Ingredients
□ ½ cup butter (1 stick), softened
□ ½ cup honey
□ 2 tablespoons sugar
□ 1 cup sliced almonds

Directions
Step 1
Line an 8×8” pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, leaving 2” extensions on two sides for easy removal.

Step 2
Coat the foil (if using) with butter. Set aside.

Step 3
Add butter, sugar and honey to a saucepan.

Step 4
Heat over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.

Step 5
Continue cooking and stirring until the mixture is golden brown.

Step 6
Add sliced almonds (you can use whole or smash up your own as well) and pour into buttered pan.

Step 7
Place in the refrigerator and let chill for 1 hour.

Step 8
Invert pan, take crunch of aluminum foil and break into bite-sized pieces.

Note:
Because there’s more honey than sugar, this may turn into a more caramel consistency when it hardens.

Oxalic Acid Vaporization (OAV) is an ideal Fall/Winter treatment for honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies infested with the Varroa destructor (VD) mite. Varroa destructor decimates apiaries and threatens the food supply worldwide. OAV is most effective in a broodless colony when phoretic mites otherwise shelter in the capped cells of developing worker bees (Van der Steen & Vejsnæs, 2021). Beekeepers employ different homespun regimens to resolve a VD infestation and treat their colonies a few times for a few weeks and hope for the best. OAV is proven to kill mites with minimal impact to a colony’s bee population, but many beekeepers have no systematic application schedule or definitive treatment endpoint.

My technique consists of counting dead mites that drop onto a sticky board 48 hours after an oxalic acid vaporization treatment and recording the results in Excel. Line graphs from the data show the number of dead mites over time. The graphs show how long beekeepers should continue to treat and monitor until the curve(s) approach zero – the treatment endpoint.

The timing for the Fall/Winter treatment is determined by seasonal temperatures, amount of brood remaining in each hive and the perceived urgency to treat based on a bell-weather alcohol wash in September after the last Summer mite treatment, such as Apivar. Each bee colony has a unique character which adds another variable in the hive’s population dynamics and varroal footprint. There is a risk-reward trade off with the timing of the Fall/Winter treatment versus the increasing viral load as you are waiting for the ideal broodless state.

The efficacy of treatment is dependent on the presence of sealed brood. Bee brood is the reservoir for varroa and when there is brood present in the hive, the mite drop remains elevated and treatments are prolonged. Brood levels taper off in Northern Virginia by mid-November. The amount of brood in different regions in the world varies from year to year based on colony dynamics and temperatures affected by climate change. Our mid-December is as broodless as one can expect and is typically when the queen stops laying eggs. It is a certainty that a portion of the mite population can escape treatment because they are protected from OAV in the sealed brood cells. The unknown amount of sealed brood not affected during treatment reduces the overall effectiveness of the OAV by just a small percentage (Toufailia & Ratnieks, 2018).

The Fall/Winter OAV treatment catches mites in the open before they can shelter in brood cells. Once those brood cells are capped with varroa inside, they parasitize the larval hosts through all remaining stages of brood development and affect the health of emergent bees. When oxalic acid was first approved in 2015, the seven day, three-week treatment interval was based on the life cycle of the drone because the varroa mite prefers drone brood, but drones are not present in the Fall.

A more practical treatment method addresses the kairomone phenomena, where the female varroa mite senses the kairomone chemical cues, a pheromone-like compound, and targets brood frames for feeding and reproducing. The pheromone-like cues attract gravid mites into worker cells 15 to 20 hours before they are sealed, around the fifth day. The ability of varroa to sense brood kairomone from open brood, allow them to hitch a ride on a nurse bee to get close to the brood nest. The gravid female varroa detaches herself near an open cell and enters before it is sealed to later begin laying eggs (Nazzi & Le Conte, 2016). A popular treatment parameter is treating every five days, but without endpoint monitoring, this method is still arbitrary.

The OAV is more effective towards the end of the day when the bees return to the hive. Seasonally, it is hard to gauge decreasing brood levels to begin treatment(s). Temperatures in the 50-60 degree range with the bees not in cluster are the best conditions. Personal protective equipment is required and staying upwind of the OA application is advisable. Gloves, eye protection and a nuisance level organic vapor cartridge like the 3M 2297 or equivalent are strongly recommended.

To prepare the apiary for treatment, seal the hive openings, install a sticky board and remove any feed. The Provap110 vaporizer is an improvement over the conventional pan-style heating element that keeps high temperatures outside the hive. This vaporizer is quick and easy to use, and more importantly, it does not kill some bees or scorch the frames. The pre-heated Provap-110 vaporizer stem is inserted into a pre-drilled ¼” hole in the hive and two grams of oxalic acid are heated to a temperature of 230°C and vaporizes (sublimates) in about two minutes. The hive remains sealed for ten minutes and this process is repeated for each hive. Hive preparation takes longer than the treatment.

Oxalic acid vapor permeates the interior of the hive and condenses into fine crystals. Mites are killed by slow contact toxicity that may involve changes in the pH of the mite’s hemolymph, but the mode of action is not completely understood. However, it is commonly accepted that the pulvilli and mouth parts afford an avenue for OA to enter the open circulatory system present in mites (not in honey bees) and kill the mite. OA is an effective acaricide with minimal toxicity to the bees. In controlled experiments, some mites died within 12 hours, reaching a maximum kill period sometime later (Papezikova, et al., 2017).

My data was collected from 2016 through 2021; the figures demonstrate the effectiveness of end-point monitoring, but only representative graphs are presented for this article. The line graphs illustrate the dead mite count plotted on each graph at 48 hours after treating every five days – weather permitting.

Figure 1. 2016 Mite drop at 48 hours post-OAV Treatment vs. Time
The first in this series of beehives treated in 2016 with oxalic acid vapor kill Varroa destructor. Treatments are spaced five days apart and show a decrease in mite drop over time to a stopping point. Hive #5 required multiple treatments to approach zero.

Some hives differ in brood population dynamics over others in the apiary and Figure 1 is a good example of hive variability in 2016. The initial treatment resulted in a high mite drop which decreased over time with five treatments. Hive #5, a robust and populated colony, required a total of eight OAV treatments to bring the mite levels to an endpoint. The other hives responded well after only five treatments when their numbers approached zero. The last treatment on January 4th confirmed the effectiveness of this method; all hives survived the Winter.

Figure 4. 2019 Mite drop at 48 hours post-OAV Treatment vs. Time
Mite treatment started in late October 2019 and were spaced five days apart over seven treatments. A treatment in January confirmed the effectiveness of end-point monitoring.

A warm Autumn is a concern when the bees are still active. In 2019, the Fall treatment had to begin in October, as shown in Figure 4. There is a direct correlation between mite load and warmer temperatures as seen with climate change (Smolinski, et al., 2021). The presence of brood prolonged the treatment window in some hives and required as many as seven treatments, but one colony required six. I relied on the visual cues from the graphs to continue to treat. A final treatment in January confirmed the benefits of this technique with diminishing mite levels so all hives survive the Winter.

I was concerned that repeated OAV treatments could harm worker bees, but numerous studies have concluded that OAV is safe for bees for serial treatments. OAV treated hives have a lower mite load going into Winter and have more brood in the Spring (Toufailia, et al., 2015).

When colony dynamics and seasonal influences come together, the general treatment picture as shown in figures 2, 3, 6 – is what you want to see – one general knockdown of the phoretic mites with a gradual decrease in the dead mite drop. A smooth curve approaching zero is the ideal treatment scenario. The anticipated decrease in mite population over multiple treatments is an encouraging sign that this technique is effective in producing an exceptionally low mite load.

Figure 2. 2017 Mite drop at 48 hours post-OAV Treatment vs. Time
OAV treatments were spaced five days apart over the course of seven treatments in 2017. All six colonies responded well to the OAV and confirmed the effectiveness of end-point monitoring.

