Why did my bees die?

Tags

beekeeping chores, beekeeping diagnostics, fall management, spring management, varroa mites, what killed my bees?

Why did my bees die?

This is a question often asked and sometimes difficult to answer. The beekeeper looking at a dead colony is left with clues that can sometimes indicate the cause of death. More often though the beekeeper looks at the “crime scene” and makes an incorrect assumption. We’ve all heard it, “Wax moths killed my bees.” or “They got robbed.” or Small hive beetles killed them.” Most often though these are the results of problems that were missed or not addressed earlier.

I like murder mysteries. And, like in murder mysteries, what kills the bees isn’t always the most obvious suspects. It’s not the one the mystery writer wants you to initially think it is. After all what fun would that be? Instead the beekeeper must use some logic in backtracking the history of the colony to solve the mystery. Many times the downward spiral started some time back and we missed it before it lead up to wax moths, robbing, small hive beetles, or other maladies.

This past winter I had a 9% overwinter loss coming into the spring buildup. All in all, in today’s world of beekeeping that’s pretty good. Early in this season’s buildup, in February, I rotated boxes as a swarm prevention technique. I noted that a particular row of hives were not building up as fast as my other hives. As I rotated the hive bodies I inspected and found that they were all queen-right though so I just chalked the slow buildup up to “one of those unexplained things.”

That row of thirteen colonies coming into spring lost six colonies AFTER that first box rotation of spring. All of my other colonies continued to grow and expand.  Granted the ones lost were not the strongest but they had queens (I saw them). How were these different than the ones that were thriving? Time to put on my detective hat. They were unique in that they are all on same row, were not taken down in size last fall (I just ran out of energy), and had older queens. So what killed them? I don’t know but I suspect the stress of the box rotation on an already stressed colony. How were they already stressed? Why did they not build up like the other areas in my bee yard? Thinking about the differences: this group  had older queens, larger hives usually have/maintain higher mite counts,  and were in  an isolated  row in the bee yard.  I don’t know exactly which stressor was the largest but I suspect some or all of the above come into play.

Now my overall losses were at 27% instead of the 9% prior to this event and most likely because I failed to reduce size, monitor this row for Varroa better, and not re-queen in the fall. Which exactly? Beekeepers always want to know which one is the culprit. I don’t know. Maybe it was multiple stressors and not just one. But I do have some excellent suspects! Regardless of which stressor killed these colonies I failed to do that which a good steward should have done for these bees. Ultimately it’s on me.

…

So, after writing the above I was further pondering the possibilities while making up some sugar syrup, and I was thinking about the stressors and it came to me what killed those colonies. Distilling it down to a single element – laziness. I should have taken those hives down to 2 boxes post nectar flow last summer. I should have monitored Varroa better in that row instead of assuming it would be the same as the newer hives in other areas. And I should have re-queened as would have happened easily if I had made splits last year when I should have taken them down in size. My laziness killed those colonies. So there, I came up with a single cause, identified the culprit, and solved the mystery!

It won’t happen again. Maybe something else but not this.

 

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Drawn Comb, Wax Moths, and Fish Bait by sassafrasbeefarm

Tags

beekeeping, drawn comb, management, pests, wax moths

You can always buy more bees, catch a swarm, make a split, or otherwise replace bees. But drawn comb can not be purchased. Having drawn comb in early spring exponentially increases a colony’s productivity versus starting on foundation. A spring package placed on drawn comb typically makes surplus honey the same year.

After the nectar flow, beekeepers must protect their drawn comb from wax moths which will take every opportunity to destroy your bee’s legacy.  You may have to store drawn comb after pulling honey supers, extracting, removing dead outs or removing excess hive bodies as the bee colony population reduces. Always remember, drawn comb is beekeepers’ gold and should be saved and preserved until placed back into use the following spring.

Here are a few excerpts from emails discussing protecting drawn comb from wax moths during storage:

Wax moths are attracted to older brood comb. The residual proteins found in brood comb are their attractant. Typically they will not show any interest (or minimal) in the clean white wax found in honey supers. If any of the comb on a frame has been used at any time in the past for brood rearing it is subject to wax moth infestation.

Be thankful they are on plastic foundation. Otherwise you often have to replace the foundation. And if they are in wooden frames wax moths will actually bore holes in the wood as well. On plastic you can scrape it off and re-coat with wax for next year.

