fresh, green backdrop of the woods. As my “barn” cat (but not really a barn cat), Sylvester, snoozes, stretched out at my feet, I just watched a doe trot away from a salt block 20 yards from my deck. I am a couple of days out from the end of the semester, time to take a breath…The last thing I want to think about is meetings, committees and the possible political acrobatics that go along with them.

I must admit I usually really hate meetings… “analysis paralysis,” pre-determined “communication,” hours of my life I will never get back, things “old” people do, and such. I have always thought it ironically funny that “committee” is the term for a gathering of vultures. But I am also appreciating the importance of voicing and hearing different perspectives on issues and how it’s extremely important in today’s world. And those that step up and serve on organizational committees are giving up their valuable time to contribute to important and ever on-going work.

As promised, I would like to give you an update and summary on a few exciting collaborations that have recently taken place and hopefully bring about positive relationships and outcomes between the beekeeping industry and veterinarians. The American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) Animal Agriculture Liaison Committee (AALC) Meeting was held at AVMA Headquarters in Schaumburg, IL May 3-4, 2023. I had the opportunity to be a “fly on the wall” at times as an alternate delegate via ZOOM for some of the meeting. The Honey Bee Health Coalition’s (HBHC) Annual Meeting in Sacramento, CA was held at the same time. Both meetings hosted veterinarians representing honey bee medicine for the FIRST time. All representatives were veterinarians also serving on the Honey Bee Veterinary Consortium (HBVC) board.

The American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) Animal Agriculture Liaison Committee (AALC) Meeting Summary:
I have been an alternate delegate representing honey bees on this committee for four to five months now. I am still trying to figure out the ropes, doing mostly listening (a benefit to being the alternate). I can say the committee is continually active with legislative consulting and policy considerations coming to my email box every other day. I can also say that the committee is absolutely enthralled to learn more about honey bees. As an alternate, I did not attend the meeting in person, but Dr. Terri Kane was there, near Chicago, representing. I jumped into the meeting via ZOOM when I could. Some other perspectives include those that represent veterinarians and producers in the areas of veterinary pharmacology, bovine, fish, aquatics, swine, small ruminants, sheep, public health, cattle, chickens, turkeys and the reproduction of animals, as well as government entities like the FDA and USDA.

Discussions include topics like, the Farm Bill; various drug regulation bills; protective measures for maintaining a safe food supply; humane guidelines in animal handling; policies for identifying, preventing, and controlling several current disease threats; and reports on current issues affecting each industry represented and any on-going actions in place. Our honey bee report included information on the progress made within the HBVC and multiple Colleges of Veterinary Medicine to increase honey bee related education of veterinarians and veterinary students to better serve the industry through grant projects, additional curriculum and certification programs for practicing veterinarians. I wish I could get into more detail, but I am bound by a non-disclosure agreement and a secret handshake (just kidding about the handshake). Maybe I will work on the handshake when I attend a meeting in the flesh.

The Honey Bee Health Coalition’s (HBHC) Annual Meeting Summary:
The stated purpose of the HBHC annual meeting is to “advance dialogue and action across workstreams in the priority areas of forage and nutrition, hive management and crop pest control.” Focuses included almond production, bee protection, The Bee Integrated Demonstration Project and building relationships within members. Drs. Kristol Stenstrom and Britteny Kyle represented veterinarians and the HBVC, a new member of the HBHC, again for the first time. Various reports were shared on the status of honey bees, pollinators and the industry from both the agricultural and conservational perspectives. Best practices and projects involving disease management, habitat management and pesticide use were working topics of discussion.

Next on the List: Euthanasia and Depopulation Procedures in Honey Bees.
The AVMA is extremely interested in learning more about recommendations and guidelines for euthanizing honey bee colonies in various situations, in the safest and most humane manner. Various situations include smaller verses larger operations, stationary hives, migratory hives, emergency de-population procedures, euthanasia for public safety reasons and euthanasia for disease mitigation reasons. AVMA recommendations and guidelines exist for nearly every type of animal that veterinarians work with, except honey bees. I have been asked to be part of a special sub-committee to consider, write up and present recommendations and guidelines to the AVMA. As we begin this work, I am open to reader’s suggestions on the topic. Oh boy… another committee, here we go!

John was a 1950 graduate of Medina Senior High School, after which he attended Ohio Wesleyan University, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. Upon graduation, John moved to Texas where he served his country as a pilot in the United States Air Force, achieving the rank of Captain. In 1957, he completed his military service and moved back to Medina, Ohio with his young family. He became the fourth generation of the family business, The A.I. Root Company. John spent the last twenty years of his career at the Root Company serving as President & Chairman of the Board, officially retiring in 2008.

John was a true servant to his community. Most notably he cherished his time serving on the Medina City Council (1962-1976), the Medina General Hospital Board of Directors (1971-2008), the Board of Directors for Ohio Farmer’s Insurance & Westfield Group (1986-2004), the National Candle Association Board of Directors (1989-2010), and the Medina Municipal Airport Advisory Commission (1989-2004).

During his time at the The A.I. Root Company, John was the Executive Publisher of Bee Culture Magazine. He was President of the Honey Industry Council of America from 1962-1963 and 1976-1977, President of the Ohio Agricultural Council from 1973-1974, President and Chairman of the Board for the Eastern Apicultural Society of North America, Inc. in 1978 and Chairman of the Board from 1983-1984, as well as Key Advisory Commission of the Agricultural Technical Institute for nine years (1984-1993). There are numerous other organizations that John has served in over the years.

Early in his life, John garnered a deep love for aviation. This passion persisted through his entire life as a private pilot. During his “free time” John could be found at Medina Municipal Airport piloting his airplanes. A loving and kind man, John will be deeply missed by his family and friends.

John is survived by his beloved wife of 30 years, Elisabeth (Grotte) Root; children, Alan (Esther Morera) Root, Nanette (Harold) Waite, Brad (Kathryn) Root; grandchildren Meredith (David) Gilpin, Christopher (Ashley) Waite, Crystal (Jeremy) Doyle, Alex (Abby Araujo) Root, Kyle (Morgan Moritz) Root, Andrew Root, Emilie Root; great-grandchildren, Claire, Abigail, Evan, Samuel, Hank, Josiah, Owen, Oliver, Elijah, Amelia; siblings, Elizabeth Judkins, Stuart (Diana) Root. He was preceded in death by his parents, Alan and Emilie Root.

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The Stark Reality of Being a Long-Term Beekeeper

By: James E. Tew

Overall, beekeeping is enjoyable – but it’s not always easy
Readers, in several previous articles, I have danced to this tune with you. Yet, for personal reasons, I feel a need to try again. Though many of us feel it, it’s not easy to explain what we feel about our bee efforts. I am an entomologist and I do not have a deep background in human psychological issues. Clearly, I should stick with what I know, but sometimes I just need to write about what I feel. Even so, I struggle to word it for you. My core thought is – Though beekeeping is generally rewarding (After consideration, I have opted to use the word “rewarding” rather than the word “enjoyable.” Cleaning dead-outs is not enjoyable, but as I prepare the fouled equipment for future use, I feel rewarded.), it’s not always easy.

I’ve done this bee thing for a long time
Having a long history in keeping bees is a helpful attribute for any beekeeper. You remember “when” and you acquire a lot of personal bee-related stories. You learn a lot.

Through the years, I have learned that my bee interests will cool a bit during Winter months. So, I adapt to that reality. During those cold, quiet periods, I read about bees, or I write perfunctory articles about understanding more about our craft. I assemble or repair equipment. I plan for the next season. I just try to stay busy in my craft during this down time. While it is a useful time, this quiet period cannot be called true beekeeping. Rather, those times are “preparing for actual beekeeping.” Try as I might, my bee interest drops to a lower ebb during these slack periods. How could it not?

From experience acquired during many previous quiet Winters, I know this bee-related seasonal feeling is coming. I expect it. It’s a normal part of my beekeeping psyche. I also know that when Spring comes around, I will – just like my bees – once again awaken and heat back to a higher level of beekeeping interest. In my earlier years, I don’t recall a mentor telling me that my bee interest would naturally rise and fall – usually based on the passing of annual seasons.

Building a fire
Successful beekeeping is much like building a glowing bonfire. Fuel must be accumulated. Dates are set. A location is selected. All is made ready. The fire is ignited, it starts slowly and, as more fuel is added, it steadily grows until it reaches its capacity. Then, invariably, it begins to ebb. Without more fuel and tending, it will die out and extinguish. Interest in beekeeping is much like building a fire. It waxes and wanes. Unfortunately, for some of us, the fire goes out. The good news is that the fire can be rebuilt.

In the May 2023 issue of this magazine, I broached some of the feelings that I have about beeyards that I have now vacated. That was one of my most recent efforts to write about beekeeping feelings.

Figure 1. Part of my beeyard in better times.

In that piece, I described the upcoming fate of my oldest yard – my home yard – and how I will need to adapt to having new, near neighbors and a new street abutting my beeyard. I covered my feelings about that issue in my writings for that month. All things change, don’t they?

Then came the wind storm
In early April 2023, a significant wind storm, lasting three days, blew through my area. Trees and apiary damage was all about me. My bee equipment was scattered helter-skelter. On two consecutive stormy days, I had a fifty-five-year-old Colorado Spruce come down. These trees abounded my apiary.

Figure 2. It is not easy working these hives.

On one hand, I can’t complain too much. One tree fell away from my beeyard while the other precisely fell in the only place it could to cause the least damage. I still had three colonies that were crushed. The high wind apparently blew the bees away. There were only a few remaining bees in those obliterated colonies. They did not survive. However, the damage could have been worse. On one hand, that’s the good news. On the other hand, I now have a huge tree down in the middle of my home yard and I have bee equipment either destroyed or scattered throughout my yard. (You must know that I will not be giving any tours of my beeyard any time soon.)

What a mess
I confess that I feel overwhelmed at the prospect of clearing this chaos. I suppose I will select equipment that is still usable, or can be made usable, and form a burn pile for the remainder. But it gets even better. In the middle of all this confusion, I must move the living colonies from the area. Here’s why.

The tree removal people

Figure 3. Part of my beeyard challenge.

I had tree removal people come to view the situation. Being professional arborists, I had hoped they would be reasonably comfortable around flying, confused bees. That did not happen! As the tree company representative reviewed the scene – and the bees – from the blue, he asked, “If the bees are a problem, do you mind if we spray them?” Readers, I was truly astounded. I think that I probably gasped. Again, I must write that I was stunned. Within that scenario, I would have even more dead bees and a new category of mess. Now I would also have pesticide contaminated equipment to deal with. After a few seconds, I was able to form sentences and was able to tell this uninformed guy that, “No, I will move these hives to a distant location so his workers could go about their business of tree removal.”

Much like the old late night TV commercials, I now tell you, “But wait, there’s more!” Probably sensing that he had just mightily offended me, he tried to rebound by showing feigned interest in bees. He asked, “There’s a queen in that box and the bees surround her – right?” I felt as though I was having some kind of medical exam. I just wanted this whole encounter to be over. I responded that he was somewhat correct but having NO interest in trying to teach beekeeping, I immediately returned the problem of the downed trees. He gave me a fair price and left to attend to my neighbor’s downed trees.

This was all a new and unfamiliar reality, being a long-term beekeeper. I have never had my apiary so discombobulated. Then in addition, having people so unfamiliar with bees be so intimately associated with my colonies and with my stressed psyche was a new learning experience for this old beekeeper.

