Dear Subscribers:
How things change. We have moved quickly from drought status I reported last month for north central Florida, to a surfeit of precipitation at the present time with more on the way. The storms seem to be increasing in intensity as does the rainfall. Literally buckets come down in short periods of time. Two to three inches in a matter of an hour and half is not “normal” from my perspective. These events almost have a hurricane look about them (tropical development), but it’s too early for these things to show up here and they have a shorter time line. However, it could be a harbinger of things to come. We are now in a we hope small prolonged heat wave with heat indices at around 105 degrees F. Stay tuned.
The Kickstarter project mentioned in last month’s newsletter: Bee Health Guru: Helping Beekeepers Keep Healthy Bees. A smartphone app that listens to bees to tell you what is wrong with them!, finished strong with 653 backers, who pledged $28,286 to help “bring the project to life.” . Now the hard work starts as the developers ramp up to deliver the promised rewards to backers next month. The so-called “tuning” phase of the project can then begin in earnest as those receiving smartphone apps start using them in the real world.
The May 2019 issue of Alberta Bee News reports news of something called The 2018 Resolution: Packaged Bees Test Pilot. To understand the importance of this, it’s worth looking at the history of the relationship between U.S. and Canadian beekeeping since the 1980s, when tracheal mite was found in Texas and then Florida, followed quickly by the Varroa mite. At that point, a long tradition came to an end extending back into the 1940s, when as one wag put it, Canadians transformed themselves from “beehavers” to “beekeepers.”
The honey production model before mites was that Canadians purchased package bees from the U.S. to populate their bee boxes each Spring, which would grow and make large crops of honey. After the crop was taken at the end of summer, the hives were then killed (gassed) so that they would not have to be fed during the long winter (an expensive process), and could be reestablished with packages the next year. The closure of the Canadian border to keep out the mites put an end to this practice.
The collateral damage was substantial as the package bee industry in California and the Southeastern U.S. was left with many fewer customers, and Canadians were forced to get their bees from elsewhere (Australia and New Zealand). Canadian beekeepers were able to weather the storm by becoming better at managing colonies for their temperate environment (long, hard winters). Package bee producers in the U.S. over time readjusted their business model to cater to the growing number of new beekeepers and need for established beekeepers to replace an increasing number of colonies that perished due to mites and other causes.
The Package Bees Test Pilot of the Alberta Beekeepers Commission proposes to bring 200 packages into Alberta to monitor how they fare. In a letter to the Canadian Honey Council asking for support of this initiative, it says, “To be clear,” the Commission is not, at this time, asking to open the Canada U.S. border, but only support the resolution to approve the test pilot. The Council’s response to the proposal was one word, “defeated.” This was based on the timing of the request and the Council’s commitment to increase domestic capacity. Look for this to come up again as part of deliberations at Apimondia 46 in Montreal in September.
Thanks to Joe Traynor, Pollination Broker Extraordinaire for sending his June 1, 2019 Almond Grower Newsletter
2020 Prices – Our bee-rental prices for 2020 will remain the same as this year.
2019 Pollination – 2019 bloom weather was the worst that most growers can remember – above normal rain and below normal temperatures. Bees don’t fly much until temperatures reach 55 degrees (F) and there were many days this year that barely reached 55. In spite of the less-than-ideal weather, the current almond crop looks surprisingly good, esp. for growers that rented strong bee colonies. In most years, it is difficult to find bees working almond flowers after 2PM because the bees have collected almost all of the exposed pollen in the morning. This year, morning rains (and cold temperatures) confined bees to their hives in the morning and also inhibited pollen release (anther dehiscence). When conditions improved in the afternoon (or the next day) flower anthers released pollen and the bees were out in force. This year, we saw many pollen-collecting bees working well past 2PM and as late as 5PM – highly unusual!
2020 Pollination – A large acreage of young almond trees will reach bearing age in 2020, putting additional pressure on a limited bee supply.
U.S. beekeepers continue to face the same problems that have plagued them in recent years: parasitic varroa mites (and the viruses that accompany the mites), inadequate summer forage, esp. in the plains states where natural bee forage continues to be converted to corn and soybeans. In California, summer cotton flowers used to be good bee forage but almond orchards now occupy former cotton ground forcing CA beekeepers to move to already over-crowded bee pasture in other states. Pesticide applications in ag areas are always a threat to bees. Because almond bee rentals are a major source of income to beekeepers, many beekeepers divide their strongest colonies in the spring and summer in order to increase or maintain their colony numbers; they hope that with supplemental feeding, along with pest and disease control, these divided colonies will grow and will make it through the winter. Like every year, we won’t have a good handle on the almond bee supply until after winter losses are tallied in January.
Almost all our growers use no more than 1.5 colonies/acre (8+ frame strength). If all almond growers did the same, bee rental fees would stabilize. The argument against cutting back on bee numbers has always been “What about that one year when we get lousy pollination weather?” Well, 2019 was that year! Yet even our growers that used less than 1 colony/acre have excellent crops. Renting strong colonies is key to getting good almond crops in poor-weather years. For more from Joe on this subject see his blog.