On placing frames in the freezer to kill the wax moth eggs: You can google wax moth, life cycle, etc and find some research. The success of killing the larvae and eggs is dependent on temperature and length of time of exposure. Two days may be sufficient IF your freezer is at 0 degrees F. If your freezer is kept at 20 degrees F it may take 6 days. And if at 32 degrees F it may take longer. (These are just guesses but perhaps you get the idea that an overnight in the freezer may not do the job.) Some people with a limited number of frames can store them in the freezer until outdoor temperatures are colder.

In the bee yard, there is a temperature range for wax moth reproduction. When the outdoor temperatures get cool enough (typically after first freeze) they are typically no longer a threat.

Every year we get posts on the Mid-State Beekeepers discussion board with pictures saying they froze the comb for X number of days then placed it in a Tupperware or other container and stored under the house or some similar dark place only to find the comb destroyed by spring. Last year in bee school a member of the class asked me about this specifically and said if he placed the frames in the freezer for X number of days and then immediately placed it in lawn trash bags and sealed them completely shouldn’t that work? I told him that “in theory” his plan would work but my experience is some eggs will hatch, a mouse will chew a hole, etc., and if conditions are right they will destroy his comb.

On Paramoth (paradichlorobenzene) crystals: The approved product for use with stored comb, and properly labeled, is Paramoth. Moth balls and crystals found in dollar stores, Walmart, and elsewhere may not be pure paradichlorobenzene or worse yet, may be another chemical, naphthalate a known carcinogenic.

Paramoth works well but it is not a one and done application. Use them according to the label and do not under-dose. The crystals “melt” as they release their gas into the supers. Periodically check them throughout the storage period (or until the weather turns cold) and replenish them as needed. I’ve seen some people tape the edges of the hive bodies to make a gas seal. Unfortunately this dark, sealed environment is also ideal for the moths when the para-moth dissolves and no longer provides protection. A period of airing out is necessary before placing the comb back into use.

Storing drawn comb using open air, light, and breeze: I did this one year with good success by placing the hive bodies on their sides under a covered overhang. The light, air, and breeze is an uninviting environment for the moths. This takes a bit of work to lay out the area such that all of the needed components are present AND the frames are protected from the elements. But if you only have a few hive bodies it’s possible. Also, be aware that anything placed outside is subject to squirrels, mice, and other hungry travelers who like the comb, pollen, and honey residuals.

Bacillus thuringiensis aizawa returns! BT (bacillus thuringiensis aizawa): BT is a gram-positive, soil-dwelling bacterium, commonly used as a biological pesticide. This works well and in past years was recommended by the Xerces Society as an approved organic control. Some years ago BT was on the market for use by beekeepers as a product to control wax moths in stored frames until its registration expired and was not renewed by the manufacturer. It has again been registered for use and should start showing up at your favorite beekeeping supply house soon. I have not yet seen it on websites nor in the catalogs. (Word in the bee yard says call Dadant by phone and they’ll hook you up.)  A June 2020 article titled: Valent BioSciences Partners with Vita Bee Health to Develop New Biological Wax Moth Control That Safeguards Health of Honeybees indicates it’s returning to the market. I have a friend that uses BT and sprays the comb as it is coming out of the extractor. Care must be taken to protect the BT sprayed comb from temperatures above 86F degrees  as the bacterium can not survive at higher temperatures. More information can be found in this January release by ABJ here.

Final notes on BT: 1) Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki readily available in garden centers is not the same as bacillus thuringiensis aizawa. 2) There is a product called XenTari for use as non chemical, organic bio control method and approved for use on organic crops is also Bacillus thuringiensis, aizawai. However it is not approved for use as a control for wax moths on comb nor labeled as such. Remember, use of non approved chemicals without proper labelling places the beekeeper at risk should someone claim harm after eating honey from hives where pesticides were not used in accordance with the law.

In closing, for those who protect their drawn comb now, next spring will pay huge dividends in the way of easy splits and surplus honey. And for those who choose to not protect their drawn comb from wax moths don’t despair, I understand the larvae are great as fishing bait.

You can read more about the Greater Wax Moth here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galleria_mellonella

And on the Lesser Wax Moth here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_wax_moth

Everything Starts with a Tasty Meal by sassafrasbeefarm

Tags

beekeeping, management, pests

Quite literally, everything starts with a tasty meal.

In 1943 Abraham Maslow wrote a psychology article proposing a human heirarchy of needs. The short and sweet of the article is: humans start with meeting their basic needs such as food and shelter and, only as those needs are secure can we move to more advanced levels of operations.

