The “Rules” for Successful Beekeeping

http://scientificbeekeeping.com/the-rules-for-successful-beekeeping/

The “Rules” for Successful Beekeeping

Beekeepers historically enjoy pettifogging over details of management, but such minutiae are of little import to beginners, who just want to learn how to keep a couple of hives of bees alive.  To that end, I’ve come up with a set of four general rules for beekeeping that address what I’ve previously called “The Four Horsemen of Bee Apocalypse”—famine, chill, pestilence, and poisons.  Let’s go over them one at a time.

Rule #1—Bees Need Flowers

Bees thrive on good forage, and get sick or die when forage is poor.  I have covered this subject in great detail in my “Fat Bees” and other articles.  The take home message is that colony health is nearly completely dependent upon good nutrition, with pollen being the most important source of critical nutrients (notably protein).

I’d like to make three main points:

1.  A bee’s immune response to pathogens, notably viruses, is dependent upon that bee receiving adequate protein.  A stunning piece of information came from a recent study from the Tucson Bee Lab (DeGrandi-Hoffman 2010).  The researchers measured the levels of Deformed Wing Virus in newly-emerged adult bees, and then kept them in cages, placing them under one of three protein feeding regimes—no protein, pollen substitute, or natural pollen.  The results were eye-opening!  DWV levels skyrocketed nearly 700x in the bees that did not receive protein, rose and then fell in those fed pollen supplement, and completely disappeared in the bees fed pollen.  These results hammer home the point as to how important it is for newly-emerged bees to have access to nutritious pollen.

2.  During the spring and summer, the average lifespan for adult workers not parasitized by varroa or nosema is about 36 days (Harris 2010)—it is even shorter if they are parasitized.  That means that the entire adult bee population in a hive “turns over” once every five weeks!  That’s about 2 lbs of bees that need to be reared every week, which means that a thriving colony requires about 2 lbs of pollen weekly simply to maintain its population (the pollen to bee conversion ratio is roughly 1:1 (Rashad 1958)).

3.  In order to successfully winter in cold areas, the colony must have ample pollen in late summer and fall to produce a population of protein-rich “winter bees,” and store enough pollen for midwinter broodrearing.

Practical Rule #1:  Good bee husbandry means that you either keep bees where there lots of flowers in bloom, or feed sugar syrup and/or pollen supplement when appropriate. 

Rule #2—Give ‘em a Sunny Warm Bedroom

Honey bees evolved in the tropics, and can only survive in temperate regions if they have a warm, dry cavity in which to cluster and raise brood.  Chilling stresses bees and shortens their lifespan and resistance to disease (see Old Bees, Cold Bees, and Sick Bees 2).

Bees use honey as the fuel source to generate the heat necessary to warm the bedroom—it is critical that they always have a “heating fuel reserve” in the form of combs of stored honey within the periphery of the cluster.

Colonies benefit by being kept in full sun (unless the temperature exceeds broodnest temperature).  Hives in full sun have fewer problems with varroa, tracheal mite, nosema, chalkbrood, and small hive beetle, and winter better.  I also find that colonies in full sun are much more amendable to being worked, and sting far less than those in the shade (an important point for beginners).

Ideally, face the hive entrance toward the morning sun, and provide a winter entrance near the cluster so that they can quickly take advantage of flight opportunities.

The type, size, shape, or color of the cavity makes little difference so long as it is dry and not drafty.  The cluster naturally works up and down vertically to take advantage of heat convection, so bees in stacked hive bodies will likely produce more honey and winter better than those in horizontal hives.

Practical Rule #2:  Keep bees in tight boxes with good sun exposure.  Make sure that there are always combs of honey available as fuel for keeping the cluster warm.

Rule #3—Suppress Parasites

My Sick Bees series has detailed how honey bees are in evolutionary flux as they evolve to deal with a host of recently introduced parasites, notably the varroa mite and its associated viruses.  Great progress has been made in the development of parasite-resistant stocks, notably the Russian and VSH strains developed by the ARS Baton Rouge Bee Lab—both of these strains are maintained without any treatments against parasites.  There are also a number of beekeepers who are successfully breeding regionally-adapted parasite-resistant stocks (I will be writing about this in the near future).

Mark and Melanie of Zia Queen Bees at their scenic high-elevation New Mexico home yard. In this area, no one treats for varroa, yet mite levels generally remain very low (I checked). However, survivor stock that does well in one area may succumb to mites when introduced elsewhere. I don’t know why!