I’m still learning
As I have worked to clean and reorganize my apiary site, I have clearly learned that having a large coniferous tree in the very middle of your apiary is not a positive beeyard feature. As a younger man, I would have fired up my chain saw and removed some of the barrier to my bees. I’m not a young man and I am paying a professional company to clear the mess. Let them earn their money has been my feeling. So, I have been trying to work around the big tree as I gather equipment and rearrange bee hives.

I wear high-quality ventilated bee suits. As if to make bad things worse, the needles on the dead tree grab my bee suit and puncture me. At first it was surprising, then it was frustrating, but the stabbing and sticking progressed to being outright annoying. I can hardly move in my apiary without my suit being grabbed by prickly needles that are strong and determined.

But wait, there’s even more!
You recall that I have other issues beyond the downed trees. Remember that I will be having new neighbors located near my beeyard. With this reality in mind, last Spring, I had what I originally thought was a genius idea. I will allow Multiflora Rose, an invasive plant, grow to form an impenetrable barrier between me and my new neighbors. After all, that was the original intent of introducing this obnoxious plant into this country. It was to be a hedgerow plant. Unfortunately, the plant went derelict and is now nearly uncontrollable.

Figure 4. Multiflora Rose in full bloom. Photo credit: Leslie J. Mehroff, University of Connecticut

Multiflora Rose and ventilated bee suits
Being otherwise cut back, this mega-prickly plant now grows at the edges of my beeyard, but in the storm, confusion and destruction, the unwelcome plant has also been upset. Its tentacles reach here and there and, in some cases, snakes through the branches of the downed tree. As bad as it is to have pine needles grabbing my bee suit, Multiflora Rose is profoundly worse.

It is as though the plant is alive. In snake-like fashion, it grabs my suit and dearly holds onto me. I literally rip it off only to have it whip back and grab me again. On two occasions, I had to remove my suit to get the vine detached from my suit. I must wear bee gloves to deal with the thorny plant, not for protection from bees. I can only candidly write that this is not an enjoyable episode in my beekeeping journey.

The stark reality of being a long-term beekeeper
This month, I will be seventy-five years old and I will have been keeping bees for fifty consecutive years. Yet, I am essentially starting over again in my home yard. I’m either impressively dedicated or a very slow learner.

As traumatizing as it has been for me, I have begun to accept the reality that my most personal beeyard was going to change anyway. I was preparing to deal with that reality. Now, part of my tree barrier has vanished. Even more changes are coming.

While trying to make lemonade from lemons within this fallen tree situation, I admit that, in a bizarre way, the trees coming down will assist in additional future fencing that I would be needing anyway. I have already been forced to relocate the remaining colonies to another temporary location. I was going to need to do that task later this Summer anyway.

For the first time in more than forty-five years, I will (temporarily) not have any hives at this location. The yard will essentially be wide open. No trees, no bees and heavy construction nearby. I have a rare window to completely restructure my core yard into a “new and improved” location. I plan to electrify my little bee storage barn and install cameras for security and observational purposes. So, is this a disaster or an opportunity?

Yet another reality of beekeeping
Several of my local beekeeping friends have offered to help, but so far, I have politely declined their offer. Why? Because of “feelings.” These are my bees and they are my responsibility. If I can’t do the job, then I shouldn’t take on the job. For reasons beyond my comprehension, I’m on a lifelong apicultural journey and it’s my thing. I should not seek help from others for the occasional distasteful aspects of my journey in order for me to be able to enjoy the positive aspects of my journey. No doubt, I will get back to you if any of this situation changes in even more unexpected ways.

My lifelong good friend once said…
I once had a lifelong professional friend tell me that I only wrote “disaster” articles. It was a passing comment that he made in jest that I have never forgotten. In fact, I do write about stressful beekeeping events because, to me, those are the events, the episodes, that make me grow in my chosen craft. These trying episodes give me unwanted depth and forced understanding. Also, my trying experiences make me compassionate when other beekeepers tell me of their issues and concerns. Therefore, in this article, I choose to use the word, reality rather than disaster.

I will clean this situation up and I will reestablish colonies in my home yard. It will take a lot of work that is not particularly enjoyable and it will require me to take a lot of naps. It’s beekeeping. Overall, I enjoy parts of it immensely.

Dr. James E. Tew
Emeritus Faculty, Entomology
The Ohio State University
tewbee2@gmail.com

Co-Host, Honey Bee
Obscura Podcast
www.honeybeeobscura.com

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Found in Translation

City Bee, Country Bee
By: Jay Evans, USDA Beltsville Bee Lab

In Aesop’s fable, City (Town) Mouse, Country Mouse, a city mouse regales her skeptical country cousin with a rosy view of high density living. Sampling both, the country mouse prefers to stay put, largely because “the country mouse lives in a cozy nest at the bottom of a tree. Her home is small, but it is warm and comfortable.” Plus… no cats!

Beekeepers and bee scientists like to contrast the lives of bees under our care in apiaries (dense cities of colonies) versus those out on their own in trees. Aside from giving general insights into bee biology, these comparisons can predict the risks of managed and feral bees sharing disease while also showing how well ‘city’ and ‘country’ bees deal with various stresses. We have great data for the numbers of managed colonies, but how many country bees are we talking about?

I have discussed before the achingly beautiful (and hard) work by Tom Seeley and students assessing feral bees in a U.S. forest. Borrowing from those and similar studies, we can get a rough estimate of how many country bees there are in hollow trees and other cavities. My Sunday afternoon and small brain can’t grapple with honey bee density in deserts and the vast tundra, but considering four adjoining states (New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia) with decent land-use data from the USDA (https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/major-land-uses/maps-and-state-rankings-of-major-land-uses/), we can estimate ‘suitable’ acreage (fallow fields, pasture and forests) at around 58 million acres total (60% of the available land). Using consensus estimates of 2.5 colonies/square-mile (one colony/square kilometer, 0.004 colonies/acre), one arrives at 233,000 feral honey bee colonies in these four states. According to USDA (https://www.nass.usda.gov/Surveys/Guide_to_NASS_Surveys/Bee_and_Honey/) ,there were 67,500 managed colonies in these states on January 1, 2021, surveying beekeepers with five or more hives. Even doubling this number to account for backyard beekeepers and those who evade surveillance, there are still fewer managed than feral colonies in these regions.

So, free-living bees are likely to be important for their own sake, and for the environment. What’s it like out there? Taking a disease angle, several studies have compared the relative disease loads of managed and feral colonies in the U.S. Amy Geffre and colleagues from San Diego sampled boxed and free-living colonies (three colonies each) seven times over the course of a year to measure virus levels for three common bee viruses (Preliminary analysis shows that feral and managed honey bees in Southern California have similar levels of viral pathogens. 2023. Journal of Apicultural Research, 62:3, 485-487, DOI:10.1080/00218839.2021.2001209). Both colony types were remarkably similar in virus levels, changing with the season but hardly differing from each other.

In Persistent effects of management history on honey bee colony virus abundances (2021. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 179:107520, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2020.107520), Lewis Bartlett and colleagues found similar patterns between free-living and managed colonies but noted that the style of management might play a role. Namely, colonies maintained in a larger commercial apiary (hundreds of colonies) tended to have the highest levels of most viruses, with feral and low-intensity ‘backyard’ colonies being about the same. As in most field studies, there is abundant variation for viral disease within each category, so these results will need even more sampling to see how viruses and bees fare under different management styles. Nevertheless, they suggest that beekeepers adopting a ‘country bee’ approach by spacing out colonies to reduce urban interactions will be doing their bees a favor.

In the most ambitious study to date, Chauncy Hinshaw and colleagues surveyed 25 colonies each from feral and managed colonies in Pennsylvania (2021. The role of pathogen dynamics and immune gene expression in the survival of feral honey bees. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 8, 594263. https://doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2021.2001209). They surveyed ample bee numbers per collection (75 worker bees), perhaps getting a better sense of average disease loads. Even better, they paired similar city and country colonies from a bunch of regions, which helps account for other factors that might change virus loads. In this study, managed colonies tended to have lower levels of mite-transmitted deformed wing virus, presumably reflecting mite treatments, and roughly similar levels of black queen cell virus and nosema. Perhaps reflecting pathogen exposure, feral colonies had higher levels of several immune response proteins as well. Given the higher number of sampled colonies, these researchers were also able to show how their measurements related to colony fates. As in prior studies, deformed wing virus, presumably alongside mite loads, was a good predictor of a bad colony outcome.

Colonies showing higher levels of two immune genes, once other factors were evened out, were more likely to survive the study period. Arguably, these proteins might be good predictors of genetic components that help bees survive in the face of disease.

More can be done to contrast the lives and successes of city and country bees. These comparisons can help improve bee management by those of us keeping bees in clusters of Langstroth high-rises. It is also fun to think of bees in the ancestral habits they have followed for thousands of years. Country bees almost certainly have more threats now than they did when humans were more scarce, and there has to be some level of contact between city bees and country bees that muddies all of these comparisons, but in many ways the presence of country bees at all is comforting. Left to their own care, they are making country homes work wherever they can, and that is a good lesson for beekeepers.

In full disclosure, the lives of country bees were not on my mind until a recent inquiry from British bee researcher Francis Ratnieks and his graduate student Ollie Visick. In their Laboratory for Apiculture and Social Insects (https://www.sussex.ac.uk/lasi/), they are comparing the lives of free-living honey bees in their native range to their hived cousins. As ecologists, their studies will give insights into how honey bees used to live in the forests and fields of England. I thank them for the prompt (and welcome hot tips from any of you) and look forward to reading their results!

We all know that one of the greater challenges in beekeeping is shepherding bees through our variable northern Winters. But what other weather factors should we consider when we are planning our beehive inspections, splits, mite control or feeding regimens?

In my experiences with beekeeping, I have come to rely on signals from nature and the variable weather patterns in my own surrounding environment rather than reliance on specific calendar dates that follow the same schedule year after year. So in this article, I will relate some of the clues and weather events that signal the appropriate time to take certain actions that have resulted in my success in getting at least one hive through every Winter for the past thirteen years. My greatest result occurred several years ago with nine hives going into Winter and those nine hives successfully surviving through the following Summer. This result allowed me to sell a few nucleus hives (nucs), raise a few more queens and take another step toward being a self-sustaining beekeeper.

As the Year Starts
At the beginning of the year, shortly after Christmas, is when I briefly open hives to add a cane sugar food supplement to the hive. It seems that every so often around the Christmas/New Year’s holidays there is a day or two that gets above 45°F (7°C) that allow for both cleansing flights and the insertion of extra food supplies. There are various ways to supply additional food resources including hard candy boards, sugar patties or granulated sugar over newspaper. I hesitate adding any sugar source earlier than late December. Any form of cane sugar is harder for the bees to digest and if they decide to tap into the additional hard sugar source in the Fall, it can possibly result in a form of dysentery. Dysentery is often the result of bees not being able to leave the hive for cleansing flights and finding it necessary to relieve themselves in the hive. The February and March time frames are when most hives are lost over Winter due to a lack of food resources.

Winter sugar over parchment paper is nearly used up, the remains of a partial pollen patty at lower left of sugar.

Another Winter task is that every other month or so I will also use a bent ½ inch metal bar to clean out any dead bees from the bottom board. Once temperatures only occasionally drop below freezing at night, I will also remove my insulation sleeves that cover all but the bottom and top entrances to the hives. Some of my fellow beekeepers use blanket insulation and also remove them when temps begin to only erratically fall below freezing at night.