So, what does this have to do with bees or insects? Well, we probably need to understand other life forms also have a hierarchy of needs even if limited or primitive. Instead of behaviorally based it’s totally instinctual and for most it starts with food and ends with reproduction. Small Hive Beetles, Wax Moths, Yellow Jackets, and other pests are simply trying to have a tasty meal and move on to reproduction.

Our job, as beekeepers, is to interrupt their ability to progress from food acquisition to reproduction. They want food; deny them access to food and they never progress to reproduction. Let this thought occupy our minds as we contemplate how to combat these pests (after all, we’re already fed so we can operate on higher Maslovian levels).

Denying food to pests: Does our bee feeding program build up the opposing armies as well as feed our bees? Do you see SHB or yellow jackets at your feeding station? Have we provided our hives with adequate defensive tools like entrance reducers, SHB traps, and “hive right-sizing” to guard and protect food stores? Are we inadvertently announcing food availability with fragrant oils to attract pests who are actively seeking out food sources?

Using their needs against them: Bait traps can turn the tables on the pests by tricking them into thinking a food source is available. Simple, cheap traps can be made to attract these pests while NOT attracting honey bees. Poor, poor pests; can’t we all just get a snack? If they are hungry they are more likely to try that bait trap. Be careful not to create an increase in pest pressure through careless feeding of the foes.

My point is simply, if they don’t eat they don’t reproduce.

I remember some time back being encouraged to think like a honey bee. During these times of food dearth, perhaps it also pays to start thinking like a pest.

The Fall Four

Tags

apiculture, beekeeping, fall management, humidity, management, starvation, varroa

I find myself digging ever deeper into the void of my beekeeping knowledge. It seems the more you think you know, the more you realize you don’t know enough. That said, I’m forced into at least assessing the current state of affairs in the bee yard and make decisions based on my ever increasing level of uncertainty about these things.

It seems that I keep reading here and there that the two biggest killers of honey bees are mites and starvation. More recently I saw a third reason suggested, that being winter moisture in the hive. And then let’s not forget about problems resulting from excessive internal hive space. Let’s call these threats to beekeeping the Fall Four. So, with these things in mind, let’s visit the bee yard and see what’s happening.

It’s now October and crunch time for assessing the Fall Four. Hopefully you survived the summer dearth period. Some of my friends fed their bees through the dearth and others allowed their bees to eat their stores – either method works. But now is the time to take on the Fall Four and look at each item and make it right prior to the coming cooler weather. Remember, honey bees are cold blooded animals and anything less than ideal brood nest temperature, in the low nineties, is likely to be stressing. And although the cool weather will soon start, we’ve still got a long way to go as well as times we can’t enter the hives or use certain interventions. So, this time of year we’re all beekeeping preppers.

Item #1 is Mites. I’ve lost one colony to mites this year. It crashed with a mighty thud. Within three to four weeks it went from absolutely thriving to a handful of struggling bees. The weather was warmer then so I continued to see bees coming and going. If a mite crash was to happen now, with these cooler days, I’d probably see no bee traffic as it would take all of the sickly remaining bees to heat the brood area, queen, and cluster. Luckily I’m currently seeing traffic by late mornings on all my hives. A friend of mine told me the other day that he considers a colony dying by mites to be similar to the flu running through a dormitory – one day all are fine, but within days everyone is bedridden. It’s not the mite itself that kills but the viri it spreads. Just like the flu, when the right virus coincides with the right opportunity it’s off to the races. So, pardon my rambling, but have you checked for mites lately? That doesn’t mean look at your bees and try to find mites. It means place a sticky board underneath, ether roll, or sugar shake and count mites and treat accordingly. Recently I’ve been reading about the need to treat all hives when mites levels are high in any hive in an apiary. It seems a failing colony getting robbed out is itself a vector for transmission of mites within an apiary. Personally, I’ve decided this year to treat using Oxalic Acid. Given it is an organic acid and apparently works by eroding the mites finer anatomical parts, the mites are not able to build a tolerance or immunity over time. With all colonies looking healthy right now, my plan is to wait until the broodless period around Thanksgiving and treat all of my colonies simultaneously.

Item #2 is Starvation. I placed my colonies on a maintenance level of feeding when dearth started. More recently, I got into my hives and noted it was time to step up my feeding program. My current goal is to get the hives heavy as soon as possible. That’s going to mean switching to a 2:1 sugar syrup, doubling the number of calories per feeding, to encourage storage. This year the late pollen flow of goldenrod has recently increased brood production, so I’m sure the bees will also be using the syrup to rear winter bees. Doesn’t matter what they use the syrup for,  my response is the same – feed ’em up good now. Now is the time to learn to heft your hives from behind to determine their weight. That way, during the dead of winter you can assess stores without opening them.