Figure 6. 2021 Mite drop at 48 hours post-OAV Treatment vs. Time
Fall mite treatment started in November 2021 was spaced five days apart over six treatments to bring the mite drops to an acceptable level. Mite drops started remarkably high but dropped rapidly. The presence of brood prolonged the treatment window. A treatment in March confirmed the effectiveness of this technique through the nectar flow. The ability to visually gauge the effectiveness of OAV treatments is the key to Winter survival.

Figure 3. 2018 Mite drop at 48 hours post-OAV Treatment vs. Time
Varroa mite treatments started in early November of 2018. They were spaced six days apart over six treatments until the drop approached zero. A treatment in January confirmed the effectiveness of end-point monitoring.

OAV treatments were spaced five days apart over the course of seven treatments in 2017. All six colonies responded well to the OAV and confirmed the effectiveness of end-point monitoring.

Oxalic acid vaporization is a treatment of choice for eliminating the varroa mite in the late Fall/Winter when colonies have the least amount of brood. Treating an apiary every five days to catch gravid female mites in the open before they can hide in capped cells is a successful strategy where endpoint monitoring is employed. Multiple treatments with OAV are necessary to control varroa mites and have the desired effect of killing mites while not harming the bees (Ratnieks, et al., 2016).

Endpoint monitoring involves the prepping of the hives, sticky boards, counting dead mites and populating an Excel sheet to create graphs. It is a repetitive process, but worth the effort. On the other hand, if endpoint monitoring is not employed the effectiveness of each treatment and current mite load are unknown. Endpoint monitoring affords the beekeeper visual cues in picture form to ascertain the apiary’s mite load status and provides analytical data to determine when to stop treating. I began using this method in 2014 and all hives that entered the Fall healthy, survived Winter with zero hive losses. Endpoint monitoring ensures near-zero mite load in late Fall and the best chance for bee colonies to survive the Winter. The benefit to beekeepers of endpoint monitoring will dispel the notion of acceptable Winter losses and have a 99% Winter survival rate of their colonies.

References
Nazzi, F. & Le Conte, Y. (2016). Ecology of Varroa destructor, the Major Ectoparasite of the Western Honey bee, Apis mellifera. Annual Review of Entomology, 61(1), 417–432. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-010715-023731
Papezikova, I., Palikova, M., Kremserova, S., Zachova, A., Peterova, H., Babak, V., & Navratil, S. (2017). Effect of oxalic acid on the mite Varroa destructor and its host the honey bee Apis mellifera. Journal of Apicultural Research, 56(4), 400–408. https://doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2017.1327937
Ratnieks, F., Scandian, L., & Toufailia, H. A. (2016). The best way to kill varroa with oxalic acid: SUBLIMATION. Bee Culture, 144(3), 35-40, 42.
Smolinski, S., Langowska, A., & Glazaczow, A. (2021). Raised seasonal temperatures reinforce Autumn Varroa destructor infestation in honey bee colonies. Scientific Reports, 11(1), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-01369-1
Toufailia, H. A., Scandian, L., & Ratnieks, F. (2015). Towards integrated control of varroa: 2) comparing application methods and doses of oxalic acid on the mortality of phoretic Varroa destructor mites and their honey bee hosts. Journal of Apicultural Research, 54(2), 108–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2015.1106777
Toufailia, H.A., & Ratnieks, F. (2018). Towards integrated control of varroa: 5) monitoring honey bee brood rearing in winter, and the proportion of varroa in small patches of sealed brood cells. Journal of Apicultural Research, 57(3), 444–451. https://doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2018.1460907
Van der Steen, J. & Vejsnæs, F. (2021). Varroa Control: A brief overview of available methods, Bee World, 98(2), 50-56, DOI: 10.1080/0005772X.2021.1896196

Author Bio
Vincent Penoso, a retired health care professional, lives in Alexandria, VA where he has kept bees since 2013. Chinquapin Honey, LLC provides a seasonal supply of honey for the community. Vincent recently completed the Master Beekeeping program at the University of Montana, his alma mater, where he earned two science degrees.

Surely you have heard the saying about asking ten beekeepers and getting eleven different answers. Well, it is true because beekeepers are constantly having to choose what methods and what equipment they want to use. We are, for the most part, rather flexible and willing to try various things. There are some old timers who will give you firm advice, but I bet if you questioned them, they would admit that isn’t what they did when they first started beekeeping. For one reason or another they changed techniques and/or equipment. Many read articles in Bee Culture Magazine (and/or other journals) that inspired them. Some read books that encouraged them to try something new. Others found their equipment wearing out and looked for replacements.

My first example of choices we beekeepers very often make is what to put in deep and medium frames. It can be overwhelming, especially for a beginner. Very often, the beginning beekeeper will buy a complete “starter hive” that comes with the plastic foundations in plastic frames because they are the easiest of all. You don’t have to figure out how to use them. They are what could be called “no brainers”.

Frame with a partial piece of beeswax foundation and wires.

The all-plastic frames with the foundation do have their drawbacks the beekeepers will discover. One major problem with these plastic foundations is sometimes the bees do not properly adhere the comb to the plastic. The comb can be hung like a curtain, just a little bit away from the plastic. Sometimes, just to be creative maybe, the bees will put some on the plastic and ignore it in other places. When this happens on brood frames you cannot see all the brood because some is hidden. Of course, the queen also likes to hide behind these “curtains” too making it difficult to tell which frame she is on. When they make these “curtains” on honey frames all you can do to harvest the honey is carefully remove them and either crush the comb or try to make cut comb honey. Often the bees will draw the comb correctly if you take time to coat the plastic foundation with wax, but that defeats the idea that they are time saving. You can pay extra and order extra heavily waxed plastic foundations. Other times, the manufacturers suggest spraying them with sugar water before using them. This is fine if you want to mess around with spraying sugar water on foundation and hope it helps.

The next drawback with plastic frames is sometimes the plastic can become brittle and your hive tool breaks them while you are attempting to lift them out. You can pay more for extra sturdy frames. The plastic foundation cannot be put into a solar wax melter even if it is in a wooden frame. It will be warped and useless from the heat. There’s really no way to sterilize these plastic frames and/or foundations. If you have foul brood, you cannot burn them either!

You can choose to use plastic foundation in wood frames if the frames have both top and bottom grooves. They are easily popped in. There are little triangle pieces in the lower corners you break off before inserting them. These are so the bees move more easily from one frame to another. The advantage to having wood frames is that the plastic foundation can be popped out to clean the frame completely. I use a propane torch to clean and sanitize the wood parts of my bee equipment. The torch should not be used on anything plastic! I have used a steam cleaner on plastic, but it is time-consuming work.

Plastic foundation that the bees did not use correctly.

Your next choice might be another easy foundation. It would be real beeswax but pre-wired with vertical wires. These require a bit more knowledge of wooden frame choices. The frames should have top and bottom grooves for the foundation to sit in. Many bottom bars do not have that groove so be sure to order the correct ones. Your side bars do not have to have the pre-drilled holes either. As a matter of fact, it is best that they do not. The holes are for threading wires and the wax moths love to use them for their brood. There are different choices in pre-wired frames. Some have longer wires with hooks you place under a thin piece of wood on the top bar. Not all top bars have that thin strip, so you must be sure you have that when you buy the top bars. The top bars with the strip are referred to in the catalogs as “wedge top bars”. You cannot change the size of these foundations, so be sure you order the correct size. Also, you cannot use them for cut comb honey. If for some reason the bees get creative in drawing them out, you might have some problem when uncapping the “wonky” combs. This usually happens if you do not space your frames properly in the boxes. That space is important for getting the bees to draw out combs neatly.

The advantages to the all-in-one foundation that are a plastic frame with a permanent plastic foundation, is that wax moths might feast on the old brood comb, but do not injure the plastic. If you use wood frames with plastic foundation, the wax moths can damage the wood but not the plastic. The other thing that destroys wood is rodents. They will chew the wax and the wood but not plastic parts.