Good news for beekeepers about a certain fungus. It’s always been thought that some kind of biological control of Varroa mites might come from this sort of organism. That line of research now appears to be bearing fruit at Washington State University, where, the fungus, Metarhizium, has been shown to reduce mites and increase hive longevity. Beyond this, study also suggests that deformed wing and Lake Sinai viruses may also be affected by this organism. Researchers conclude: “The benefit is clear, but…are not sure whether the mushroom extracts contain compounds that are destroying the viruses directly, or if they are boosting the bees’ immune system, or both.”
Anyone examining the history of apiary structure over time was sure to consider that the configuration of an apiary might be important when looking at honey bee hive placement. Honey bees did not evolved in apiaries, but in randomly-located nests in the wild. One well known fact is that putting colonies in a straight line is not a good practice, because it invariably results in stronger colonies at both ends of an array with weak colonies winding up in the middle due to drifting (bees are unable to find their parent hive in the center and “drift” toward the ends). A recent paper looking at mite infestation with the same frame of reference concludes:
“We investigated disease transmission and dynamics between the apiary configurations by clearing all colonies of the parasitic mite Varroa destructor, and subsequently inoculating two randomly-chosen colonies per apiary with controlled mite doses. We monitored the colonies for two years and found that the LD apiary configuration had significantly greater honey production and reduced overwinter mortality. Inoculation and apiary management intervention interacted to affect brood mite levels, with the highest levels in the inoculated colonies in the HD configuration. Finally, foragers were more than three times more likely to drift in the HD apiary configurations. Our results suggest that a relatively straightforward management change–placing colonies in low-density visually complex circles rather than high-density visually similar linear arrays–can provide meaningful benefits to the health and productivity of managed honey bee colonies.”
Barkman Honey introduces a “Project Re-entry” inmate workforce program with workers coming on board from the Hutchinson Correctional Facility beginning in July. The Project Re-entry inmate program will initially employ nine positions in the Hillsboro manufacturing plant.
“We’re pleased to begin this progressive Project Re-entry program. Not only are we helping to provide a fresh start for hardworking, qualified inmates, we’ll be addressing the workforce availability challenges we continue to realize in Marion county,” says owner and CEO Brent Barkman .
“Barkman Honey hopes to see the inmates successfully transition back into the workforce and community as law-abiding, tax-paying citizens and reduce the chance of inmates returning to prison. Currently, multiple inmate workforce programs operate across the state, some of which include Cal- Maine Foods, Henke Manufacturing, Husky Hogs, Mill Creek, Redbarn Pet Products, Wifco Steel Products, Zephyr Products, among others. The Kansas Department of Corrections inmate workforce program has a successful history spanning 40 years and currently employs over 900 inmates across the state.”
This is good to see. Beekeeping in fact is more than just a job, but considered by some to become a “career.” Contributor Ron Miksha writes about a similar program in Canada, which he calls, “Save the People.” These projects are similar to the SAVE program, also a Kansas outfit, which seeks to use beekeeping to help veterans reenter society.
The hollowing out of the rural population in Spain is a crisis in the making. It is affecting beekeepers in numerous ways and appears to be similar to what has happened to populations on other rural areas like in the U.S., where many people have simply moved to urban areas. The Spanish situation is exacerbated by rampant honey adulteration it seems:
“ ‘It’s very well known in the industry that there is a lot of adulteration,’ says Haefker. In Chinese imports there ‘may be some honey; it may be some rice syrup,’ he says. ‘Their production methods, based on drying of unripe honey, are illegal according to international food law and the honey regulation of the European Union.’
“In the face of this, Spanish beekeepers are forced to deal with the increased mortality of their colonies by creating more hives. But these immature hives don’t produce honey in sufficient quantities. ‘They’re on a short rope,’ says Haefker. ‘We have the highest sense of alarm. It’s not a situation that is healthy or encouraging.’ ”
“Spain is not alone. Professional honey producers throughout Europe who rely on bees living in the rural landscape face an unrelenting stress on their businesses. That the population of bees in Europe has remained stable at all is due to the efforts of urban beekeepers who keep the animals mostly for a hobby.
“Professional beekeepers also happen to reside in parts of Spain where political power is in decline. When the Great Recession hit Europe in 2008, scarce government resources were concentrated in urban areas. Rural parts of Spain lagged behind when it came to such government improvements as infrastructure development, high speed internet and other services.”
On the heels of this has come the honey bee invasion of urban areas like the city of Valencia: “The earliest known record of humans harvesting honey in what is present day Spain, perhaps even all of Europe, comes from cave paintings in the region of Valencia from between 7,000 to 8,000 years ago. Now some parts of the region, which produces seedless oranges, actually outlaw beekeeping during the flowering season in order to protect their crops. Those that remain are subject to severe stress due to the nature of industrial-scale monocrop agriculture.
“The result has been a mass flight of bees from the countryside to the city of Valencia, located on the Mediterranean coast with a population of some 790,000 inhabitants. About four years ago, environmentalist (sic) in the city began to notice hundreds of swarms of bees, each as large as 10,000 bees.