Item #3 is Moisture. I’ve heard and read many times that moisture kills bees before cold temperatures kill bees. I’ve watched the YouTube videos showing beekeepers in the mountains of Virginia, upstate New York, and Vermont with snow piled high around their hives – and their bees survive just fine. I think that is proof enough that bees can survive the temperatures of a South Carolina winter. But moisture, that’s a different matter. Almost every winter I see moisture inside the outer covers on chilly days. If not controlled that condensation starts to mold – not good. The old books talk about installing your hives tilted forward so condensation will run forward and not drip down directly onto the bees and chill them. That’s good but I really want to do more. For one, reducing the syrup to a 2:1 mix this time of year also helps to start reducing the amount of moisture within the hive. A little later in the Fall, I’ll remove all liquid feed and place a feeding shim with dry sugar on top. Some people simply pour dry sugar on top of a piece of paper placed on the top bars or on the inner cover (Mountain Camp Feeding). The sugar acts as a desiccant and absorbs the humidity. The bees feed on any sugar that the condensation liquifies. It’s a two birds with one stone situation. But the best method to solving the moisture problem is adequate ventilation. My inner covers have an upper entrance cut into them. If the colony’s population is robust I just leave the upper entrance open as during summer. If the bees have decreased in numbers I may flip the slot so that it is on the top of the inner cover, or screen it, to prevent intruders while still providing ventilation. I don’t worry so much about the low temperatures unless it’s also really windy for extended periods; I do worry about that wet, damp chill that comes with too much moisture in the hive.

Item #4 is Internal Hive Space. Now is certainly a good time to assess hive (i.e hive bodies) volume. Most colonies grow throughout the nectar flow. If you were lucky you had the pleasure of stacking boxes on top of boxes – the uppermost boxes filled and capped with hoarded stores of honey. After the great flood, I was surprised to see that the bees had eaten a good bit of their stores. Other colonies had decided to eat some frames and leave others capped and untouched. Also, some colonies started their reduction in colony size early and are now down to half of the numbers of bees they had during the flow. Either way, they simply do not need the extra space any longer. My mentors have told me that here in the Midlands a hive with a 10 frame deep and a 10 frame medium, well provisioned, is all that is needed to get through winter until about late February. (two deeps or three mediums are also okay and represent about the same volume.) So, I look to consolidate remaining honey frames into as perfect of a second box as possible giving the bees a well stocked pantry above their brood area. Any extra full frames are placed in the freezer for possible use in late winter/early spring during buildup. I take a similar approach with regard to colonies that have reduced their numbers. I give them just enough room to be cozy and remove extra boxes (remember extra boxes are invitations to pests and require patrolling by your bees). The idea is to turn hives into efficient and compact units going into late fall and winter.

As already stated, I know more and more that I know less and less about bees. I’m sure that the way I am approaching this can be done a thousand different ways. That’s the intrigue of beekeeping. It’s an art and your methods are equally as valid. What works for you may be superior to what works for me. So take my observations and methods as incentive to explore, experiment, and tweak to your own situation. It’s all an adventure.

The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend. by Berks County PA Honey Bee Removal

Tags

bald faced hornets, honey bee pests, hornets, management of honey bee disaeses and pests, yellow jackets

About this time of year, for the past several years, most of my honeybee colonies would be fending off hundreds of yellow jackets daily. They also would deal with the occasional baldfaced hornet, but to a much lesser extent. This year however (so far), I have witnessed a grand total of 2 yellow jackets, and 2 baldfaced hornets attempting to harass my bees.

So why the picture of my topbar hive full of European hornets? It was back in May that I noticed a single, huge mother hornet enter my empty topbar hive. I looked through the viewing window to see an adorable little paper cone about the size of a silver dollar hanging from a bar. I was preparing to go in and smoosh it, along with mamma when I thought to spend a minute researching these things. I decided to leave it be, and if it got out of hand, then I’d kill it. It never really did get out of hand in my opinion, and it has been as interesting to observe as any other social insect colony.

Read the full article and follow some links to videos here: The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend. — Berks County PA Honey Bee Removal 19601

Environmentalist Scare Stories – Never Mind! by peoples trust toronto

Tags

bee decline, gardening and pesticides, neonicotinoids

“Baby boomers” will remember Gilder Radner’s Saturday Night Live character from the ‘70s – Emily Litella, who would launch into hilarious rants against perceived problems, only to discover that she had completely misconstrued what she was fuming about.