My next clue is the budding of maple trees in my yard. In some years, I have seen white pollen brought into hives in very early February; possibly from pussy willow shrubs, but not of sufficient quantity to support the needs of potential new larva. If one does see pollen being brought into the hive, this is a clue that the hive is most likely healthy and the queen has started to lay eggs, although in very small quantities this early in the year. In late March or early April there is one of a dozen maples in my yard that is always first to have the buds pop open. On a warm, sunny day, standing under the tree, it sounds like you are standing in a beehive. I use this as my signal to check the cane sugar supply once again and add a partial pollen patty to each hive.

The next pollen/nectar flow will not occur until a month later, in late April or early May. If they gather enough pollen from maples and other sources they will not use much of the pollen patty. But if rainy, cold weather precludes much pollen collection they may use most, or all, of the supplied patty and it may even need to be replaced before the dandelion bloom.

Heavy dandelion bloom is the next signal I use to know that Spring flowers and the dandelions are providing the first nectar flow. This is also my signal to do my first deep hive inspection and commence with any splits I may wish to do. Moving frames around, even if exactly replaced before dandelion bloom, can disrupt the hive in such a way that the cluster does not reform to provide the needed warmth for new eggs and larva resulting in the loss of the hive.

Bent metal bar used to clean out bottom board in Winter.

Opening a hive has a different meaning than inspecting a hive. Up to this point, I have only opened the top of hives to add sugar or pollen patties, while inspecting means to quickly examine each frame as it is removed and replaced or substituted if doing a split. The methodology of splits was covered in the April issue so I will not repeat my split techniques here. This is also the time where I will clean off the bottom board and remove excess old or pollen saturated frames.

Once May arrives, the beekeeping season gets into full swing here in SE Michigan. It is a good time to do the first mite check and initiate treatment, if called for. It is suggested that for the first few months of beekeeping the new beekeeper check hives once a week to every ten days. This is also a good recommendation for any new hives or nucs that have been started in order to monitor their progress. These do not have to be deep hive inspections looking at every frame. Often starting an inspection by pulling a frame or two from one side until eggs/larva are spotted is enough to see the hive is functioning well with an adequate queen without ever seeing the queen or looking at every single frame. As your comfort level and knowledge increases, hives may not need to be inspected for a month or more if things look normal with bees coming and going. Bees that are bringing in some pollen is a good sign there is a laying queen and larva to be fed.

Weather Affects Flying Time
Since beginning beekeeping, I find I keep a much closer watch of weather forecasts to determine the best times to work with my hives dependent on weather. As the Summer flowers start blossoming and nectar flows get into full swing, weather is the key factor in how much time bees can be flying and making collections of nectar, water, pollen or propolis. Any new splits or weaker hives can benefit from a feeding of one to one sugar syrup and an initial mite treatment if needed. I like to use a single Hopguard strip in five frame starter nucs just as a precaution. From this point on through the Summer, it is a matter of periodically checking hives to be sure the queen is laying, mite loads do not become excessive and no inherent diseases occur. When all but one or two frames in the top most super are drawn with comb and filled with brood or nectar and honey it is time to add another super. I prefer to keep my bee’s brood chamber in two ten-frame deeps with a queen excluder under any honey supers that are continually added through the Summer. I know of area beekeepers that work with eight frame medium supers and use three supers as their brood chamber with equal success. If I were to start over again, I would most likely choose the eight frame triple supers due to the weight factor of a ten frame deep super when full.

Taking weather into consideration, there are factors that come into play when the bees will be less agitated when doing an inspection. It is generally recommended that inspections be done on days when the outside temperature is above 55°F (13°C). On a warm, sunny day, most of the foragers will be out of the hive. If there is a front moving in or it is rainy out, the bees seem to be able to sense this and will be more agitated. Likewise, cloudy or windy days are not optimal times for inspections. The time of day that works the best seems to be between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., although on nice Summer days that are longer, inspections can stretch into the late afternoon or early evenings.

When opening a hive, listen to the noise of the bees. If it goes from a peaceful hum to a louder roar it may not be the best time for a deep inspection of all frames. I recall helping a new beekeeper several years ago who had a work schedule that allowed for inspections to only occur on weekends. Several months of rainy or windy weather made it quite difficult to inspect during optimal weather which made for a more difficult beekeeping Summer. The hobby beekeeper with other employment challenges may find it difficult to find optimal overlaps between good weather and their free time to inspect hives.

Most of my reading and research indicates that mite checks are recommended about every month to month and half with the most critical time being August through September. This is when the mite population is exploding just as the bee population begins to decrease in preparation for Winter. Mite population control is without question the current most important part of beekeeping to insure hive survival over the coming Winter. When doing splits, I insert drone frames which forces me to get into new hives in less than 24 days for their removal. This assumes drone comb has been drawn, capped and drone brood is present. Mites prefer drone brood due to the slightly longer 24 day period it takes for drones to emerge. Removing drone frames prior to 24 days precludes a mite explosion as drones emerge from cells. When mite counts warrant treatment, I follow with a formic treatment in late June or early July followed by another treatment in late August or early September and finally one or two oxalic acid dribbles in October and late November if needed.

Harvesting Honey
Fully capped frames of honey can be taken any time of the beekeeping Summer/Fall season. I have taken honey from remaining Spring hives where the bees did not survive the Winter. If doing this, it is easiest if the honey frames are warmed and checked for any crystallization. Extracting frames that are partially crystallized can quickly plug up the filtration screens and make it very hard to strain the resultant honey. I have found it much easier to feed any unused overwintered frames back to the bees or use them in new hives or nuc splits. Bees from active hives will soon find frames that are set out some distance away from the apiary and will remove the surplus honey to existing honey supers. I have also had some luck with a partial super of near full frames placed over an inner cover that is on top of the upper most honey super allowing bees to clean out the excess frames of honey. During my first few years of beekeeping I only collected honey once in the Fall. This sometimes resulted in very tall hives as supers were added to give the bees more space.

Three deeps and four full honey supers with a fifth added before Fall honey harvest reached over six feet and resulted in future harvests occurring twice a season.

I have since decided it is easier to make a harvest in late July followed by another in September. Any Fall flow is left for the bees to backfill the brood chamber for their Winter honey supply. If new nucs or hives are made from splits, those new starts may not produce any excess honey for the beekeeper in their first Summer. Taking too much honey from the bees in their first season is also a reason for Winter loss as this may result in Winter starvation.

The amount of nectar the bees collect that can be turned into honey is directly related to weather conditions. Continual rain and thunderstorms during a peak nectar flow can significantly cut down on flying time and wash away available flower nectar. Dearth periods where there is no rain for weeks also effects nectar availability, as the plants are using available ground moisture to sustain leaves and growth rather than producing pollen and nectar for flowers and seeds. Weather that is hotter than normal or nights that are colder than normal also impact the amount of nectar that plants produce. As the beekeeper learns to keep a close eye on weather and forecasts, they can better determine optimal times for inspections and if there will be a larger or smaller honey harvest.

Another aspect to consider is when to start nucs for overwintering. I have found that nucleus hives of four or five frames are best started in May or June but no later than the beginning of July. Four frame nucs started in those months may need a second or even a third story four-frame super added to make space for the increasing number of bees. The earlier the start, the more frames that may need to be added. In the following Spring, five frame nucs can be sold and excess frames used to begin new hives or nucs or simply used to increase ones hive count.

Fall Weather Clues
As Fall weather temperatures get cooler and daylight time gets shorter, the bees will be out foraging less and Fall nectar flows are sometimes questionable. Hives that have had their last honey harvest may benefit from Fall feeding of 2:1 sugar syrup. Any extracted honey supers can be placed over the inner cover and under the outer cover such that only the bees in the hive can clean out the honey supers for storage and reuse the following year. There is less chance of bees storing additional nectar/honey in the extracted honey super if it is placed on a different hive than that from which it was taken.

As the temperatures start to drop below 40°F (4.5°C) at night, it is time to combine hives or restrict hives to smaller spaces. This will also be when the Fall flowers such as golden rod and wild purple asters have passed their peak. If there are several weak hives they can be combined using the newspaper method between supers and pinching the weaker queen. Although, I have had very heavily populated hives come through the Winter in three deeps, I like to confine bees to only one or two ten-frame deeps as Winter approaches. New hives or swarms caught earlier in the Summer are usually best if confined to one ten-frame deep while established hives with a large population of bees may be better if allowed to have two deeps.

As stated earlier, August and September are critical months to keep mite counts under control. A day or two after doing a mite treatment, another test for mites is highly recommended to see if that treatment had an effect. If mite counts are still higher than recommended (3 per 100 in Fall) another treatment may be needed. High mite counts during these months are a strong indicator that the hive may not survive the Winter. As temperatures start to dip below freezing at night, it’s time to winterize the hives. I use a combination of a coroplast sleeve over the sides of the hive as well as Vivaldi style spacers for ventilation over the inner cover.

Coroplast plastic sleeves over hives.

There are other numerous ways to insulate a hive, such as using tarpaper or hive blankets if Winter temperatures can get very cold or are somewhat variable in your area. And this brings us full circle to the beginning of the next year.

As you become more experienced as a beekeeper, noting the changes in nature can lead to more efficient beekeeping dependent on your environments weather conditions rather than on calendar dates. I have found that keeping good notes has helped me improve from year to year. If you are not in a note taking mood, I have included a checkoff page (Download PDF) that can be copied and used as you inspect your hives. This is a slightly modified checklist obtained from a local beekeeper and used with permission from Jim Ford, who works with a Boy Scout troop to obtain various merit badges including beekeeping. Using clues from how weather patterns effect nature in your local environment can lead to a better beekeeping experience.

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The Plastic Legacy

Are the toxic chemicals in plastic affecting you and your bees?

By: Ross Conrad

Plastic has become ubiquitous in our lives and is clearly responsible for significant advances in fields as varied as medicine, sports, aeronautics, electronics, food packaging, textiles and construction. Agriculture has also come to rely heavily on plastic, and as beekeepers, we have come to depend on plastic for a multitude of beekeeping uses large and small. This includes every part of the hive in addition to queen excluders, smoker bellows, honey packaging, mating nuc boxes, feeders, support pins, hive wrapping and netting, propolis and small hive beetle traps, hive straps, bee helmets and brushes, extracting equipment and more.

Unfortunately, this incredibly useful stuff is also responsible for slowly and quietly inflicting widespread damage that seriously threatens human and environmental health, as well as the economy. This is well documented in a recent report by the Minderoo-Monaco Commission, and the harm includes illness and death resulting from every phase of plastic’s life cycle, and the damage is getting worse (Landrigan et al., 2023).

The report’s lead author, Dr. Phillip J. Landrigan is the director of the Global Public Health Program and Global Observatory on Planetary Health at Boston College. Landrigran, who has spent decades researching the health effects of environmental pollutants, also worked on the first studies that looked into the dangers of lead exposure in children.

During the past couple decades, plastic hive parts and beekeeping equipment have become common and yet we know little about the impacts to bees that the chemicals that leach out of plastic can have on honey bee health.

Production
As the Minderoo-Monaco Commission report outlines, plastic is made from carbon-based polymers that combine many small molecules bonded into a chain or network. Polymers can be natural or synthetic. Natural polymers include rubber, hemp and silk. While synthetic plastics can be manufactured from plant materials, most synthetic polymers are made from fossil fuels and they include polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene (Styrofoam), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and a host of other materials of which over 400 million tons are produced annually and the amount is growing. Single-use plastics account for 35-40% of current plastic production and represent the most rapidly growing segment of the plastic industry.