Short frame with plastic foundation put into a deep box. You can see all the capped drone brood!

Another choice is just sheets of stamped beeswax that you put in wired frames. You will need to buy side bars that have the holes pre-drilled, unless you don’t mind drilling little holes in the side bars. The holes work better if you have the brass gromets to put in them for strength. These gromets are sold in little bags. A gromet tool helps to put them securely into the holes on the outer side of the side bars. The first time you wire your frames it would be wise to either watch a video or have a mentor work with you. There are frame wiring boards you can buy or make yourself. The frames sit in the board. Your spool of wire can be attached to the board or on its own holder. You also need an embedding tool. I find pre-warming the foundation with a cheap hair dryer is important if the wax is cool because it breaks easily. Getting just the right pressure when embedding the wax into the wire takes practice. One thing I like about the un-wired foundation is that you can use half or even a third in the wired frames and the bees draw out the rest. If you have purchased a box of deep sized foundation, they can be cut in half and used in the medium frames. One disadvantage to using just partial size wax foundation in honey frames is that they can easily “blow out” in the electric honey extractor.

The last choice is the cheapest of all. Don’t put any foundation in! Use just a starter strip, wax foundation or tongue depressors, aka craft sticks, firmly placed in the top bar. When you do not use foundation, you really should wire your frames or use barbecue skewers either vertically or horizontally. These keep the drawn comb from falling out when you lift the frames during a hive inspection. I discovered this one day when helping a friend do a hive inspection. It was a warm day. I lifted a frame out of his hive and tipped it slightly. The drawn comb almost fell out of the frame because the bees had not attached it securely to the frame. Luckily, we saw what was happening and prevented a mess! These foundationless combs do blow out easily in the honey extractor, so they are best used for brood rearing or crushed honey comb.

It is possible to mix foundations in the bee boxes. I have often mixed no foundation frames with every other frame with foundation. On occasion, you can put a short frame in a deep box, too. The bees generally draw drone comb attached to the bottom board. That drone brood can be cut off to get rid of mites. I accidentally discovered this one time and my 4-H beekeepers had fun digging out drone pupae and seeing all the mites! Don’t be afraid to try different techniques. I tell people when they ask advice to find what they are most comfortable doing. If you find something that makes you and your bees happy, tell your fellow beekeepers what you did.

This frame had only wires. You can see how the wires are supporting the comb. The beekeeper is a young 4-H girl getting help from her two sisters, one using a smoker (bottom left you can see the smoker) and the other helping her lift the frame.

Here in California, we have had prolonged droughts so beekeepers are finding they must feed their bees. There are several choices of feeders available. Each one has pluses and minuses, so you have more decisions to make. The prices will vary.

The most simple and cheapest feeder is the Boardman entrance feeder. It is a little holder that slides under the entrance and has an opening on the inside of the hive. They come in plastic, wood, metal or a combination of wood and metal. They are designed to hold a canning jar with a narrow opening and a lid with small holes punched in it. They are easily filled without disturbing the bees. One advantage is that you can easily see how much sugar water is in them and how quickly the bees are using the feed. They are not recommended for Winter use as the bees must break cluster and go down to the entrance to drink. They also seem to attract ants very quickly, so the beekeeper needs to make sure there is an ant barrier before using them. Another disadvantage is that if the jar is too big, it won’t fit on the landing board, so you do have to fill these more often.

There are several in-hive feeders that go in place of a frame. The main advantage to these is that they do not attract ants or yellow jackets. If you must get into them in “robbing season”, that is a problem. You should cover the other frames while filling the feeder. The disadvantages are you cannot tell how much food is in them; you must disturb the colony to get to them and some designs need floats such as corks or they drown the bees. Some are better designed and do not drown the bees. It appears there are more deep box sized feeders available, but some bee supply stores do have 6¼” sized ones that hold a gallon and fit in medium boxes. The largest sized ones can hold almost two gallons.

Top feeders have the advantage of being very easy to get to without disturbing the bees. Some are even designed so the bees cannot fly out of them when you take the cover off. That design is the one I prefer because the bees cannot get into the holding trays. The ones the bees can get into need to have floats or the bees drown. Also, I have seen bees build comb in them when beekeepers feed the bees a lot and don’t monitor the space when it is empty. The top feeders that are plastic inserts designed to put in empty medium boxes have a problem. The undersides of these inserts have a lot of space that bees seem to like to fill with honey comb. They should have a screen over this space. I have tried this with some I was given. The manufacturers could easily redesign them.

There are other hive top feeders that are containers that fit into an inner cover with a hole cut out. You put an empty box over them and then put the outer cover on top. They can be designed to hold jars or there are some that look something like an angel food cake pan with a cover. I bought one in Ireland that I really like but have not found one like it in the USA.

Smokers come in a variety of styles and prices. Some are small and others are quite large. If you are a hobby beekeeper and have just one or two hives, you really don’t need a huge one. A smoker should be kept in a metal bucket, so the smaller ones are often a better choice. You have choices of what kind of protection you have around the smoker. The guards around the smoker are important to protect you from burning yourself and anything you might set near it. The price difference is not much so do spring for the extra cost to get the guard. The bellows are made of wood and leather or of plastic. There are replacement bellows for most smokers. Check before buying. You can buy various fuels for your smoker. I prefer to use dried horse manure as it is freely given to me by my two ponies. Believe it or not, the dried manure does not smell bad! You will need a stopper to put into the smoker. I find the corks from wine bottles need to be trimmed a bit to fit in the smoker. The corks from many brands of olive oil are even nicer because they have a little holder on the top and fit well with no trimming. If you don’t drink wine nor use olive oil, check with friends who do. People love to help beekeepers!

Before buying new equipment, visit other beekeepers’ apiaries and ask to see what they are using. It is best if you can see into other hives to see how the bees are using the equipment. If this is not possible, go to bee conferences, bee supply stores or peruse catalogs and/or bee supply companies to look at what’s available. If you are at a vendor’s stand, chat with the vendor and other beekeepers around. There are lots of beekeeping videos on the internet these days. Look at more than one to compare techniques. When you are buying equipment ask yourself how I will keep these sanitary, how can I dispose of them if they get infected with foulbrood, how long do these things last and any other things you think are important to your time, budget and beekeeping practices.

About Ettamarie Peterson:
Ettamarie Peterson has been keeping a few bee colonies on her small farm in Northern California for almost thirty years. She is the editor of the Sonoma County Beekeepers Association monthly newsletter and the Liberty 4-H Bee Project leader. She is the mother of three, grandmother of eight and great grandmother of nine children. Her favorite thing to do is catch swarms to share with her 4-H beekeepers and keep a few for herself.

Let’s do this!

Your package may come in a wire sided wooden box or in a plastic molded box. The process I use is pretty much the same for either.

The dump and run method frequently taught in classes is very macho. You have bees flying everywhere, the kids and neighbors are impressed, the bees not so much. I think you will notice in the photos that the bees prefer this method.

Figure 1. This package is in very good shape. There are few dead bees on the box bottom. It is not unusual to see the bottom completely covered with dead bees.

Figure 2. I recommend doing a fit check as
you see here before going out with them. I
remove four frames and place an Imirie shim
to allow for the box lugs and to give space
for the queen cage.

Figure 3. Outside I have the bottom board ready. I use a Crisco patty for tracheal mite control.

Figure 4. The hive body is in place with the four frames removed.

Figure 5. Now I mist the bees well with thin sugar syrup. This helps to calm them and keep them from flying so much.

Figure 6. Use your hive tool to pry the stapled cover off.
If you do not have strong fingers and fingernails, I recommend having a pair of pliers nearby to remove the can. It can be quite snug and sometimes nailed down with wax by the bees.

Figure 7. With the can removed, the queen cage, which always has wax holding it in place, is much easier to access and lift out.

