From the Editor, Jerry Hayes
Honey Bee Winter
Survival
QUESTION
Very good article in Catch the Buzz about beekeeping in North Dakota. But, I would like to know what the small-time beekeepers do in North Dakota to get through the Winter. Here in Minnesota, a lot of the backyard beekeepers lost a lot of hives last Winter. Minnesota’s beekeepers are tight lipped when it comes to information on what they did to get their hives through the Winter.
D. Johnson
ANSWER
According to BIP, and others, most of the losses by backyard beekeepers is because of the lack of consistent sampling for Varroa multiple times of the year, then treat if over three mites per 100 bees according to label directions, then sample again to see if treatment worked is rarely being done. Long-lived Winter bees are different than short-lived Summer bees. Winter bees are being produced now and if they are negatively impacted by Varroa/Varroa Virus Legacy they don’t live as long and ‘poof’ colony is dead over late Winter/early Spring.
This topic has been highlighted many, many times and few backyard beekeepers actually are Beekeepers but rather Beehavers.
Commercial beekeepers, according to the BIP survey, lose fewer colonies over Winter. I wonder why?
‘Tools for Varroa Management Guide’, https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/HBHC-Guide_Varroa-Mgmt_8thEd-082422.pdf I tell all beekeepers to memorize this.
OA Mega Treatments
QUESTION
Can you please point me to research on damage done to antenna so I can share it with knucklehead neighboring beeks who hit them every four days with mega doses?
Thanks, Mark Donovan
ANSWER
I hope your beekeeping buddies know that ⅔ of varroa are reproducing/hiding behind capped brood cells at this time of the year. That means that multiple OA or formic treatments don’t do much other than let the queen get hit every time. One treatment in January or February when there is no brood or little brood can control phoretic (exposed) Varroa mites pretty well. Doing it now is simply adding collateral damage to the colony getting ready for Winter…or not.
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
“Some acaricides have been shown to affect the physiology of adult worker bees. Formic acid treatment had a significant effect on the number of sensilla found in the bee’s antenna. Non-significant differences were recorded for the mean length and surface area of the sensilla. Topically administrated oxalic acid is known to penetrate keratin and can subsequently be detected in the bees internal organs including the digestive tract, rectum and heamolymph, which it can damage and cause elevated mortality.”
Taktic???
QUESTION
What is Taktic? I keep hearing it at our beekeeper meetings in side conversations.
B. Cantrell
ANSWER
It is a product that contained amitraz and was originally used in the livestock industry. Some beekeepers early on with Varroa discovered it and used it off label and with multiple treatments to treat for Varroa. With amitraz resistance being found in Varroa, and the legal, effective, labeled products losing effectiveness because of illegal use of Taktic, it has been taken off the market.
Hot Bees!
QUESTION
I have ended up with some very grumpy colonies collectively which has been a struggle as we have tried to breed for demeanor as well and up to this year, have only encountered the occasional “hot” colony that needs dealt with. I brought in some new VHS genetics last Summer and was attributing the aggression to possibly these genetics, despite not having had that be an issue before with VSH bees, but these came from a different breeder.
They were requeened and still dealing with collective aggression which brings me to my hypothesis that I pitched to my wife Ella over the weekend as I was getting my hands stapled by the bees. We reside within the “catastrophic” damage area of the New Madrid Fault line. They have predicted catastrophic destruction within this area since I was a kid. I actually remember a time in sixth grade where they had it pinpointed to the day that the quake was going to happen and being scared to come home from school as no one else would be there at the time, lol.
So I mention this because the only other time in which I had the majority of an out yard go aggressive on me was when there was drilling being done within 100 feet of the hives as the workers drilled down about 30 feet through slate to lay water lines. This went on for a day to which several hives absconded and I had trouble righting that apiary collectively the rest of the season.
Now, having a handful of apiaries spread out amongst four different counties but all within the fault line, do my bees sense something is going on beneath the surface that us mere mortals cannot detect and are really unhappy about it?
Jeff Kennedy
ANSWER
I think I have said this before, ‘Anyone who says they know everything about honey bees or fault lines is a liar’.
Not sure about fault lines and earthquakes and geologic movement from fracking etc. influencing honey bee defensive behavior.
The honey bee ‘grumpy gene’ is carried by the drone. So your grumpy worker bees are just telling you about Dad. Wherever your DCA is, there will be drones from there to miles away. There’s also drones from packages and nucs from all over the South which local beekeepers have purchased. The southern U.S. and California has AHB genetic introgression. Just saying.
From Jeff
Ah yes… one of my nearby farmers brings in package bees every Spring. Joy!!
Bees Slowing Down
QUESTION
Is it normal when I look through the inner cover at night (this is when I change my sugar syrup), sometimes I see the bees, but they are moving slow now? It’s about 65°F out during the day, they are active and the queen is laying but cooler at night.
P. Zablocky
ANSWER
Remember that honey bees are insects that do not have a metabolism that creates significant heat. They are not like your warm dog or cat or you, whose temperature is at 98.6°F, which allows you to maintain activity when the outside temperature drops below that.
Honey bees respond to temperatures of between 57°F to about 100°F for inside activity and outside foraging. Think of a honey bee colony like a thermometer. As the temperature rises, the colony spreads out to allow airflow to remove excess heat (they don’t sweat) and become much more active. When the temperature drops, then the individual bees find their sisters and the colony group contracts and snuggles up together at about 57°F, called a Cluster, to try to maintain a temperature by muscle wiggles and movement to keep the queen, the only fertile female, warm and their genetic future from being damaged.
So in your example, if it is 65°F during the day, then they are above that cluster temperature of 57°F but moving less actively than if it were 80°F. They are getting ready for Winter and practicing.
I hope that helps.
Pollinia
QUESTION
In https://www.beeculture.com/milkweeds-honey-plants/ it was stated “However, there are potential negative aspects to milkweed flowers. It is conceivably possible for bees and other small pollinators to become trapped in a blossom.”
I was trying to figure out why I have seen so many small pollinators (western honey bees, hawthorn mining bees, flies and an unknown moth) hanging upside down dead in my large milkweed patch. I freed a western honey bee once and it was extremely difficult to do without hurting her.
Thank you for providing such useful information. I hope this information will be helpful.
P. Richardson
ANSWER
https://vtecostudies.org/blog/a-flower-trap/#:~:text=Unlike%20most%20flowers%2C%20milkweeds%20don,stick%20to%20an%20insect%E2%80%99s%20leg.
Pollinia… a flower trap. Life finds a way.