Various chemicals are then incorporated into these carbon-based polymers to impart certain properties to the plastic being manufactured. Among the properties chemicals impart to plastic are color, flexibility, stability, water repellency, sterility, fire resistance and ultraviolet resistance. Unfortunately, many of these added chemicals are extremely toxic. They include cancer-causing compounds, neurotoxins that disrupt the cells that make up nervous systems, endocrine disruptors such as phthalates that play havoc with the body’s hormones, bisphenols, per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (aka PFAS or forever chemicals), as well as brominated and organophosphate flame-retardants. These highly toxic chemicals are integral components of plastic. During production, these chemicals, along with plastic particles, leak into the air, water and soil polluting the landscape and sickening those that get exposed. Many of these chemicals are responsible for the majority of plastics’ harm to human and environment health.

Use
Due to their wide proliferation throughout society, plastic is present in almost everything we use in our daily lives. Consumers are exposed to toxic chemicals as they leach out of plastic; enter the environment, and cause pollution as a result of their normal use. Sometimes exposure occurs from direct contact with the plastic item, and other times it occurs through contact with a substance such as water or food that has been in contact with the plastic. Accidental and unintended exposures also occur such as when an infant sucks on a plastic toy.

Disposal
We have known for a long time that plastic itself does not decompose, and now we learn that some of the toxic compounds used in plastic (such as the PFAS family of chemicals) also fail to biodegrade which means they do not go away (hence the ‘forever chemical’ moniker). As a result, plastics are clogging our landfills, choking our oceans, and fouling our beaches. Additionally, some plastic chemicals undergo chemical transformation and form breakdown products and metabolites, that can be highly toxic and contribute further to the harm plastics create.

Unfortunately, our current patterns of plastic production, use and disposal occur with little attention to sustainable design or safe materials and a near absence of recovery, reuse and recycling. Plastic recycling systems are so inefficient and ineffective that studies have found that less than 10 percent of the plastic humans produce and use actually gets recycled and reused while the other 90 percent gets incinerated, or ends up in a landfill or the environment. Despite rising consumer awareness, government regulation and corporate attention, we are creating more single use plastic waste than ever before. Between 2019 and 2021 the world produced an additional six million metric tons of single use plastic waste, mostly from fossil fuels. The more plastic waste we create the greater the harm to human health, widespread environmental damage, significant economic costs and deep societal injustices.

In-depth research of advanced recycling of plastic (also called chemical recycling, molecular recycling or chemical conversion) in the United States finds this new technology is a lot of hype and not much reality (Denney et al., 2022; Singla & Wardle, 2022). These so-called advanced recycling facilities are themselves generating hazardous waste and causing environmental injustices under the false promise of recycling. Even worse, since the plastic we do manage to produce from “advanced recycling” is much more expensive than virgin plastic, much of the recycling output will likely end up as fuel for incinerators creating even more pollution.

Key report findings
The report points out that while manufacture and use of essential plastics should continue, the reckless increases in plastic production, and especially increases in the manufacture of an ever-increasing array of unnecessary single-use plastic products, needs to be curbed and their use greatly reduced. We also need to eliminate the migration of plastic into the biosphere across its life-cycle by embracing environmentally sound waste management.

Among the Minderoo-Monaco Commission’s findings are:

• Plastic causes disease, impairment and premature mortality at every stage of its life cycle, with the health repercussions disproportionately affecting vulnerable, low-income and minority communities, particularly children.
• Toxic chemicals added to plastic and routinely detected in people are known to increase the risk of miscarriage, obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancers.
• Plastic waste is ubiquitous and our oceans, on which people depend for oxygen, food and livelihoods, are “suffering beyond measure, with micro- and nano-plastics particles contaminating the water and the sea floor and entering the marine food chain.”

The Commission’s science-based recommendations include a global cap on plastic production instituted through a Global Plastics Treaty.

Plastic’s impact on our industry
So, what does the incorporation of plastic into beekeeping mean for our bees? Mostly, we don’t know. No one is looking closely to see how the myriad of plastic related chemicals impact honey bee health. No one appears to be researching the amount of toxins, like the PFAS forever chemicals, that may be leaching out of plastic and into honey from plastic containers, or leaching into beeswax from plastic foundation. What do the effects of these chemical have on honey bee larvae raised in plastic comb? How does the early exposure of queen bees to plastic (from being raised in plastic queen cups, to being shipped in plastic queen cages) impact their health and longevity?

We know from experience that bees do not like plastic. If a sheet of plastic foundation is not coated with enough beeswax, the bees will avoid the foundation, building their comb next to and parallel to the foundation rather than utilizing the hexagon-embossed plastic surface designed to encourage comb building. Are the bees trying to tell us something?

Thankfully, there are many alternatives to plastic available to us beekeepers. From leather smoker bellows, pure beeswax foundation, wooden hive components, glass jars and metal queen excluders, just about every beekeeping tool or hive part made of plastic has a non-plastic alternative available on the market. The only items I can think of that do not have plastic alternatives readily available are small hive beetle traps and large multi-gallon pails for honey. It’s not that these items could not be made from materials other than plastic (think wooden beetle traps or large metal tins for honey packaging like they used to use in the old days), it’s just that no one is currently making them and offering such alternatives for sale, at least not in the U.S.

It appears that long-standing concerns over pesticide chemical contamination of bees and bee hives has distracted beekeepers from plastic chemical contamination issues. I know I have not given the issue much thought in the past. The report from the Minderoo-Monaco Commission represents a wake-up call just as multinational fossil-fuel corporations that produce coal, oil and gas and also manufacture plastics are deliberately pivoting from fossil fuel production to making more plastic. As increased renewable energy production erodes fossil fuel use, the fossil fuel industry is looking to increased plastic manufacturing as one of the ways to help maintain a ready market for their global life-support system destroying products.

Ross Conrad is the Author of Natural Beekeeping: Organic approaches to modern apiculture, and co-author of The Land of Milk and Honey: A history of beekeeping in Vermont.

References:
Denney, V., Brosche, S., Strakova, J., Karlsson, T., Ochieng, G., Buonsante, V., Bell, L., Carlini, G., Beeler, B. (2022) An Introduction to plastics and toxic chemicals: How plastics harm human health and the environment and poison the circular economy, International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN)
Landrigan, Philip J., et. al. (2023) The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health, Annals of Global Health, 89(1):23 DOI: 10.5334/aogh.4056
Singla, Veena and Tessa Wardle (2022) Recycling Lies: “Chemical Recycling” of Plastic is Just Greenwashing Incineration, Natural Resources Defense Council, https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/chemical-recycling-greenwashing-incineration-ib.pdf

Ingredients
□ ½ cup butter (softened)
□ ⅔ cup honey
□ 2 eggs
□ 1 tablespoon lemon juice
□ ¼ teaspoon salt
□ Zest from half a lemon
□ ¾ cup flour
□ ¾ cup raspberries (or mixed berry blend,
which is what I used)

Glaze Ingredients
□ ¾ to 1 cup powdered sugar
□ 1 teaspoon raspberry jam
□ 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Step 2
Prepare an 8×8 square pan by spraying it with non-stick spray (or lining it with parchment paper).

Step 3
In a large bowl, combine butter, eggs, honey, lemon juice, salt and zest. Mix by hand or hand mixer.

Step 4
Add flour and mix until just combined.

Step 5
Add fresh raspberries (or mixed berries) and stir in by hand.

Step 6
Pour into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.

Step 7
Bake for around 25 minutes or until edges are brown and the middle is set. Do not over bake! You want the texture to be like a brownie.

Step 8
Let it cool.

Step 9
While the bars are cooling, combine the glaze ingredients and whisk together.

Step 10
Pour it over the cooled bars and spread out into an even layer on the top. Let the glaze set for at least 20 minutes.

Step 11
Cut into squares and serve.

Store at room temperature or in the refrigerator in an air tight container. Enjoy!

If the goal in life is to live without risks, beekeeping should not enter a person’s career or hobby aspirations. Venomous insects, remotely located and difficult to access apiaries that are far from medical attention and days that require the lift-twist-bend repetition make the work of a beekeeper both daunting and dangerous. A person with a physical disability may not even imagine the potential to start an apiary or continue the work if faced with a physical limitation.

For the last decade, Heroes to Hives and Michigan AgrAbility have been working together to develop accessible technologies and recommendations for beekeepers with physical limitations. One outcome of the collaboration is the development of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Developing Accessible Apiaries. Not only does the SOP apply to physically limited beekeepers, it can also be a guide for anyone to reflect on the risks of apiary management and address operational weaknesses before an emergency or injury happens. The goal of this article is to provide a guide for building an accessible apiary, and help all beekeepers incorporate tools that will help them work smarter, not harder.

Planning

• One of the most important aspects of ensuring an apiary is accessible and can accommodate a variety of participant needs is planning. For educators, we recommend having participants register in advance for scheduled events and during the registration process you should ask those registering if they need any special accommodations. This allows you to prepare in advance if special equipment is needed and allows you to reach out to the individual to ensure you fully understand their needs. Examples of a question that can be included in an event registration are:
  • Are there any special accommodations we can provide at this event to ensure this beekeeping experience meets your personal needs?
  • Please let us know if you need accommodations to participate in this event. If so, we will reach out to you to discuss your personal needs.
• For individual beekeepers with physical limitations, planning is also an important part of a day in the apiary. Ensuring someone is aware of where you are going and how long you plan on being there can be an important safety measure that can support you if something happens. Additionally, ensuring you have a cell phone, two-way radio (when within range) or another communication device on you when in the apiary can be helpful to contact emergency support if an injury experienced in the apiary limits your mobility.

Support Team

• 

  Figure 1. Photo credit: Adam Ingrao

  When hosting individuals with accessibility needs at beekeeping events, it is important to ensure you have a proper support structure in place in case a participant requires attention, whether it be medical or personal support (Figure 1). Identifying an individual with emergency medical experience can be a great benefit to any beekeeping event and ensures that if a participant experiences a medical emergency, an individual is ready to jump in and support that individual immediately. Keep in mind, apiaries tend to be in remote locations that are not near medical facilities. Individuals that make great emergency support team members include:

  • Firefighters / EMS
  • Medical professionals: Doctors, nurses, etc.
  • Mental health professionals
  • Military Combat medics
• Beekeepers in personal apiaries that have physical limitations should try to work with a friend for support when possible. Support members can help with beekeeping activities but will also be an invaluable resource if the beekeeper experiences an injury or medical emergency.

Parking and Pathways

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  Figure 2. Photo credit: Adam Ingrao

  Ensure that parking is in close proximity to the apiary, within a couple hundred feet, so that excessive walking is not required to get to the apiary site (Figure 2). Parking and walking paths should be on level, compacted surfaces that can accommodate vehicles and mobility devices, such as wheelchairs and walkers. If parking near the apiary is not possible, it is recommended that vehicle transport for individuals with mobility restrictions is provided to and from the apiary.

• In situations where vehicle access is not possible, or if you are a beekeeper with physical limitations working in a remote apiary, a well-outfitted cart or all-terrain utility vehicle is a great solution for managing off-road beehives and moving equipment to and from a remote apiary.

Apiary

• Selecting a proper apiary site is one of the most important aspects of developing an accessible apiary. Often, apiaries are in remote areas, far from medical attention, which makes them a risky place to be for individuals already facing physical restrictions. If an injury occurs in a remote apiary, medical attention may not be available for some time, which underscores the importance of a support team. By using the following criteria when selecting sites, you can avoid many common pitfalls that make apiaries inaccessible and/or dangerous to many with physical limitations. Following is a list of considerations that should be made for accessible apiaries:
  • 

    Figure 3. Photo credit: Bev Berens

    Soil types should be considered when selecting an apiary site. Apiaries on heavy clay soils can become unusable for mobility devices if high moisture is present or rutting has occurred. High clay content soil surfaces should be avoided for accessible apiaries. High sand content soils may also be an issue for mobility devices if vegetation is not covering the surface to help stabilize the soil.