Figure 8. Inspect the queen to ensure she is actively moving around in the cage. Note that wax I mentioned.

Figure 9. The plug is removed from the candy end of the queen cage, and the cage can be laid on top of the frames near the open package.

Figure 10. Since I have drawn frames with stores in them, I then place a second hive body above the queen and package. When I come back in about three days, the queen is usually out and on the frames in this hive body. If you are installing on foundation, you will put a feeder on instead of the second hive body.

Figure 11. This is not what you do with the syrup can. Go ahead and open the can and pour the syrup remnants into your feeder.

Figure 12. Finally, install an entrance reducer to help protect the new colony while it develops its defenses.
Now, enjoy beekeeping!

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Found in Translation

Missing Their Better Half, More on Drone Genetics

By: Jay Evans, USDA Beltsville Bee Lab

Last month I wrote a tragic, and maybe a little droning, article about the shortcomings of male honey bees and their fragility. On a more uplifting note, drone genetics have great potential for use in honey bee breeding. Male bees, like male ants and male wasps, have half a deck of chromosomes, 16/32nds to use a precise carpenter term. These 16 chromosomes provide all of the information needed to make a bee (obviously) but with no redundancy for the most part. When there is a critical mutation in a critical gene, that bee will not fly. This liability is actually a gift in disguise for breeding and genetics in several ways.

Remember that, despite their limited job duties, not all male bees are equal. Differences among drones impact their ability to contribute genes during mating, and the value of those genes to their unseen offspring should drones win the mating lottery. Bradley Metz and David Tarpy showed that male bees in commercial beekeeping operations differed by two-fold in weight and by an amazing 100-fold in the amount of sperm they have available for mating (Metz, B. N., and D. R. Tarpy. 2021. Reproductive and morphological quality of commercial honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) drones in the United States. Journal of Insect Science 21, https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab048). By their estimate, 6.5% of adult drones in commercial operations were of ‘low quality’. To produce males matching the subpar guys, these scientists had to raise males in smaller worker cells. As expected, 83% of males raised in worker cells were graded as ‘low quality’, versus 2% of males raised at the same time in proper drone cells. Since males are unlikely to be raised in worker cells in the field, other colony or genetic factors must lead to the production of low-quality males. The usual suspects are disease, chemical stress and poor nutrition, although this study did not explore those causes. Interestingly, bee genetics can also play a role in variable drone traits, and in drone reproductive traits in particular. Garett Slater and colleagues reviewed substantial data showing that races of bees differed consistently in drone traits such as sperm count and sperm longevity (Slater, G.P.; Smith, N.M.A.; Harpur, B.A. 2021. Prospects in connecting genetic variation to variation in fertility in male bees. Genes, 12, 1251. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes12081251). While mated queens use only a fraction of the sperm received over the multiple mating events they engage in, there is some evidence that queen egg-laying is negatively impacted by mating with poor-quality males. Overall, these studies indicate the value of exposing your queens to healthy males.

Given all these weaknesses, what do males bring to the queen selection table? Being haploid means that individual males can have a disproportionate effect on offspring traits. In a hypothetical mating between a queen and a single male, the worker bee offspring are “super-sisters” in that they are identical on their dad’s side. In contrast, sisters share roughly half of their mom’s genotype (a term for the combined variants seen in a typical diploid animal). Male-driven breeding, coupled with instrumental insemination (since no one has time to direct males on the wing to precise matings), has huge potential to shift bee populations toward desirable traits. In our group, Laura Decanini led such an attempt for earlier efforts to identify resistance to American foulbrood (Decanini, L. I., A. M. Collins, and J. D. Evans. 2007. Variation and heritability in immune gene expression by diseased honey bees. Journal of Heredity 98:195-201, doi:10.1093/jhered/esm008) Starting with genetically homogeneous breeder queens, from a singly-mated Italian mom, we were able to produce a 100-fold range of immune traits when crossing those queens to a diverse set of 26 local drones. Heritability for both immune activity and survivorship in the face of P. larvae was high, as measured by comparing immune traits of resulting offspring with their ‘aunts’ from the 26 drone source colonies.

Even more powerful are attempts to screen drones themselves for desired traits, then collect and use sperm only from the drones who aced their fitness test. Ivelina Ivanova and Kaspar Bienefeld in Germany attempted to use drones as a surrogate for worker hygienic behavior, by subjecting drones to the ‘Proboscis Extension Reflex’ a common assay for learning and behavior in workers. (Ivanova, I. and Bienefeld, K. 2021. Suitability of drone olfactory sensitivity as a selection trait for Varroa-resistance in honey bees. Scientific Reports 11, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-97191-w). In worker bees, the PER can be used to assess responsiveness to the chemicals that trigger hygienic behaviors. Bees, which are smarter than most insects, will stick their tongues out for a food reward and can be trained to do so for cues like smells, learning like Pavlov’s dog to associate those smells with something good. Males in this study figured out the PER, as do worker bees, although males apparently do so with less vigor and more ‘nervousness’. Also, in the current study, “We observed a greater unwillingness of drones to respond to the CS+ and the sugar solution on cold or rainy days, although the temperature in the laboratory was regulated”, and “during our preliminary tests, we also observed high drone mortality if drones were treated according to existing bee protocols”. To go easy on these fragile males, the PER study was shortened, and the authors were able to generate usable data. Sadly, males that scored well in these standardized tests did not father the most hygienic offspring, so there was a disconnect there somehow. Still, males from high-scoring colonies helped perpetuate that trait, a validation of PER and comb-based hygienic tests for improving this key trait… but only when female bees are asked to take the test for their brothers. This does not rule out using male bees as a direct screen for individual resistance traits, including immunity. Drone-level screens of immunity followed by instrumental insemination give a direct path to stock improvement since drones fend off disease with the same immune response as their sisters. Scientists, including my USDA colleague Michael Simone-Finstrom and bee breeder Daniel Weaver, are using drone screens of disease response to enhance stock resistance (https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/project/?accnNo=441927). Drones still have time to show their strengths and it is fascinating to contemplate how being ‘haploid’ affects male contributions to colony life. Something to buzz about as we edge past the long drone of February toward Spring and colony renewal.

Dr. Tracy Farone

A Seat at the Table
By: Dr. Tracy Farone

This month, I have exciting news to share with the honey bee industry!

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), which has over 100,000 member veterinarians, have a variety of Committees that report to the AVMA Board of Directors, including the Animal Agriculture Liaison Committee (AALC). After years of advocacy from members of the Honey Bee Veterinary Consortium (HBVC) and AVMA staff (shout out to Dr. Michael Costin, Dr. Terry Kane and Dr. Kristin Clark), the AALC will have a delegate veterinarian representing honey bees for the first time starting this year. The AALC consists of seats of representatives of other animal species like cattle, swine, chickens, etc. that veterinarians typically serve. Honey bees and their industry now have a delegate sitting on this committee to represent them. Dr. Terry Kane, DVM has been appointed to be the first primary HBVC delegate on the AALC, and I have been appointed as the alternate delegate.

Honey bees are a big part of agriculture

The AALC activities include reviewing AVMA policy, reviewing and drafting positions on proposed state and federal legislation, developing new AVMA resources and reports, as well as participating in and developing presentations for various stakeholders. The AALC acts as a liaison between the AVMA Board and the producers and other stakeholders, to identify mutual concerns and working to strengthen relationships, while providing veterinary expertise1. The charge of the Committee is stated as follows:

1. “Identify present and future issues of mutual concern to the veterinary profession and the producers of food products derived from animals.
2. Strengthen relationships between AVMA and organizations related to animal agriculture.
3. Improve communications and the flow of information among animal agriculture organizations inside and outside AVMA to support AVMA’s decision-making process.
4. Provide expertise and content in the area of animal agriculture for the AVMA and serve as a primary resource for matters associated with animal agriculture.
5. Advise on and develop animal agriculture policy and recommendations for submission to the AVMA Board of Directors.” (AVMA Animal Agricultural Liaison Committee. https://www.avma.org/membership/volunteering-avma/councils-committees-task-forces-and-trusts/animal-agriculture-liaison-committee. Accessed December 19th, 2022.)