Many small-scale beekeepers in areas of low mite pressure are able to keep naturally resistant bees without treatments, with acceptable rates of survival.  It’s more difficult to do so as you scale up, but there are now a number of  “natural” treatments that are quite effective at keeping varroa in check (see Miticides 2011).

What I recommend is to monitor varroa levels regularly, and to help your bees if they can’t keep the mite in check by themselves.  By simply keeping varroa levels low, you’ve already won over half the battle for maintaining healthy hives.  In my next article, I will demonstrate effective methods for monitoring for varroa and nosema.

Note that varroa levels are unpredictable.  For instance, this spring in the California foothills we had over a month of unseasonably warm weather in January.  Flowers started blooming early, and colonies brooded up prematurely in response.  As a result of that and a humid spring, mite levels are much higher this season than “normal.”  I usually don’t need to apply any mite treatment until July 1^st, but this year monitoring is calling for me to give one in May.  only by regular monitoring will you be able to keep varroa from blindsiding you and your bees.

Practical Rule #3:  Use mite-resistant bee stock.  Monitor mite levels!  Use “natural treatments” if necessary.

Rule #4—Avoid Toxins

I’ve already mentioned that toxic pollens and nectars should be avoided or diluted, but those are relatively predictable.  Much more of a problem are the man-made synthetic pesticides, plus the more generic pollutants that bees pick up in dust and water.  Agricultural (and landscape) pesticides have always been the bugaboo of beekeepers.

Nearly 100 million pounds each of insecticides and fungicides are applied in the U.S. each year—many of which are toxic to bees.  Commercial beekeepers have long recognized the effects of being “sprayed”—piles of twitching dead bees in front of depopulated hives.  But nowadays, the effects are often more insidious.

There a three other new problems since the arrival of varroa: beekeeper-applied miticides, pesticide synergies, and systemic pesticides.  It used to be that pesticide spraying mainly affected the foragers, and the colony could often recover from such a loss, as not much of the pesticide would actually make its way into the broodnest.

All that changed when beekeepers started intentionally applying synthetic miticides directly into the hives.  Most of these miticides readily dissolve into the beeswax combs, and then migrate back out into the brood and bees over the long term.  Even worse, the different miticides can synergize with each other, and with other pesticides to create even greater toxicity (Johnson 2009).  The effects of pesticides upon colonies moved into a new arena when beekeepers elevated the background level of toxins in the combs by the repeated application of synthetic miticides.

Another potential problem is the increased use of systemic insecticides, which get into the pollen and nectar.  When properly used, the systemics are likely a blessing for bees, but comb sampling suggests that they are sometimes problematic.  Judy Wu (2011) studied the effects of the toxic stew of miticides and systemic insecticides in commercial brood combs upon bee larval mortality and development, and adult longevity.  Not surprisingly, the brood and bees suffered.  Wu concluded, “Combined effects from honey bee exposure to pesticide residue in brood comb … may contribute to reduced honey bee colony health, as affected queens and worker bees are unable to meet the demand for brood production and resources needed to sustain large colony populations.”

In addition, both Judy and others have unpublished data that suggest that pesticide residues may make bees more susceptible to nosema, viruses, and varroa.  The above findings may help to explain why colonies run in commercial pollination are so hard to keep alive!  I’ve spoken to a number of such beekeepers who simply watch their colonies go downhill after being exposed to the plethora of pesticides used in agriculture.  And the problem is that the residues remain in the combs, affecting the next generations of bees when they restock their deadouts.  Queen failures are commonplace these days.

Insecticides, miticides, and fungicides are clearly a major issue in commercial beekeeping, and likely a contributory factor to bee health issues in agricultural, urban, or suburban areas.  Avoid them as much as possible!  The “natural” miticides, although stressful to the bees during application, appear to be well tolerated in the long term, and do not leave harmful residues in the combs.

Just in case I haven’t offended every Beekeeper Taliban by this point, I’m very much aware that a “fatwa” has been issued by some to ban the neonicotinoid insecticides.  However, there is very little scientific or even good anecdotal evidence to back up their claims that proper application of seed treatments are causing major problems.  I will be writing about pesticides in great detail in Sick Bees 10.

Practical Rule #4:  Do not use synthetic miticides, and avoid pesticide exposure.  Rotate out old combs. 

Wrap Up

There you have it, successful beekeeping condensed down to four general rules for good husbandry:

1. Keep bees where there are lots of flowers all season, or provide supplemental feeding.
2. Provide a warm, dry, sunny hive.
3. Suppress varroa if necessary.
4. Avoid synthetic miticides and pesticides.