  • Apiaries should be on flat, compacted surfaces or well-manicured grass to mitigate tripping hazards and accommodate mobility devices (Figure 3).
    • 

      Figure 4. Photo credit: Adam Ingrao

      Materials for compacted surfaces can include concrete, crushed concrete, rubber, milled asphalt, decking, compact gravel and weed exclusion cloth over a solid surface, or other materials that have been designed to support wheelchair and walker mobility in outdoor environments (Figure 4).

      • Grass areas can be utilized for an apiary if they are consistently maintained and cut at a very low height (such as a fairway on a golf course).
      • Note: all grass areas used should be cut with a bag attachment to collect grass debris. No grass debris should be present in an accessible apiary to prevent tripping hazards.
  • 

    Figure 5. Photo credit: Adam Ingrao

    Tripping hazards are one of the most dangerous aspects of an apiary (Figure 5). While working in an apiary, beekeepers are often carrying heavy equipment while moving about in a veil, which obscures vision. As a result, tripping hazards such as holes, stumps, rocks, tall grass, roots and weeds can cause severe injury. All tripping hazards should be removed or filled to ensure a safe, level surface to walk upon.

  • 

    Figure 6. Photo credit: Adam Ingrao

    Hive stands should be utilized to meet the needs of apiary users. Depending on the mobility restriction, hive stands can be as simple as cinder blocks that provide an eight inch lift, to custom stands that are engineered to support a comfortable working height for beekeepers (Figure 6).

  • Variable hive styles can be incorporated into an apiary to meet the physical needs of beekeepers using the site. There are numerous manufactured and custom options available to support individuals with accessibility needs. The following is a short list of common hives that can be used in an accessible apiary and the limitations they may accommodate.
    • AZ hives are one of the most useful hive designs for individuals with lifting restrictions or that are using a mobility device, such as a walker or wheelchair. The AZ hive offers the beekeeper the ability to work the hive from the rear, without having to lift hive bodies, and ensures that the most weight the beekeeper will have to work with is a single frame. Additionally, since AZ hives have a set height (no additional hive bodies are added) the hives can be positioned on stands that are designed to be at the best working height for the individual’s needs.
    • Top bar or long hives are a style of hive that orients all frames on a horizontal plane so that no hive bodies are lifted. These hives can also be modified to articulate on their stand so that individuals can work the hive from a seated position. These hives work well for individuals with lifting restrictions or that are using a mobility device, such as a walker or wheelchair.
    • Langstroth, and similarly vertically oriented hives, can be suitable for individuals with some mobility restrictions as long as the restrictions do not completely limit their ability to lift equipment. Langstroth hives require each hive body to be removed to inspect frames, which requires a lot of lifting (this can be supported with hive lifts). A couple accommodations to make Langstroth hives more accessible for those with some lifting restrictions are:
      • 

        Figure 7. Photo credit: Adam Ingrao

        Use eight frame hive bodies instead of 10 frame. This reduces the weight of each individual hive body by up to 15-20 lbs when full of honey.

      • Use all medium hive bodies instead of deep hive bodies. Utilization of medium hive bodies can reduce the weight of the hive body by up to 15 lbs. Additionally, medium frames are easier to handle and inspect, especially for those suffering from arthritis or other mobility restrictions of the hands.
      • It is highly recommended that accessible apiaries using Langstroth equipment use all eight frame medium equipment as this is the lightest combination of this style of equipment and is the most accessible arrangement for beekeepers using this hive style (Figure 7).
  • 

    Figure 8. Photo credit: Adam Ingrao

    Hives should be placed with at least five feet of clearance from other hives, in all cardinal directions, to ensure participants can get near the hives and that mobility devices, such as wheelchairs and walkers, can freely move between and around hives. Hives may be paired next to each other on stands if needed, as long as the area around the paired hives has five feet of clearance in all directions (Figure 8).

  • All apiaries should have a first aid kit on site and an emergency action plan in place.
    • First aid kits should include Epipens, band-aids, antiseptic, cooling cloths for heat exhaustion and water.
    • Emergency action plans should identify:
      • The closest emergency medical facility
      • Local phone numbers for police, fire and EMS
      • Where cell coverage is available to make emergency calls (if coverage is spotty or unavailable in the apiary)
      • What support team member will provide care and transportation, if needed
      • Description of the apiary site location for police, fire and EMS
      • Emergency contact info for participants in apiary events

Apiary Facilities

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  Figure 9. Photo credit: Adam Ingrao

  Accessible apiaries require educational facilities that also accommodate the needs of participants. As such, restrooms and classrooms at any beekeeping event should meet the accessibility needs of all (Figure 9).

  • An ADA accessible restroom should be present on site and in close proximity to the apiary. Restrooms must have at least 60 inches width and 56 inches depth of unobstructed clearance in the restroom with toilet seats 17-19 inches in height and support handles to accommodate movement from a wheelchair to a toilet seat. This can be a seasonal (portable toilet) or permanent facility.
  • If a classroom is used for instruction, it should be ADA accessible with a door width of at least 32 inches. Tabletops should be no less than 28 inches and no more than 34 inches above the floor with 27 inches of knee clearance. Classrooms should be in close proximity to the apiary and restrooms.
  • Potable water should be made available near the apiary or participants in apiary events should be notified ahead of time, in writing, that they should bring water to the event.
  • Seating is encouraged to assist those who may not be able to stand for long periods of time. It is recommended that educators notify participants ahead of time that they will be standing for long periods and if needed they should bring a chair to sit in, as some individuals may desire to provide their own seating that supports their physical needs.
  • Shade should be made available to individuals during field days to ensure sun exposure does not become an issue for those already working through physical limitations. Providing a canopy or a shaded tree line can provide relief when needed.

Liability Coverage (Important for educators)

• Regardless of the audience you are working with, ensuring proper insurance coverage for the activities you are conducting will protect you and your assets. Agritourism policies will oftentimes provide legal coverage for activities such as beekeeping classes. Consult with your insurance agent to ensure you are covered properly for the activities you are conducting.
• A waiver of liability developed for beekeeping activities should be signed by every individual entering the apiary. This should be a document drawn up by an attorney that clearly indicates the risks associated with beekeeping and the proper language to protect you and your assets from liability if an accident occurs in the apiary.
• Signage should be displayed around the apiary and should clearly state the risks associated with working in an apiary.
• If you plan on taking pictures and using images of individuals participating in apiary activities, it is recommended to have participants sign media waivers to ensure proper permission for use of images. This is especially important when working with individuals with physical limitations.

Keeping bees can be rewarding, satisfying and enjoyable. By creating spaces that incorporate accessibility, beekeepers open doors for more people to join, enjoy and find success within the industry and enjoy the gifts our bees give us!

From the moment we start our hive inspection, the thrill of searching for the queen consumes us. It’s a grand adventure, a quest for the ages, and the longer we look without success, the more determined we become to find her royal highness. When we come up empty-handed, we can’t help but feel a sense of disappointment and concern for the well-being of the colony. Has she vanished? Will they survive without her?

Yet, the moment we finally lay eyes on our queen, a wave of relief washes over us, and we are reassured that all is right in our little apiary, if not the world at large. The satisfaction of this ultimate discovery is a feeling that never grows old. But let’s ask ourselves: is finding the queen really so vital? For a novice beekeeper, locating one bee among 40-60,000 can seem an impossible task.

Most inspections do not require that we see our queen. Instead, evaluating her laying pattern is often all we need to confirm that all is well. Do we see a sufficient number of eggs, larvae and a good brood pattern of capped over larvae? Once we confirm the brood looks good, there is really no need to spend more time trying to find the queen.

However, there are certain situations when it becomes necessary. For instance, when the queen’s offspring display aggression or she’s producing a subpar brood pattern, it may be time to replace her. We can’t risk introducing a new queen without first finding and removing the old queen. During the Spring season, I typically create one or two splits from each colony, and this involves removing and placing the original queen in the new split to mitigate swarming behavior in the original hive.

While filming a recent YouTube video, I found myself needing to create a split by removing frames of brood and resources, while also relocating the original queen. However, there was one major issue: the hive was extremely aggressive. To describe it aptly, this colony was what beekeepers refer to as “hot”. Unlike other hives that I can manage wearing just a hat and veil, working with this particular hive necessitated the use of a complete bee suit and sting-proof gloves.

In colonies like this, you can limit your time searching for the queen by only looking for her on frames of open brood. Rarely will she be spotted on a frame of nectar, honey or pollen. Once you see one-day-old eggs, standing straight up in cells, the queen is likely to be in close proximity.

Need to find the queen in a hot hive? These tips might come in handy.

1. Wear More Than Enough Protective Gear
This is no time to earn bragging rights of how you work your bees in sandals, shorts and a tank top with no hat or veil. Keeping a defensive colony calm is tricky and if you take one or two stings, the alarm pheromone can attract more stings. The alarm pheromone’s main component is isopentyl acetate, a similar odor found in bananas. Even accidentally smashing a bee can release the alarm pheromone. So, avoid stings by suiting up, and carefully try not to kill any bees.

2. Work Your Defensive Hive Last
If you have several hives that are tolerable, but one is very defensive always work your defensive hive last. If you work it first, these defensive bees will follow you and can attract higher than usual defensive responses from your other colonies. You will want to end your time in the apiary with your defensive colony.

3. Lots of Smoke
Not only do I have my smoker going at 100% capacity, but I have spare burlap smoker fuel in every pocket of my bee suit. Of course, more smoke can keep the queen on the run making her more difficult to find, but there is no choice. These bees respond well to smoke.

4. Work in Slow Motion
Honey bees possess incredible visual capabilities. In fact, a single compound eye of a worker bee contains approximately 6,900 intricate facets or miniature lenses. This remarkable feature allows them to seamlessly integrate mosaic images and effectively detect swift movements. As beekeepers, we can use this knowledge to our advantage by handling the bees more cautiously and minimizing any sudden actions. This becomes an absolute necessity when dealing with a defensive hive.

5. Carry Parts of The Hive Away
When working a very defensive hive and I must continue inspecting 20-30 frames to find the queen, I find it is best to carry one deep hive body twenty feet away. Once I remove it from the hive location and the other hive box, the bees become calmer to work. Moving the boxes apart also prevents the queen from walking up or down into the other hive body.

Finding the queen in a hot hive can be a challenging task, but once located, it brings a sense of satisfaction, especially when it’s time to replace her with a queen that produces gentler offspring. After approximately 45 days, the aggressive bees will perish naturally, making room for a new generation of bees with a more docile temperament. These tips will not only be helpful when working a defensive colony, but can also help every inspection go much better, even in gentle colonies.

If you’d like to watch my YouTube video of this inspection visit: https://www.honeybeesonline.com/davids-youtube-channel

Released March 17, 2023, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

United States Honey Production Down One Percent in 2022
United States honey production in 2022 totaled 125 million pounds, down one percent from 2021. There were 2.67 million colonies producing honey in 2022, down one percent from 2021. Yield per colony averaged 47.0 pounds, unchanged from 2021. Colonies which produced honey in more than one state were counted in each state where the honey was produced. Therefore, the United States level yield per colony may be understated, but total production would not be impacted. Colonies were not included if honey was not harvested. Producer honey stocks were 23.3 million pounds on December 15, 2022, down one percent from a year earlier. Stocks held by producers exclude those held under the commodity loan program, which are entered separately.