“What’s all this fuss about endangered feces?” she asked in one. “How can you possibly run out of such a thing?” Then, after Jane Curtain interrupted to tell her “It’s endangered species,” she meekly responded with what became the iconic denouement of the era: “Ohhhh. Never mind.”

The Sierra Club and “invertebrate-protecting” Xerces Society recently had their own Emily Litella moment, over an issue they both have been hyperventilating about for years: endangered bees. For over half a decade, both organizations have been raising alarms about the imminent extinction of honeybees and, more recently, wild bees – allegedly due to the widespread use of neonicotinoid pesticides.

These are advanced-technology crop protection compounds, originally developed and registered as “reduced-risk” pesticides. Applied mostly as seed treatments, neonicotinoids get taken up into the tissue of crop plants, where they control pests that feed on and destroy the crops, while minimizing insecticide exposure to animals, humans and beneficial species like bees.

But not according to the Sierra Club! It campaigned incessantly for years on the claim that neonicotinoids would drive honeybees into extinction. For instance, in March 2015 the Sierra Club of Canada launched a nationwide “Protect the Pollinators Tour,” as part of its #SaveTheBees project.

“Ironically, the justification for this chemical madness is the same desire to produce enough food to feed everyone,” it said. “The chemical industry wants us to believe we have no choice; it’s their way or the highway. But the science tells us otherwise – that farmers don’t need these chemicals at all! The science also tells us we’re not just killing bees and pollinators, but other insects too. And we’re also killing birds and aquatic life. The scientists tell us we could be creating a Second Silent Spring. It’s madness.”

Read the entire article here:  Environmentalist Scare Stories – Never Mind! — peoples trust toronto

Disease Management and Guidelines for the Honey Bee by NC State Extension

Tags

disease management, diseases of honey bees, honey bee pests, management, management of honey bee disaeses and pests, pests

“It is the goal of every beekeeper to maintain healthy, productive colonies. This can only be accomplished by reducing the frequency and prevalence of disease within beehives. The following is an outline of recommendations for detecting and treating colonies for economically important parasites and pathogens of honey bees so that beekeepers may achieve this goal, and do so in a sustainable way for the long-term health of their colonies.”

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Overview

Disease/Pest	Causative Agent	Symptoms
Adult Parasites
Varroa mites	The parasitic mite Varroa destructor	Presence of adult mites, deformed wings
Tracheal mites	The parasitic mite Acarapis woodi	K-wings, morbidity
Nosema	The protozoan Nosema apis	Diarrhea, distended abdomens
Brood Pathogens
American foulbrood (AFB)	The bacterium Paenibacillus larvae	Discolored larvae, foul smelling brood, ropy remains, scale
European foulbrood (EFB)	The bacterium Melissococcus pluton and associated flora	Discolored larvae, foul smelling brood, non-ropy remains, no scale
Chalkbrood	The fungus Ascophaera apis	White or black mummies in cells or on bottom board
Sacbrood	A viral infection	Brown larvae in the curled “canoe” shape
Hive Pests
Wax moths	Larvae of Galaria mellonella	Silk cocoons and/or tunnels
Small hive beetle (SHB)	Larvae of Aethinda tumida	Wet combs, maggot-like larvae

Read the full Extension Guide titled “Disease Management and Guidelines for the Honey Bee by NC State Extension here: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/disease-management-and-guidelines-for-the-honey-bee

Late Summer checkup and thoughts on Varroa resistance by Estrada Farms LLC

Tags

beekeeping, management, varroa mites

Here in California we had a very hot summer. For most of June, July, and August we’ve had temperatures over one hundred degrees. Most gardens with full sun exposure did not do very well and neither did bees. We were really able to see the difference between hives that were shaded (or had some shade […]

via Late Summer checkup and thoughts on Varroa resistance — Estrada Farms LLC

Varroa mites—bees’ archenemies—have genetic holes in their armour by BEEKeeperTom’s Blog

Tags

beekeeping, honey bee biology, management, pests, varroa mites

Seemingly indestructible Varroa mites have decimated honeybee populations and are a primary cause of colony collapse disorder, or CCD. Michigan State University scientists have found genetic holes in Varroa mites’ armor that could potentially reduce or eliminate the marauding invaders. Credit: Zachary HuangMichigan State University scientists have found genetic holes in the pests’ armor that…

Read full article here:  Varroa mites—bees’ archenemies—have genetic holes in their armour — BEEKeeperTom’s Blog