“The city’s fire department found hives in streetlights, abandoned cars, even the city‘s cemetery. ‘In the countryside there was a lack of water, there was monocrop agriculture and pesticides,’ says Santiago Uribarrena, coordinator of the Valencia Tree Observatory. ‘The bees were refugees seeking sanctuary. Here in the city of Valencia there was water, plenty of flowers, few pesticides and an absence of predators.’
“In response to the mass migration, the city has set up bee hives throughout the city. Neighborhood associations were allowed to begin to cultivate honey for their own use. For the city, the benefit was to have a vast army of pollinators for local plant life. The bees exist also as an indicator of the environmental health of the city of Valencia.”
Although in the short term, this looks to be a solution, it is not. The article concludes: “…we have to be careful about saying that the future of bees is in the cities. They’re moving here because agricultural areas are so poor for them. That is a fundamental problem that needs to be addressed.”
Check out the recent post by contributor Ron Miksha at his Bad Beekeeping Blog concerning identifying laying workers. Not an easy thing to do sometimes, but an important skill for any beekeeper to master. See also his birthday present to that great lady of Beekeeping, Eva Crane.
Here’s an update on last month’s report of a pending trip and associated activity by Australians looking at Varroa mite resistance through honey bee breeding. It looks like we’ll get some kind of running commentary as activity proceeds via the Bee Scientifics blog.
“We are heading to the United States in a few weeks on an exciting adventure to learn how to breed Varroa tolerant bees from some of the most successful projects in the world. We will bring all our learning back to Australia and start creating the framework to tackle Varroa even before it arrives!”
A raft of information now coming out of Montreal, where Apimondia 46 will take place in September. Sign up soon as the deadline for discounted registration is July 31, 2019. See more about the congress and what might be expected from any Apimondia convention here.
This is being written just as National Pollinator Week is concluding across the nation. Chefs and beekeepers are heading up this effort in Colorado. A Bee CultureCatch the Buzz looks at how the Pollinator Partnership is giving this celebration national exposure. Check out the “Big Day of Giving” campaign to raise funds for all pollinators.
Honey bee losses are all over the place if you look at the Bee Informed Partnership’s current data. Comparing this with European losses is intriguing. It looks like the Europeans have a much less loss rate, averaging around sixteen percent. What can we make of this? Not much it appears; losses are complex and can have different causes including, as the European study says: “We observe colonies in winter but what happens to the bees then can be partly determined by the conditions of the previous summer?”
Rosanna Mattingly, Editor, Western Apicultural Society Journal has published her latest items of interest for beekeepers listed here:
The Drone and the Honey Bee
Pollination in Seedless Watermelons and Honey Bee Placement, Bumble Bees as Pollinators
Urban Bee Keepers Can Help Save Wild Bees
On the Wild Side: Native bees
New Law Would Help Bees—but Could Leave Other Pollinators out in the Cold
Researchers track pollinators across the Pacific Northwest
Bee Safe Program Working in Tandem with Bee Where Program
Researchers look to fungi to help keep honeybees healthy
Beekeeping Tips—From Bees!
Househunting For Honey Bees
Art-science collaboration spotlights pollinator health
LCC named ‘Bee Campus’ affiliate
Forecasting future climate change impacts today
A Plant’s Lifeline: Only One Bee Species Can Sip The Nectar Of The Death Camas
Honey bee colonies down by 16%
Mites and insecticides prove killer combo for honey bees
Half a billion hoverflies migrate to the United Kingdom each year
B.C. celebrates Day of the Honey Bee
Bees buzzing in Colorado political circles
2019 California Spring Update
Twice as many plants have gone extinct than birds, mammals, and amphibians combined
Metallic green sweat bee is an important pollinator
Book reveals wild honeybees’ biology, with insights for beekeepers
Grant to help Minnesota’s backyards become more bee-friendly
Save the bees (& time & money) with a bee lawn
City of Oshawa designated a bee-friendly city
Michigan to allow commercial solar panels on more farmland
Summer reading to prepare for Great Georgia Pollinator Census
Miller’s Honey has long local history
80,000 HONEY BEES RELOCATED FROM MEDFORD FAMILY’S YARD
Check out the June 2019 Bee-L discussions: It took me some time to figure out the new format; I’m a little less annoyed that last month. The entries for black locust are interesting. The plant in general is worth investigating, but only in certain environments. Notoriously fickle in its native North America (as these posts indicate), this is a major European honey source. This pattern can be found all over, including the histories of other non native (invasive) nectar producers like Brazilian pepper in Florida and perhaps Manuka in New Zealand.
As always, see the latest extension efforts at the Bee Health Extension site. Check out the article on nosema.
One hundred and twenty eight units of Storey’s Guide to Keeping Honey Bees, second edition were sold on Amazon.com May 20 through June 17, 2019. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia led the way in sales.
>From the editorial endorsements:
“An excellent introduction to both honey bees and beekeeping. It’s well-written, practical, and exceptionally well-illustrated, making it the perfect book to jump-start the adventure of beekeeping or use as a reference for established beekeepers.” — Dr. Mark L. Winston, author of Bee Time: Lessons from the Hive
Malcolm T. Sanford
https://beekeep.info
https://patreon.com/beeactor