Honey Prices Up 12 Percent in 2022
United States honey prices increased 12 percent during 2022 to $2.96 per pound, compared to $2.65 per pound in 2021. United States and state level prices reflect the portions of honey sold through cooperatives, private and retail channels. Prices for each color class are derived by weighing the quantities sold for each marketing channel. Prices for the 2021 crop reflect honey sold in 2021 and 2022. Some 2021 crop honey was sold in 2022, which caused some revisions to the 2021 crop prices.

Price Paid for Queens, Packages, Nucs was 22 Dollars in 2022
The average prices paid in 2022 for honey bee queens, packages and nucs were $22, $98 and $129, respectively. Pollination income for 2022 was $241 million, down 11 percent from 2021. Other income from honey bees in 2022 was $55.2 million, down 31 percent from 2021.

Released August 1, 2022, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

January 1, 2021 – Some History
Honey Bee Colonies Down One Percent for Operations with Five or More colonies
Honey bee colonies for operations with five or more colonies in the United States on January 1, 2022 totaled 2.88 million colonies, down one percent from January 1, 2021. The number of colonies in the United States on April 1, 2022, was 2.92 million colonies. During 2021, honey bee colonies on January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 were 2.90 million, 2.83 million, 3.17 million and 3.09 million colonies, respectively.

Honey bee colonies lost for operations with five or more colonies from January through March 2022, was 331,780 colonies, or 12 percent. The number of colonies lost during the quarter of April through June 2022, was 282,630 colonies, or 10 percent. During the quarter of January through March 2021, colonies lost totaled 464,640 colonies, or 16 percent, the highest number lost of any quarter surveyed in 2021. The quarter surveyed in 2021 with the lowest number of colonies lost was July through September, with 295,660 colonies lost, or nine percent.

Honey bee colonies added for operations with five or more colonies from January through March 2022 was 367,890 colonies. The number of colonies added during the quarter of April through June 2022 was 589,630. During the quarter of April through June 2021, the number of colonies added were 665,730 colonies, the highest number of honey bee colonies added for any quarter surveyed in 2021. The quarter of October through December 2021 added 93,940 colonies, the least number of honey bee colonies added for any quarter surveyed in 2021.

Honey bee colonies renovated for operations with five or more colonies from January through March 2022 was 187,180 colonies, or seven percent. During the quarter of April through June 2022, the number of colonies renovated were 492,410 colonies, or 17 percent. The quarter surveyed in 2021 with the highest number of colonies renovated was April through June 2021 with 475,750 colonies renovated, or 17 percent. The quarter surveyed in 2021 with the lowest number of colonies renovated was October through December 2021, with 146,520, or five percent. Renovated colonies are those that were requeened or received new honey bees through a nucleus (nuc) colony or package.

Varroa Mites Top Colony Stressor for Operations with Five or More Colonies
Varroa mites were the number one stressor for operations with five or more colonies during all quarters surveyed in 2021. The period with the highest percentage of colonies reported to be affected by varroa mites was April through June 2021 at 50.7 percent. The percent of colonies reported to be affected by varroa mites during January through March 2022 and April through June 2022 are 33.7 percent and 45.2 percent, respectively.

Colonies Lost with Colony Collapse Disorder Symptoms Up 12 Percent for Operations with Five or More colonies
Honey bee colonies lost with Colony Collapse Disorder symptoms on operations with five or more colonies was 86,070 colonies from January through March 2022. This represents a 12 percent increase from the same quarter in 2021.

If you want to explore USDA’s survey results further, start here:
Access to NASS Reports are available for your convenience, you may access NASS reports and products the following ways:

• • All reports are available electronically, at no cost, on the NASS website: www.nass.usda.gov.
  • Both national and state specific reports are available via a free e-mail subscription. To set-up this free subscription, visit www.nass.usda.gov and click on “National” or “State” in upper right corner, above the “search” box to create an account and select the reports you would like to receive.
  • Cornell’s Mann Library has launched a new website housing NASS’s and other agency’s archived reports. The new website: https://usda.library.cornell.edu. All email subscriptions containing reports will be sent from the new website, https://usda.library.cornell.edu. To continue receiving the reports via e-mail, you will have to go to the new website, create a new account and re-subscribe to the reports. If you need instructions to set up an account or subscribe, they are located at: https://usda.library.cornell.edu/help. You should whitelist notifications@usdaesmis.library.cornell.edu in your email client to avoid the emails going into spam/junk folders.

Per Capita Consumption, 2022
We calculate this figure each year using data from USDA ERS, NASS, ERS, FARM SERVICE and the U.S. Census Bureau. From these sources we determine how much honey entered the system, how much honey left the system, how much was used, how much wasn’t used and the population on July 1, 2022. These figures include U.S. production, U.S. exports, honey put under and taken out of the loan program and honey remaining in storage, plus how much was imported from off shore. Essentially, it’s a measure of honey in minus honey out. The resultant figure, divided by how many people were here on that particular date results in how much honey was consumed by each and every individual in the U.S. last year. And yes, you are correct, not every person eats honey, but by producing this figure on an annual basis, we are able to compare apples to apples each year in honey consumption.

The chart compares these figures for the previous 13 years. We’ve included the USDA’s price of all honey for comparison too.

Honey Into the U.S., 2022
U.S. beekeepers with more than five colonies in 2022 produced, according to USDA, 125.3 million pounds of honey. The Honey Board calculates that an additional eight million pounds or so are produced by those with fewer than five colonies for a total production of 133.3 million pounds. Additional honey in figures include 23.3 million pounds taken out of warehouses from last year, two million pounds taken out from last year’s loan program and a whopping 260.9 million pounds imported for a rough total of 419.5 million pounds of honey in, during 2022. This honey sold, on average, wholesale, retail and specialty honey for $2.96/pound, according to USDA figures. Commercial beekeepers in the U.S. will tell you to make a living, this price should be about the same price as diesel fuel. Take a look next time you are at the gas station.

Honey Out of U.S. Stock, 2022
For the honey out figure, we exported nearly 12.3 million pounds to other countries, have nearly 23.3 million pounds still sitting in warehouses and put just under two million under loan, for a total of about 38 million pounds of honey produced in 2022 that were moved out of the U.S. figures for 2022.

The July 1, 2022 population was right at 333.3 million people in the U.S. So, to calculate per capita consumption, subtract honey out (put under loan, exported or still in warehouses) from honey in (honey produced this year, left over from last or imported) and divide by 333.3 million, for a total of 382 million pounds consumed in the U.S. last year. Divide this by 333 million people which gives you about 1.2 pounds of honey per person consumed by people in the U.S. during 2022, the lowest since 2012.

The top 10 producing states produced a total of $8,844,300 with a total of 1.879 million colonies. This comes to 70.4% of the U.S. colonies, and 70.6% of total dollar value.
The top three producing states had a total of 982,00 colonies, producing a total of $51,111,000. This comes to 36.8% of all colony production in the U.S. in 2022, producing 57.8% of total production dollars. Moreover, these three states produced 36.8% of all the colonies in the U.S. in 2022.

Top 10 Producing States
The places that yield the most honey every year are pretty much determined by the climate, the soil, agriculture and politics. The crops grown, or not grown in a region certainly play a role in what can be found relative to nectar, pesticides and regulations relative to how many colonies you can put on any given acre, that won’t starve after a couple of months. Of course, government conservation programs lend a hand here too.

We’ve been curious about this for the last eight years or so, just because it’s interesting to see what changes, and what doesn’t. The Dakotas, California, Montana, Florida, Minnesota, and Texas are almost always in the top eight, with the last two changing occasionally: New York, Louisiana, Georgia, Idaho, Michigan and perhaps a few others round out these performers.

This year provided few surprises in who is on the list, and the totals for the top 10 this year were essentially where they always are relative to the number of colonies counted in these states and the amount of honey produced. Again, these states produced 70% of all of the honey produced in the U.S., and had 70% of all the colonies in the U.S. sitting somewhere within their borders. It’s pretty clear that what happens in these few states is going to determine the U.S. crop.

But, just because we can, this year we looked at the contributions of the top three states, for almost every year, the Dakotas and Texas. Combined, they held on to 52.3% of the colonies used last year and produced just over 40% of all the honey U.S. beekeepers made last year. This means, of course, that 52% of the colonies, and 60% of the U.S. honey crop is spread out over the remaining 47 states. You can see this comes to just under 1%/state. That sort of puts us in our place, doesn’t it? This extreme unbalanced situation commands notice, then, as to what will happen when climate change erodes, or doesn’t, weather patterns in these three states including rainfall, Summer and Winter temperatures, farming practices and conservation practices.

Already, drought in the western third of the U.S. is having an effect, not only on the bees, but their forage and the crops they pollinate as well. Like it or not, we are at the mercy of big weather – call it climate change or whatever – it’s dry out there!

Released January 11, 2023, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Pollination Costs and Income, 2022
Cost Per Colony to Pollinate Almond Up 13 Percent from 2017
In Regions 6 & 7, the average cost per colony for almonds increased 13 percent from 171 dollars per colony in 2017 to 194 dollars per colony in 2022. The average price per acre increased from 272 dollars per acre to 336 dollars per acre during that period. The total value of pollination for almonds increased 44 percent. Almonds were the highest valued crop in that region. The total value of all pollination in Regions 6 & 7 for 2022 was 387 million dollars, up 42 percent from 2017.

Blueberries had the highest total value of pollination of crops reported in Region 1 in 2022. The price per colony for blueberries increased 27 percent to 98.4 dollars per colony in 2022. The price per acre increased 42 percent to 179 dollars per acre. The total value of pollination for blueberries in Region 1 for 2022 was 8.56 million dollars. The total value for pollination of all crops in Region 1 for 2022 was 21.9 million dollars, up 33 percent from 2017.

Blueberries had the highest total value of pollination of crops reported in Region 2 in 2022. The price per colony for blueberries increased 40 percent to 78.3 dollars per colony in 2022. The price per acre increased 63 percent to 139 dollars per acre. The total value of pollination for blueberries in Region 2 for 2022 was 3.60 million dollars. The total value of pollination of all crops in Region 2 for 2022 was 6.60 million dollars, up 10 percent from 2017.

Watermelons had the highest total value of pollination of crops reported in Region 3 in 2022. The price per colony for watermelons increased 38 percent to 76.9 dollars per colony in 2022. The price per acre increased 57 percent to 100 dollars per acre. The total value of pollination for watermelons in Region 3 for 2022 was 1.85 million dollars. The total value of pollination of all crops in Region 3 for 2022 was 7.39 million dollars, up eight percent from 2017.

Apples had the highest total value of pollination of crops reported in Region 4 in 2022. The price per colony for apples increased three percent to 51.7 dollars per colony in 2022. The price per acre decreased slightly to 41.0 dollars per acre. The total value of pollination for apples in Region 4 for 2022 was 114 thousand dollars. The total value of pollination of all crops in Region 4 for 2022 was 628 thousand dollars, down 27 percent from 2017.

Apples had the highest total value of pollination of crops reported in Region 5 in 2022. The price per colony for apples increased 12 percent to 58.3 dollars per colony in 2022. The price per acre increased 36 percent to 62.8 dollars per acre. The total value of pollination for apples in Region 5 for 2022 was 6.59 million dollars. The total value of pollination of all crops in Region 5 for 2022 was 17.5 million dollars, up four percent from 2017.

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Beekeeping’s Future

Despite enormous environment challenges facing the honey bee and beekeepers, there are a number of reasons to believe that the beekeeping industry is better able to withstand the uncertain future than other agricultural industries.