A new guard for the industry

Representatives from the following organizations are often involved in AALC meetings to provide their organization’s perspective on animal health and welfare issues. These organizations include: U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS); U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine (FDA-CVM); U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS); USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS); USDA-Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (USDA-CSREES). 1AVMA Animal Agricultural Liaison Committee. https://www.avma.org/membership/volunteering-avma/councils-committees-task-forces-and-trusts/animal-agriculture-liaison-committee. Accessed December 19th, 2022.)

A new seat at the table

I have often talked with beekeepers lamenting about lack of recognition of their industry given the importance of honey bees, often with the bulk of the attention, concern and funding focused on other agricultural animal industries. I believe giving honey bees a seat at this table is an important step to leveling some attention to the industry to look at disease, public health and environmental health issues affecting the industry. I look forward to learning more about how this process works over the next three years of my term and I will do my best to give you updates on any progress that is made.

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The Electrical World of the Honey Bee

By: Ross Conrad

It has been said that honey bees have been studied and written about more than any other subject second only to ourselves. Certainly our deep understanding of bees is part of what makes them so fascinating. Yet for all we know about bees, there’s much we still do not understand. One area of inquiry in which we have only scratched the surface of our knowledge is the role electricity plays in the life of the colony.

It is well established that insects become electrostatically charged when walking, or when their body parts are rubbed together (Colin and Chauzy, 1991) and insect cuticles in general display the tendency to become positively charged (Edwards, 1962). This phenomenon is similar to the static electricity generated when we walk across a wool carpet or rub an inflated balloon against our hair.

It is also clear that bees become charged with a weak electric charge when flying through the air. How this occurs is not clear however. There are two main theories why this happens. One is that it is a result of friction. The other is that the flying bee picks up positively charged ion particles (cations) from the air. Which one is true? Do both potential charging methods play a role? We do not know. What we do know is that since bees are quite small, they experience weak electrical fields much more profoundly than we do.

The static electric charge that builds up on the bee’s body while it flies greatly increases its pollen collecting efficiency.

Flowers are electrically connected to the earth and pick up a negative charge through electrostatic induction. Bees pick up a positive charge as they fly through the air. The bee’s body surface charge appears to facilitate pollination since flowers are negatively charged and bees are positively charged (Greggers et. al., 2013b). The attraction of pollen to bees due to their opposite polarity allows pollen to defy gravity, moving against the earth’s gravitational forces in order to stick to the surface of the bee and become lodged in its body hairs (Clarke et al., 2017).

The acquisition and maintenance of charge on a bee appears key to their ability to detect electric fields such as that on a flower (Sutton et al., 2016). While it seems clear that the static electric charge aids in pollen collection by foragers, do these electrical forces (between bee and flower) allow the forager to also assess floral rewards and perhaps allow them to tell which flowers have been recently visited by another pollinator and which have not and therefore which blossoms are worth taking the time to investigate and which are a waste of time?

Some research indicates that the change in electrical charge created by pollinator visits to blossoms stimulate some flowers to release more of their scent thus increasing their chances of being pollinated (Montgomery, 2021). Since flowers have a limited supply of scent, some appear to prefer to release it when pollinators are around – after all, it makes sense that the best time to advertise is when you know you have an audience.

Electrostatic dusting is used to reveal areas of the greatest negative charge density on each flower. Flowers are shown before (left) and after (right) dusting with positively charged colored powder of blue or yellow (bottom image). Photo credit: Concept and Pictures by D. Clarke & D. Robert

Meanwhile, agrichemicals such as synthetic fertilizers and the neonicotinoid imidacloprid have been shown to effect bumblebee foraging behavior by changing the magnitude and dynamic of electrical cues given off by the treated blossoms. Researchers found that the biophysical responses in the plants modified floral electrical fields appeared to disturb the ability of the bees to sense the electrical fields causing them to approach the electrically manipulated flowers less often, land on the flowers they did approach less and this reduced bumblebee foraging efficiency (Hunting et al., 2022). The bioelectrical potential of the chemically treated flowers were impacted for a longer duration than the changes observed by natural phenomena like the wind or a bee landing on the flower. This raises questions about what other pesticides might influence the electrical fields of flowers.

Honey bees appear to perceive weak electrical fields through the two joints of the antennae johnston’s organ (Greggers et al. 2013a). Bumblebees can also detect electrical fields with their antennae but appear to do so more effectively using their body hairs (Sutton et al., 2016). Like a sapling bending in the wind, the bee hairs and antennae alert the bee to oppositely charged electric fields. Do honey bee hairs or other rigid cantilevered body parts, carrying an electric charge and subject to external electrical force, also bend toward (or away) from electrically charged objects?

Bees appear to detect and use aerial electric fields not only in the context of foraging but also during in-hive communications over short distances. Research suggests that part of the waggle dance includes low-frequency oscillating electrical stimuli from electrically charged vibrating foragers to yet to be recruited foragers while doing the dance (Greggers et al., 2013b). Does the honey bee use its antennae for other forms of electroreception communication as well? Exactly how bees respond, learn from or exploit electrical fields in their natural habitat and within social contexts is not entirely clear. For example, how does rain, high humidity or winds impact floral electrical fields?

Since each bee carries with it a small electrical charge, what happens when a large group of them swarm? A recent study suggests that honey bees contribute to atmospheric electricity in proportion to the size and density of the swarm that issues from a colony. Researchers calculated that the swarm had enough charge to affect the atmospheric electric field known as the potential gradient, which is the voltage difference between the earth’s surface and a point (often one meter) above it. The effect was proportional to the swarm density. Similar impacts can be observed in swarms of locusts, although their impact is much greater since locust swarms can cover hundreds of square miles and pack between 40-80 million locusts in less than half a square mile. The study authors hypothesize that insects can have similar effects on atmospheric electricity as weather events since at the ground level where they made their measurements; the strength of the honey bee swarm’s electric field was comparable to the kinds of changes in electric fields that we see during a thunderstorm (Hunting, 2022).

Does this mean we need to include the role of insects in geological modeling of atmospheric changes? Scientists have long wondered about what forces can carry sand particles from the Sahara desert across oceans. Could atmospheric changes brought on by the electric fields given off by insects help to explain the long distance dust transportation that has been documented in nature that cannot be explained by physical processes such as wind and updrafts alone (Toth et al., 2020; Does Van der et al., 2018)? Perhaps the charged up bee’s electrical fields add to the electrifying effect the sight of a swarm has on us beekeepers?
So many questions; so few answers, and this is just one small area of inquiry into the amazing and mysterious world of the honey bee.

References:
Colin, M.E., Chauzy, D.R.S. (1991) Measurement of electric charges carried by bees: evidence of biological variations, Journal of Bioelectricity, Vol. 10(1-2), pp. 17-32
Does Van der, M., Knippertz, P., Zschenderlein, R., Harrison, G., Stuut, J.B.W. (2018) The mysterious long-range transport of giant mineral dust particles, Science Advances, 4(12)
Clarke, D., Morley, E., Robert, D. (2017) The bee, the flower, and the electric field: Electric ecology and aerial electroreception, Journal of Comparative Physiology. A Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology, 203(9): 737-748
Edwards, D.K. (1962) Electrostatic charges on insects due to contact with different substrates, Canadian Journal of Zoology, 40:579-584
Greggers, U., Koch G., Schmidt, V., Dürr, A., Floriou-Servou, A., Piepenbrock, D., Göpfert, M.C., Menzel, R. (2013a) Reception and learning of electric fields in bees, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 280: 20130528. Doi:10.1098
Greggers, U., Koch G., Schmidt, V., Dürr, A., Floriou-Servou, A., Piepenbrock, D., Göpfert, M.C., Menzel, R. (2013b) Reception and learning of electric fields in bees, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 280(1759): 20130528. Doi:10.1098
Hunting, E.R., O’Reilly, L.J., Harrison, R.G., Manser, K., England, S.J., Harris, B.H., Robert, D. (2022) Observed electric charge of insect swarms and their contributions to atmospheric electricity, iScience, 25(11)
Hunting, E.R., England, S.J., Koh, K., Lawson, D.A., Brun, N.R., Robert, D. (2022) Synthetic fertilizers alter floral biophysical cues and bumblebee foraging behavior, PNAS Nexus, vol.1 (5)
Montgomery, C., Vuts, J., Woodcock, C.M., Withall, D.M., Birkett, M.A., Pickett, J.A., Robert, D. (2021) Bumblebee electric charge stimulates floral volatile emissions in Petunia integrifolia but not in Antirrhinum majus, The Science of Nature, 44:108
Sutton, G.P., Clarke, D., Morley, E.L., Robert, D., (2016) Mechanosensory hairs in bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) detect weak electric fields, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 113(26): 7261-7265
Toth, J.R. III, Rajupet, S., Squire, H., Volbers, B., Zhou, J., Xie, L., Sankaran, R.M., Lacks, D.J. (2020) Electrostatic forces alter particle size distributions in atmospheric dust, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 20.5: 3181-3190

Denver International Airport on March 25, 2020 at 7:32am. Usually one of the busiest times in one of the busiest airports in the world.

I often write about the relationship between the almond industry and the beekeeping industry. These two groups are bound together. Beekeepers rely on hard-earned income from pollination services and almond growers rely on honey bees setting the almond blossom. This relationship between honey bees and almond trees is literally, millions of years old.

The almond industry is near the bottom of a cycle. 2023 almond prices paid to growers is in many cases, below costs of production. The roots of the situation are found in the 2022 Almond Almanac, a publication of the Almond Board of California. A copy can be downloaded at www.almonds.com. Go to the Tools and Resources tab, then scroll down to the Almond Almanac.

One chart in particular (print version on page 33) illustrates why now, in 2023 the almond industry struggles.

In the 2014/2015 crop, almond crop value hit $7,944 per bearing acre. That same year, the amount of the prior year crop carry in, as a percentage of the prior year shipments was 18%, a very manageable amount of carry in. In 2022, the carry in was 32%, almost 700 million pounds.

The carry in, coupled with the prior three years production of 3.3 to 3.5 billion-pound crops is a huge amount of crop to move.

Why are these crops so enormous? The invisible hand motivates farmers to grow more or grow less, depending on the opportunity to profit. Legislators and governors enact or do not enact taxes, limitations, build water-storage, or do not; expands and encourages or discourages improved highways and ports. Resources, always in competition for the supposed highest, best use are consumed. Weather patterns annually bless and curse different regions across the globe. In 2014, an almond grower saw farm price per pound for almonds above $4.00 a pound. Demand for almond ground expanded. Growers expanded acreage in areas with lots of good almond dirt, but not a lot of good almond water.

Enter three years of global chaos beginning in 2020; and the first of three – three billion-pound almond crops. A pandemic paralyzed global commerce. Export ports, especially in California utterly failed freight handling. A needless war in Ukraine heightened tensions. Ill-timed tariffs harmed global trade. Inflation reduced discretionary spending, globally. Buying almonds is discretionary. A hungry human, faced with buying peanut paste for .25/lb. and almond butter for $4.00/lb. will choose the former.

Nine years later, those trees planted in 2014 are now nearing full production. Ten years ago, growers made poor planting choices. For the first time in probably 20 years, the 2022 almond-bearing acreage went down. Bearing almond acreage will decline again in 2023. Prices for almonds will remain soft. Growers who perhaps got too far out over the tips of their skis are having awkward conversations with bankers and accountants.

This too shall pass.

During the Almond Board Research Conference held annually in early December, speakers pointed out that the almond industry is resilient. 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the ABC Research Conference. Speakers acknowledged the tough times. It is worth noting a few things: Global wealth continues to grow. Global human health has never been better. Some predict that within five years, five billion humans will be middle class consumers. Middle class consumers want to purchase aspirational foods, nutritious food. Almonds, globally, are aspirational. The almond industry will recover. Demand will recover in an industry that exports nearly 70% of its production.

California is openly hostile to Ag. growers navigating how to thrive. Regulatory compliance now accounts for one of the top three costs in s grower’s business (the other two tall poppies are water costs and pollination fees). Growers will focus on better planting choices where water is more abundant: Sacramento Valley – not so much San Joaquin Valley. Pollination costs per acre may become more efficient and responsive to tree variety, density and terrain. Stocking rate recommendations should be science driven, not hunch driven. This is not news. Labor inputs will get a hard look. Whether planting pit-fruits, wheat, vines or keeping bees or cattle – all of Ag is engaged in a cost per unit, cost per acre and cost per hive analysis.

At least we should be.

During the ABC Conference, I was chatting with Josette Lewis, Chief Scientific Officer at ABC.

I’m fond of asking, “Where will we be in five years?” I asked Josette that very question. Her reply inspired me: “John, where do you think beekeeping will be in five years?”

I don’t know. I’ll write about that a little bit in 2023.

Here is a simple one: When the first genetically modified honey bee is engineered – What will be the reception?

JRM
john@millerhoneyfarms.com

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A Few Unique Beekeeping Tools

And some other cockamamie ideas

By: James E. Tew

I’ve done this all my beekeeping life
One of my very first beekeeping thoughts when I was first accidentally introduced to beekeeping was, “I can build this wooden equipment.” So, I did. As a totally new beekeeper with above average woodworking abilities, I set up the shop, bought pine lumber, built jigs for making repetitive cuts and went to work. For a couple of years, I even built my own wooden frames. While I was never cost competitive, I got a strange satisfaction from cutting my wooden equipment (Of the hundreds and hundreds of frames, boxes, lids and inner covers that I built, not a single one remains. Not one. I wish I had just one of the pieces that I built. At the time, it was not important. Bummer.). It was my beekeeping project and not something I just bought. I loved doing this work… until I didn’t.

After only about two seasons, the simple construction procedures and the mindlessly repetitive cuts became monotonous. When running power woodworking tools, boredom is a great way to be awarded a trip to the emergency room. In my life, I have made two of those trips, but I am happy to say that I still have all my body parts. I have not built my own equipment for many years now. I still could, but why bother. Been there – done that.

All my beekeeping life, I have looked at non-beekeeping devices and various procedures and wondered, “Could I use that in my beekeeping efforts?” I’m not talking about things like a woodworking shop, a pickup truck, a mobile phone or a good pair of boots. Rather, I am talking about odd items that were never intended for beekeeping use that could possibly be effectively used in my beekeeping craft. Be forewarned readers that much of what follows is half-baked. Only a few recommendations will be made. As it were, “do not try this at home.”

An electric heat gun
I am amazed at how often a heat gun fulfills an unanticipated use, both in life and in beekeeping, but in this article, I want to stay within beekeeping. I have used heat guns to soften heavily propolized frame rests in bee boxes. Quickly heating the gummy propolis makes it significantly easier to scrape and clean. I have used heat guns to quickly liquify small amounts of honey when I was in a rush. I have used heat guns to loosen the sticky bottom bearing in my old extractor. I have used heat guns to clean and sterilize my hive tool. On the web, some of you have described how to use a heat gun to uncap honey. The uses seem endless. But then I became too excited. Could I use this heating device in the beeyard?

So, I set the heat to a level low, and opened a hive and hit the alerted bees with a waft of very warm air. It did not have the desired effect. In fact, it may have even energized the bees a bit. I quickly decided that the idea was one for the beekeeping idea trash heap. I rolled up the extension cord and put the gun away.