By: Ross Conrad

Much has been written and said about the numerous pesticide, pest and pathogen issues beekeepers are wrestling with, as it should be. What has gotten somewhat less attention is the threat that impacts all beekeepers and honey bee colonies everywhere in the world because it threatens everyone, everywhere: the climate crisis. Across the globe, climate-induced temperature extremes, droughts and floods have in some cases had a positive impact on crops. Unfortunately, the general effect of climate destabilization has been an overall reduction of crop yields (IPCC, 2022). Reduced yields lead to increases in hunger, and the resulting malnutrition related diseases, poverty and dislocated populations of climate refugees worldwide.

Climate impacts are predicted to be most severely felt throughout South, Central and much of North America. As well as Africa, Australia and parts of Asia.

Bees sip rather than gulp
To date, beekeeping and honey production has proven itself to be more resilient to climate disruption than other agricultural crops. Of course apiaries can be devastated by floods that wash away hives, or wildfires that turn colonies to ash, but bees handle drought better than other agricultural pursuits. This is because they simply require less water than most crops and livestock.

For example, farmers in Zimbabwe have found that honey production is proving to be relatively stable even while crop production in general has decreased, or in some cases totally failed (Mambondiyani, 2023). This has led to an increase in beekeeping in parts of the African continent. A side benefit from the proliferation of beekeepers is that African apiaries are helping to conserve precious vegetation in arid regions, as villagers avoid cutting trees near apiaries out of fear of the bees.

Diverse forage
One of the reasons beekeeping is proving itself to be more resilient to our changing climate is because bees often forage on wild plants and are not totally dependent on agricultural crops. This is an important trait since feral and native vegetation are often more drought tolerant than cultivated crops. Wild and indigenous plants can make up for decreased foraging opportunities when agricultural crops suffer reduced nectar and pollen production from a lack of water. The wide foraging area that honey bee colonies utilize (over three miles in every direction) helps ensure that any plants within foraging range that do have access to water and are in bloom, will be discovered by the bees.

Modest land requirements
Compared to other agricultural endeavors, beekeeping activities require the least amount of land, so farmers are often able to add honey production to their farm plan without sacrificing space for other crops. Apiaries can also utilize infertile land, or areas otherwise not suitable for other forms of agriculture.

Since beekeeping doesn’t modify or permanently alter the area in which it is carried out, it is fairly easy for an apiculturist who doesn’t own property to find land owners that are happy to provide apiary accommodations on their property. This helps make beekeeping the most accessible of all agricultural efforts, especially in third world countries and among populations with modest incomes since land ownership is not a necessary requirement to keep bees.

The pollination dividend
Through the act of pollination, honey bees increase crop quality and yields, an attribute that often causes landowners to seek out beekeepers willing to place bees on their land. Instead of being accused of stealing from neighboring farms, beekeepers receive praise for the pollination services they provide. The pollination action of bees also helps ensure the presence of wild and native species of plants and trees, which indirectly benefits wildlife as well.

Climate destabilization is making things harder for farmers, especially in arid regions like Africa.

A model of sustainability
Beekeeping is not only proving to be somewhat more resilient in the face of climate destabilization, but it can be part of the climate solution. Depending on how it is carried out, the perennial nature of beekeeping provides the potential to have one of the smallest environmental footprints in all of agriculture (Mujica et al., 2016; Moreira et al., 2019; Pignagnoli et al., 2021). The bees do most of the work. The biggest energy demands of beekeeping are in traveling to and from apiaries or migratory pollination sites. Significant energy is also required for extracting, bottling and processing of honey and beeswax. By keeping beeyards close to the honey house or farm that need pollination services, using renewable energy sources for processing, and non-plastic packaging, many of the negative climate and environmental effects of apiculture can be reduced, if not eliminated.

Since every beekeeping operation is different it can be difficult to pinpoint the exact ecological footprint of beekeeping in general. Much depends of the variety of practices such as feeding regimens, treatment practices, honey yields and shipping and transportation distances used by the beekeeping operation. Migratory beekeeping operations for example have been shown to have greater disease problems and results in bees more likely to have compromised immune systems, all of which increases the need for treatments and expensive inputs (Brosi et al., 2017; Simone-Finstrom et al., 2016; Gordon et al., 2014; Jara et al., 2021). Generally speaking, the ecological footprint of backyard beekeepers is more than three times as small as your standard commercial beekeeping operation (Kendal et al., 2011).

Unlike most agricultural activities, the very nature of the beekeeping business model provides the potential to be more sustainable. Vegetable, grain and fruit farmers typically need to buy new seed, fertilizer and agrochemicals annually, while providing tilling, irrigation and weed control. Beekeeping is a perennial activity. Beekeepers can use the same hives season after season, and as long as they are able to keep their bees alive, the need to purchase expensive inputs on a yearly basis is minimized.

It is easy to focus on all the challenges and fall into a “Woe is me” attitude considering the constant flow of bad news facing our industry. While I am not saying that things are going to be easy, there are plenty of reasons to believe that the future of beekeeping is more secure than other agricultural industries, many of which are profitable only because they are being propped up by government subsidies and taxpayer dollars. Beekeeping has the potential to provide one of the most stable and sustainable agricultural business models during the uncertain climate future that threatens to destabilize much of agriculture as it is practiced today. While beekeepings’ ecological footprint is already better than most other forms of agriculture, we can improve the current carbon footprint of the industry by finding ways to reduce emissions by minimizing transportation and shipping distances of bees, increasing the adoption of stationary beekeeping practices and by localizing, or at least regionalizing our business models.

Many beekeepers initially get involved in this ancient craft out of a concern and desire to benefit the natural world, a world that is rapidly changing and not always for the better. Thankfully, beekeeping appears to be better situated than most of agriculture to weather the unstable and uncertain future that is envisioned. Despite the numerous very real and serious threats to honey bees, there is good reason to think that beekeeping, and therefore honey bees themselves, will continue for as long as the planet’s ecosystem can support it and us.

Ross Conrad is author of Natural Beekeeping: Revised and Expanded, 2nd edition, and The Land of Milk and Honey: A history of beekeeping in Vermont.

References:
Brosi, B.J., Deleplane, K.S., Boots, M., De Roode, J.C. (2017) Ecological and evolutionary approaches to managing honey bee disease, Nature Ecology & Evolution, (1)1250-1262
Gordon, R., Schott-Bresolin, N., East, I.J. (2014) Nomadic beekeeper movements create the potential for widespread disease in the honey bee industry, Australian Veterinary Journal, 92:283-290
IPCC Sixth Assessment Report: Food, Fiber and Other Ecosystem Products
Jara, L., Ruiz, C., Martin-Hernandez, R., Munoz, I., Higes, M., Serrano, J., De la Rua, P., (2021) The effect of migratory beekeeping on the infestation rate of parasites in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies and on their genetic variability, Microorganisms, 9(22)
Kendall, A., Yuan, J., Brodt, S.B., Kramer, K.J. (2011) Carbon Footprint of U.S. Honey Production and Packaging – Report to the National Honey Board, University of California, Davis, pp 1-23
Mambondiyani, Andrew (2023) Why farmers in Zimbabwe are shifting to bees, Yes!
Moreira, M.T., Cortes, A., Lijo, L., Noya, I., Pineiro, O., Lopez-Carracelas, L., Omil, B., Barral, M.T., Merino, A., Feijoo, G. (2019) Environmental Implications of honey production in the national parks of northwest Spain,
Mujica, M., Blanco, G., Santalla, E. (2016) Carbon footprint of honey produced in Argentina, Journal of Cleaner Production, 116(10): 50-60
Pignagnoli A, Pignedoli S, Carpana E, Costa C, Dal Prà A. (2021) Carbon Footprint of Honey in Different Beekeeping Systems. Sustainability. 13(19):11063. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131911063
Simone-Finstrom, M., Li-Byarlay, H., Huang, M.H., Strand, M.K., Rueppel, O., Tarpy, D.R. (2016) Migratory management and environmental conditions affect lifespan and oxidative stress in honey bees, Scientific Reports, 6(1):32023

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.

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Found in Translation

Teaching Bees New Tricks

By: Jay Evans, USDA Beltsville Bee Lab

Bees have innate (think ‘robo-bee’) and learned (‘show me, sister’) behaviors. Recent work with bees has explored the boundaries of these two forms. While it is dangerous to put our own biases on animal behaviors, the complex behaviors measured seem to include ‘play’, ‘puzzling’ and ‘dancing’. Oh yeah, and they can count as well, even showing an awareness of ‘zero’ things, but that was yesteryear’s news from Scarlett Howard and colleagues (Numerical ordering of zero in honey bees, 2018, Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.aar4975).

What is fascinating about work coming out just this year is that not only do bees show complex behaviors, but they seem to get better at those behaviors by watching their nestmates. Bee dances will be familiar to most beekeepers and students of animal behavior. Successful foragers often tell their sisters where the good stuff is after finishing their foraging flights. Specifically, foragers signal both direction and distance to flower sources using the waggle dance. True to its name, and shown graphically to the right, this dance involves a bee streaking across the comb and shaking its abdomen for the edification of sister foragers. The angle of this dance on a vertical patch of comb signals the direction of a good food source relative to the current position of the sun relative to the hive. The length of each dance streak provides an estimate of the distance to flower patches (or to sugar baits planted by curious naturalists). By repeatedly dancing, they drum up interest and lead future foragers to a better understanding of how far they might have to fly to get these rewards. The discovery of this dance language is decades old, and justified a share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973 for Austrian bee researcher Karl von Frisch. The recent work ups the game by showing that much of this behavior is learned by watching older, more precise, dancers.

Shihao Dong and colleagues set out to study Social signal learning of the waggle dance in honey bees (2023, Science, DOI:10.1126/science.ade1702). Specifically, they judged the dancing skills of self-starters relative to those of bees that were mentored by older, experienced, dancers. To produce a swarm of naïve dancers, they established colonies comprised solely of like-aged bees, so that all bees reached foraging age together and were therefore less likely to benefit from matching the skills of a senior dancer. Bees from these ‘Animal Farm’ colonies were compared to marked bees of the same age which had grown up gazing at the dances of experienced dancers in colonies with a typical age profile. Naïve bees consistently over-stated the distance they had flown to flowers, in effect telling nestmates to fly right past suitable food sources. They also showed more ‘Dance Disorder’ than both older bees and bees that had been exposed to older dancers. Dance accuracy for all dancers improved over time, it just improved much more quickly when bees had older mentors to watch. So what is the lesson here for beekeepers? No, you can’t force your teenager to watch you dance and expect them to get it, but you CAN see how bees in colonies with an abnormal age structure, thanks to rapid premature death of foragers, might continue to slide by spending unnecessary time looking for food. Long-lived bees are those free of chemical stress, raised with adequate protein nutrition, and arguably bees that have avoided mites and other disease. When you protect your bees from these stresses, just think of how their dance lives will improve.

In a study that, for me, deserved two SMH’s, bees were trained to take on puzzle behaviors, or behaviors that simply don’t present themselves to bees when scientists aren’t around. Working with bumble bees, Alice Bridges and colleagues first taught their bees to open small food boxes by pushing on colored (red or blue) tabs. This a behavior I am not sure I could teach my dog, but she is a bit slow. They then checked to see if bees could follow the lead of a nestmate who had already figured out the box trick. While self-learners emerged in the control colonies sometimes got the knack for opening boxes, bees who observed a nestmate open a box were more likely to successfully mimic that behavior. Over time, bees with a teacher opened more boxes, faster, and were rewarded with more sugar treats. Honey bees and some other bee species are known to spontaneously ‘rob’ flowers by chewing directly into nectar pools when those pools are too deep in the flower for their tongues to reach. It would be neat to see if such nectar robbing is also a learned trait, passed on by adventurous foragers who had to learn the trait the hard way. If so, can such teachers target their lessons to their nestmate sisters?