But wait. I just saw in an advertisement, that major heat gun manufacturers are producing battery-powered units. No extension cord would be required. Obviously, I will be needing one of those.

This is my tentative plan. Next Spring, I want to see if I can use the hot air produced by the battery-powered heat gun to soften the propolis seal on the inner cover when I want to gently open a colony. Secondly, I want to see if I can use the battery unit to soften propolis on the top bars to loosen them without having to pry and bang them from the bottom side. While it looks good on paper, I’ll have to get back to you next Spring. Stand by.

Ratchet straps
Ratchet straps are essentially complicated Bungee Cords. While both are beautiful devices, the ratchet strap is now a significant part of my beekeeping equipment and is listed in some supply catalogs.

Of course, as I have told you time and again, I am no longer a young man. In my youth, when preparing to move hives, the best recommendation that I had was hive staples or the early non-ratcheting version of straps. The non-ratcheting straps were too difficult to tighten and loosened too easily. They failed the test. Staples were a different story. During those times, beekeepers bought staples by the case. There were even instructions on how and where to position the staples on the hive bodies.

An aside…
Many years ago, Trucker’s Hitches were a style of rope knots that were used to tie down bee colonies (and anything else that one wanted to keep from falling from a wagon or a trailer). This tiedown system is even older than staples. Today, video instructions for tying this simple knot are readily available on the web. I have personally used ropes with Trucker’s Hitches to lash eighty colonies for a round trip from Ohio to Florida. This old idea, that greatly predates ratchet straps, is still useful – but rarely used – today.

Installing staples was somewhat comical. Nothing alerted the bees like banging on the sides of the hives as the staples were being installed. Envision this scenario. So, there we were – preparing to move colonies and banging on the colonies to get them agitated before loading them. Then, more banging on the hive when the staples were removed. Staples were not a perfect plan, but at the time, the procedure was the best we had – grumpy bees or not (My Dad took a typically novel beekeeper approach to securing hive parts. He used brick-ties and attached to hive boxes with dry wall screws for securing hives when moving to watermelon
pollination. He used a battery-powered drill to drive the screws. Brick-ties are reasonably cheap and can be used time and again. Just another beekeeper idea.).

An aside…
Hive staples are a historic bee supply catalog sleeper. While I can’t say when they were first offered in bee supply catalogs, I can find them in catalogs in 1931, but not in 1928 catalogs. For sure hive staples have been used in beekeeping for ninety-two consecutive years. In the earliest years, staples were copper coated so they could be used multiple times without rusting. It should be noted that, over time, re-occurring staple use caused considerable damage to wooden hive bodies.

Yet, another staple aside…
Hive staples have been handy for uses other than beekeeping. I have used them to improvise a gate-closing mechanism. They work well as hanging hooks. I have used them for quickly joining two boards together. For the improvisational person, these large staples can provide quick, clever solutions to immediate problems. They can also puncture tires when dropped in the bee yard.

Figure 1. A ratchet strapped hive ready for moving. I had broken the propolis seal, so I also used Dad’s brick straps.

I don’t remember the first time I was introduced to the ratchet strap. Now, I must have twenty of them. I use these common tools for multiple things, but I particularly use them for moving colonies. I always buy the heavy duty, narrow straps.

For heavy colonies being loaded under rough conditions, I ratchet strap the hive components together with a single strap, and then I ratchet strap the whole hive to the hand truck I am using. Propolis is useful in restricting the slippage of the strapped hive components.

They work best if the ratcheting mechanism is in the center of the hive top. Locating the ratcheting mechanism along the side is second best. Letting the hooks hang along the side while the strapping mechanism is still on the top is least desirable. The only quirk? Threading the strap into the ratchet mechanism has a bit of learning curve. You will figure it out. These gadgets are field tested and proven.

The limitation to ratchet straps is the sheer number required for moving large numbers of colonies. They become impractical. These devices would seem best suited for hobby keepers or at best, smaller sideline beekeepers.

Foldable work platforms

Figure 2. A collapsible work platform used as an extractor stand. Later, to provide a wider platform, another stand was added.

I use two foldable work platforms as a support base for my extractor and settling tank. The platforms tolerate “some” wobble and are stout enough to withstand the weight. Initially, I tried a single platform, but it was too unstable. For a larger working surface, I ratchet strap two platforms together. While not perfect, it is a quick and simple procedure. This is yet another beekeeping item I found at a home supply company.

Snow mats
Beekeepers in warm climates will be at a disadvantage here. For those of you who never see snow, it’s premature to rush out and buy several of these things. Stand by. For those who deal with snow, heated mats seem to cry to be used in beekeeping.

I wrap my extractor tank with these large heating mats. It helps keep the tank barrel warm so that the honey flows to the bottom faster. I was reluctant to put the heating mat beneath the vibrating, wobbling extractor. I was afraid that it would wear through the mats and cause an electrical short circuit.

Figure 3. A heated snow mat and ratchet straps for securing the extractor.

I tried putting the mats beneath a large, heavy aluminum flat pan to see if I could use the mats to heat honey supers before extracting. That didn’t work. Primarily, the problem seemed to be that the mats did not produce enough heat.

But what would happen if I put heating mats beneath my wintering hives? I have no idea how that would work, but I continue to be intrigued by my lingering idea. The mats are about two feet wide and about five feet long. There is enough length to have two colonies sit on one mat. This is one of those ideas that works well on paper. Maybe one Winter day I will give it a shot.

An aside…
I emailed the manufacturer of the snow mats and told them I was exploring using their mats in my honey extracting operation and how I was using them. The company did not respond. Later, in response to an advertisement for their snow mats, I sent an iMessage again describing my interest. They did not respond to that message either. Two messages with no response. Don’t you think that should tell me something?

Moisture Meter
I have a moisture meter for determining the water content of wood that I am working with. Of course, I immediately wondered if I could simply put the moisture meter probes in honey and get a moisture reading from the meter. Didn’t work. I contacted the company and they sent a different detecting connector, but I could not make that work either. The scale was not sensitive enough.

Beekeepers, that would be so slick if it would work. Rather than having to load and clean a refractometer, I would only need to put the probes in the honey and – voila – a moisture reading. I have backed away from this use for my wood moisture meter use. Someone else can give it a try.

Pry bars
In my experience with beekeeping, hive tools have come a long way, but still not far enough. If a beekeeper is working a smallish hive that is regularly worked, all is well when using the traditional hive tool. However, when trying to dig out frames from a behemoth colony that has not been opened in a long while, the light hive tools are pushed to the maximum. I have an assortment of larger pry bars – to include a wrecking bar. None were purchased from a bee supply catalog. But be aware that there is an upper limit. When using pry bars with significant leverage, the soundly stuck top bar will rip from the end bars rather than pull the frame out.

Figure 4. Some of my non-beekeeping heavy duty hive tools. The blue one in the lower left is my favorite.

Propolis-embedded plastic frames are miserable to pull out with any type of hive tool. The plastic flexes allowing the pry bar to break free. Those frames will require being driven out from the bottom of the super. I have a modified short-handled hammer that I use for that purpose. Plus, I can still use the hammer to drive nails and staples.

I’m out of space
There is seemingly no end to this rambling thread, but I must stop.

1. I presently use HVAC pads as leveling foundations beneath some of my hives.
2. I have wondered if an old, retired sleep apnea air compressor device could be used to deliver smoke or oxalic acid fumes to my colonies.
3. A leaf blower can clearly be used to remove bees from supers, but is there some way that it could also be used to deliver smoke to a colony?
4. Can the flame from a propane-powered weed killer be used to sterilize wooden equipment or to melt away burr combs and propolis? One day, I will try this device for these purposes.
5. I have successfully used a pet bowl heater for providing a Winter water supply for my bees. Wintering birds also greatly appreciated this rare water supply.
6. I use a three inch wide scraper with a disposable blade for removing old combs from foundation inserts. I found the scraper at a big box home supply store. Ironically, I use my heat gun to soften the combs before scraping.
7. Would a deer cart be more (or less) useful than a typical hand truck for moving a bee hive? I don’t know.
8. Could the plastic bags that my newspaper comes in be used as a disposable syrup feeder bag for wintering colonies? I don’t see why not. Presently, I have about one hundred of these bags crying for some bee use.
9. Does a mylar survival blanket have any use for the wintering bee colony – especially when used inside the hive. I’m still thinking.
10. Archery equipment has been used to string a retrieval line to a high swarm. While I have not personally done this, others of you have. You know who you are. You sent me photos.