All of these studies push the known boundaries for bee awareness and behavior, showing all the more how lucky we are to have formed bonds with honey bees and other insects. Clever behavioral scientists will no doubt continue to discover profound, and maybe a bit unsettling, awareness by insects. This awareness is likely to be most evident in the highly social honey bees and bumble bees. What’s next, spelling bees? Stay tuned. In the meantime, get out, find a friend and improve your dancing.

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Honey Bee Cannibalism

And some other quirks of our beloved bees

By: James E. Tew

I don’t know how to start this conversation
A question came to me that found me unprepared and uneducated on the queried subject. This is not an uncommon situation for me. I have an abundance of bee questions for which I have no answer, but my interest in this question lingered far beyond its derived answer.

Becca F., a beekeeper friend from north Florida, phoned to ask me, “Why are some of the bees in one of my colonies eating some of its brood?” The colony in question was from a cut-out (A “cut-out” is a colony that originated when a beekeeper relocated it from a natural nest site, such as a hollow tree or the wall of a house, to standard hive equipment.)  from late last season. Other than some destroyed brood, all other biological characteristics of the colony seemed in good order. You should know that, at the time of the phone call, the 2023 Spring season was well underway in Becca’s area.

From nearly nine-hundred miles away, I really could not say what was causing this disappointing behavior in her distant colony, but I felt that we could, at least, narrow the possible reasons. Narrowing the issue is not the same as answering the issue. If there is a food shortage (probably protein) or if a perceived pathogen is present, I surmised that nurse bees sometimes eat larval brood. I proffered a guess that if all other brood stages seemed healthy, and copious food stores were present, and a pollen and nectar flow was still yet to come, this mysterious issue would most likely resolve itself.

Figure 1. Small Hive Beetles, the cause of brood destruction.

Indeed, it did. Apparently, a Small Hive Beetle (SHB) population had grown within the colony to the extent that some of the bee brood was damaged. Selected bees were striving to regain control of the situation and were eliminating damaged or dead brood. Providing some beetle traps and some microfiber cloths seemed to help the bees regain control in the afflicted colony.

From afar, I was able to do nothing that was helpful. The beekeeper and the bees had seemingly won this battle, but the situation lingered in my thoughts. That some of the bees from one of Becca’s colonies was actually killing and eating some of its brood was a curiosity that stayed with me. Such cannibalism is documented colony behavior in the beekeeping literature. You and I both know that fact, but exactly how does it work? When and why does it work?

Through the decades
Through the passing decades, many times I have alluded to the fact that bees will, at times, “eat” some of their young. With superficial confidence, I have told audiences that these cannibalistic bees are selecting older larvae first. Why? Older larvae are the colony’s major food consumers. Younger larvae seemingly would be on the short list and would be consumed as the older larvae were eliminated. Honey bee eggs will have not yet become food consumers and developing pupae have already completed the eating stage. They are reasonably safe. However, larval stages would be in serious trouble if food stores were stressed.

For hygienic reasons, bees will also remove diseased brood from the colony. At this point, I have few answers, but many questions. Will nurse bees intentionally consume the larval contents as they dispose of their diseased brood? If so, are they re-purposing the larvae’s fluid contents as food or are they removing the contents to expedite getting the dead brood member to the colony entrance? Or both? I have more comments on this concept later in this piece.

Mature honey bees
Let’s just get this out of the way. I cannot recall of an instance where it was documented that an adult bee consumed another adult honey bee. Maybe – and completely hypothetically – I suppose that under specific undocumented situations, if a nectar-ladened worker was killed (i.e., crushed, mashed or just died) and the contents of her honey crop was somehow available, that sweetness could be of interest to other living house bees.

Yes, that scenario is a wildcard, but a scenario like that one is the only incident in which I can envision an adult bee having an interest in cannibalistically eating some of the contents of another adult bee. So again, adult honey bees do not see other adult bees as a food supply.

Maybe for another time, and on a different subject, birds, toads, spiders and other insects certainly do view adult honey bees as food sources. Adult honey bees are readily eaten by these animal species.

Laying workers
When lauding the productivity of a beautiful queen, I have sometimes stated to audiences that, “Nurse bees will police any defective or incorrectly placed brood by eating/removing it.” In effect, this has the effect of making the queen’s output look very good because the workers corrected her mistakes. Well, in a way, she is good at her genetic job, because her offspring had that innate ability. But what about defective queens or even laying workers?

Though I feel a bit shaken, I still support the concept that healthy workers will eat/remove laying worker eggs when they find one. Just exactly how the worker perceives the defective egg is far beyond my knowledge. But I again write that I have lost some of my nerve. Are the workers eating the haploid egg or only removing it? I have been told, and I have re-stated to others, that viable workers truly eat the defective egg.

Indeed, I have read, and subsequently repeated to others, that to a greater or lesser extent, laying worker eggs are commonly found even in healthy colonies – especially when the brood and adult population are high and healthy queen pheromone levels are stretched across the large population. During those times, viable adult workers are constantly removing these sly, worker-laid eggs. Then again, I would boldly say to an audience, “They eat them.”

Whereas, I was once confident in this statement, I have recently grown more reticent. In my fifty plus years of beekeeping, I have never seen an egg anywhere but in a cell. Are these undesirable eggs really being eaten or did I simply not notice a tiny, white egg laying outside on the landing board as it was being discarded? I don’t know. Maybe I just missed it. I will try to be more observant.

Immature queens and drones
I feel that you and I could agree that immature queens and drones are “eliminated” when they are no longer needed. Queen cells are frequently torn down and contents removed if such cells are unneeded.

Figure 2. Dismembered drones at the colony entrance.

As have you, I have seen partially dismembered drones that were being removed from cells. Were they dismembered to ease the removal process or were juices and cellular fluids consumed? I don’t know. I offer this thought at this point; I dangerously assume that liquid contents would be eaten – if for no other reason that nest cleanliness.

Hygienic behavior
Where would honey bees be without this cleanliness behavior? Queen breeders select for this attribute. Scientific careers have been built on this concept. We wish all our queen stocks exhibited this characteristic. But there are instances when the process turns negative for both the bees and their keepers.

For instance, while removing infected brood, nurse bees’ brood food glands may become contaminated with bacterial spores of American foulbrood (AFB). Those nurse bee carriers then feed susceptible young larvae along with pathogenic bacterial spores that perpetuates AFB within the colony’s young brood population. In many presentations, I considered it humorous to tell audiences that nurse bees did not have small stainless-steel buckets and cleaning cloths. Therefore, the only way they could remove the diseased larval debris was to eat it. In retrospect, this may not have been as funny as I thought.

There is abundant published literature (2Posada-Florez, F., Lamas, Z.S., Hawthorne, D.J. et al. Pupal cannibalism by worker honey bees contributes to the spread of deformed wing virus. Sci Rep 11, 8989 (2021). https://rdcu.be/c8o25) that explains how hygienic cleaning spreads deformed wing virus. At this point, I am left with nothing to write. If the colony does not keep itself immaculate, the viral disease spreads. If it cleans itself and keeps colony conditions immaculate, the viral disease spreads. This is a true conundrum.

This spread occurs because bees are in direct contact with virus particles as they clean/eat the diseased brood. I sense that the best solution is to prevent varroa-vectored viruses from gaining a hold in the colony; therefore, the alert beekeeper should constantly suppress varroa populations. At this point, I am forced to admit that if I don’t manage varroa first, I will have much greater problems managing my bees later. This too, is a topic for another time.

Seasonal adjustments
It’s harsh. As humans, we are nearly unable to tolerate the concept, but to bees, brood is potentially food in a form other than bee bread or honey. At this moment, as I write for you, my Spring season is just beginning. Maple is in bloom as are other early season food sources. So, of course, the weather swings between being nice and warm to absolutely wintry.

If my bees have been on time, there is a significant brood population being developed within my colonies. Suddenly, due to cold weather returning, there is no pollen coming in. Not only must the brood be fed, but it be kept warm. What should nurse bees do? It seems that they heartlessly cut their losses. If they perceive that protein is in critically short supply, they stop feeding the oldest larvae, consume them to re-purpose their body fluids to power their nurse bee brood-food glands, and await the restart of the seasonal pollen flow. Such seasonal fluctuations occur everywhere, not just cold climates.

During serious dearths, using brood as food is a brutal but logical thing to do. Could it then be written that bees’ diet is honey, pollen and in trying times, its own bee brood? Yes, this seems harsh to human beekeepers.

Honey bees eating process
Through the years, I have spent significant time trying to understand the “chewing-lapping” mouthparts system that bees use to consume their food. While I think I understand the basics, I readily admit that I do not grasp the finer details of this complicated process. Lacking typical chewing jaws and essentially only consuming a liquid diet, how do bees actually eat a larva? Indeed, how does a bee eat pollen or anything else solid?

Figure 3. The complex honey bee mouthparts (Snodgrass)

While searching a plethora of complex literature on honey bee mouthparts, I stumbled across a very old pamphlet from the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections by N.E. McIndoo (3McIndoo, N.E. 1906. The sense organs on the mouthparts of the Honey Bee. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection, Vol 65, No. 14. https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/23540/SMC_65_McIndoo_1916_14_1-55.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y). This author reported that bees, using enzymatically reducing saliva, convert some solids to liquid forms thereby allowing the bees to “drink” the heretofore solids. Alternatively, if the solids are small enough, other supporting mouthparts, “in crane-like fashion” lift the small particles to the bee’s mouth where they are subsequently swallowed. For the hyper-interested reader, in clearer description, this bit of information was deeply buried in the fifty-five-page document and can be found on pages 39-41.

An aside…
Through the years, I have admonished honey bee enthusiasts to understand and respect all insect and animal life – not just honey bees. All species have some astonishing characteristics and abilities that seemingly make them stand above their other animal peers. Ergo, honey bees are amazing, but so are many other animal species. But I want to get sappy for a bit. The function and complexity of honey bee mouth parts astound me. Admittedly, I am not a honey bee anatomist, so I struggle to understand this complex system that honey bees whimsically use. I suggest that these hidden mouth parts and their functions are every bit as elegant as the dance language behavior and orienting capabilities of honey bees. In my opinion, bees’ mouthparts deserve more respect than they have gotten.

So, are honey bees vegetarian?
Under dire conditions, some bees will eat some of the colony’s developing brood. Can we agree on that point? If that is true, then can it be stated that honey bees are vegetarians? Maybe not. In fact, things are even more complicated. When bees gather and store pollen, they also collect microbes that live on and in pollen4. Those microscopic animals are also eaten by bees. Some researchers feel that this “meat” is an important overlooked food nutrient for honey bees. As you would expect, this is causing some consternation within scientific circles, but the concept seems to have a toehold at this time. So, are honey bees truly vegetarian? Maybe not.

Just one more thing – robbing behavior
I am out of space, but just one more thing. If robbing bees are maniacal for any food from anywhere, why do they not murder all the larvae in the colony being robbed and imbibe their body fluids? Do they? Honestly, I have never looked. Those large larvae are certainly a potential food source in the weakened colony.

As you know, a robbing episode is NOT the best time to pull all brood frames out of the robbed colony to have a look at whether larvae have been killed, but maybe I should have a look just one time. Please let me know if you see something in your robbed colonies.

Thank you.
To Becca and her bees, I offer a thank you for spurring me to think. To the readers who struggled through this piece, I thank you for your time and dedication to our bees.

Dr. James E. Tew
Emeritus Faculty, Entomology
The Ohio State University
tewbee2@gmail.com

Co-Host, Honey Bee
Obscura Podcast
www.honeybeeobscura.com