What have you done?
Beekeepers are an adaptive lot. If you have novel uses for tools or devices that you would want to share with others, let me hear from you. Clearly, I love cockamamie gadgetry.

Thank you
I appreciate the time you take to read my articles. I enjoy hearing from you. Thank you.

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

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

Successful pollination is critical for a strong almond yield and healthy crop. The amount of bee foraging activity during almond bloom is therefore of considerable interest to growers. Currently, bee pollination activity is inferred from the amount of good bee foraging weather during almond bloom. A Bee Flight Hour is accumulated for each hour that it does not rain, the temperature is above 55℉ and wind speeds are less than 15 mph. The Bee Flight Hours calculation starts when the early cultivars first bloom and runs through petal fall, and is sometimes used as a predictor of nut set, and ultimately yield.

While this concept seems logical, in reality, the situation is much more complicated. There are various factors that will impact bee foraging activity as well as the weather. This includes colony size, brood status, and stage of bloom (forage availability). It is the dynamics of all these factors that determine the number of bee visits received by the blossoms.

The application of smart sensor technology and data analytics means it is now possible to directly monitor all these variables to provide accurate, real time tracking of pollination progress. With this aim in mind, California based BeeHero is rolling out a network of strategically placed Pollination Research Stations statewide, covering all major growing regions and cultivars. Each location will be equipped with specialist sensors to monitor the hives, local weather conditions and bloom progress.

• Bee Counters to measure real flying times and the actual number of bee foraging trips.
• In Hive Sensors to monitor colony strength and brood status.
• Hive Scales to track nectar foraging activity.
• Cameras to give visual confirmation of bloom progression.
• Weather sensors to monitor local weather conditions.

The initiative was piloted during 2021 almond pollination, and revealed the highly dynamic foraging behavior of the bees. The Bee Counters continuously and precisely record bee traffic thus providing direct measurement of bee flight hours and the impact of changing weather and bloom status. The sensors showed that bees will sometimes fly in weather conditions outside the thresholds used for the Bee Flight Hours model, particularly when high-value pollen is available. Thus in this example the real flight hours exceeded the Bee Flight Hours model.

The sensors also showed how a Bee Flight Hour can differ significantly in terms of the actual number of foraging trips. During full bloom, colonies performed around 5,000 foraging trips per hour, which halved to 2-3,000 trips per hour during petal fall, demonstrating the colonies response to the reduction in forage availability. Furthermore, the Hive Scales identified when the bees were nectar foraging and building up honey stores, also a valuable insight for growers and beekeepers.

The Pollination Research Stations bring together real time data on bee foraging activity, bloom status and weather conditions, to provide an accurate localized assessment of pollination progress for growers and beekeepers. The initiative will also generate an incredibly rich source of data that will contribute to the development of more accurate models and metrics for assessing pollination efficacy. In essence, the bees themselves are the ‘sensors’ of the environment, and harnessing the wisdom of the hive can help to improve our understanding and management of one of the most important processes for food production.

The data derived from each station will be made available to everyone in the almond industry. To track your pollination this season head to: https://growers.beehero.io/ExternalsentinelStations

George Clouston, BeeHero

I’m Liz Walsh, a USDA-ARS (United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service) scientist at the Baton Rouge, Louisiana location where I work in the Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Unit. I did my dissertation work with Dr. Juliana Rangel at Texas A&M University where I examined how pesticides impact honey bee queen health. My postdoctoral work was with Dr. Steve Pernal at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in northern Alberta, and there I explored honey bee disease ecology with a particular emphasis on American Foulbrood and chalkbrood. As someone who became a beekeeper in high school, it’s very exciting to have my dream job working with honey bees full time as a Research Entomologist at the honey bee lab here in Baton Rouge.

As the newest scientist at the location, I am in the midst of setting up my research program. My ultimate career goal is to make a positive impact on the beekeeping industry. To do that, I need to have a focus on applied scientific research that is done well and then communicated to both beekeepers and scientists. I’m particularly interested in exploring how breeding initiatives can affect things like colony reproductive health, disease progression and behavior.

Hangry bee experiment colony with pollen trap

One of my current projects is particularly fun, and I’ve jokingly nicknamed it the “‘Hangry’ bee project.” As beekeepers and scientists, we know that genetics and breeding play huge roles in colony temperament—for instance, “killer bees” are hybrids of Apis mellifera scutellata and European bees. They are known for being hot tempered, although there have been a few populations that are notable exceptions, and this is explicitly attributed to their genetic background. Similarly, specific honey bee stocks that have come from different breeding efforts also have reputations for gentle or hot temperaments. Genetics clearly play a role in honey bee colony temperament and behavior (Avalos et al., 2020).

Hangry pollen

However, there is data that suggests the environment that colonies are in also plays a role in their temperament (Rittschof and Robinson, 2013). Anecdotally, it was a memorable realization as a second year beekeeper to realize that the reason my very first split was so mean probably wasn’t because of a mean queen, but instead because I had lovingly located them close to the house—directly downwind of the chimney, which meant they were getting smoked constantly. That’s probably enough of a disturbance to annoy any colony. There is also more recent empirical data, specifically from Clare Rittschof’s lab in Kentucky, that shows chronic disturbances impact the way colonies behave (Harrison et al., 2019).

In the “hangry” bee project, I’ve taken a yard of honey bee colonies and standardized their populations and colony resources, then I’ve put pollen traps on them. Half of the colonies have traps that are turned on and collecting pollen from the colonies’ foragers, which deprives the colonies of pollen. The other half of the colonies in the yard are the control colonies which have their traps off, so their foragers are able to bring pollen into the colony. We conducted behavioral and molecular assessments of the colonies and their individuals weekly to see if the ones deprived of pollen behave more aggressively than their control counterparts. We’ve found that, independently of stock, the colonies that were deprived of pollen became more aggressive (e.g. showed more aggressive behaviors like racing around the frame, stinging, etc.) than the non-pollen deprived colonies. This can help us shed some light on why different stocks of bees behave differently than their breeding or reputation suggests they would, and it is important when we consider breeding criteria.

Another set of experiments that I am working on centers around chalkbrood, an opportunistic fungal parasite that infects and kills older larvae in a colony. I’m curious about a potential treatment substance that we may use to control chalkbrood outbreaks, as the traditional advice to simply “keep strong colonies” is inadequate for dealing with chalkbrood outbreaks.

Paidon Gravois

The chalkbrood experiments have three parts: two in the lab and one in the field. The first laboratory experiment is currently ongoing. We are seeing if chalkbrood (or Ascosphaera apis) can grow on growth media containing control media/no dose, low dose, medium dose and high dose of our anti-fungal compound of interest. This work is being done with an undergraduate student from LSU, Paidon Gravois, who is pictured here with one of the plates we grow chalkbrood on. The next step will be to graft larvae into plates we keep in the lab, and subject the larvae to different conditions: control conditions, chalkbrood, anti-fungal compound and chalkbrood+the anti-fungal compound. This is known as an in vitro experiment, as the bees are being reared inside incubators in the laboratory rather than in colonies in the field. If the in vitro experiment results look promising, then we will graduate to field experiments next Summer.

As someone whose been keeping bees for 15 years, the beekeeping industry and community are both very important to me, and I hope you’ve enjoyed the news from the newly formed Walsh Lab. I encourage you to email me with questions: Elizabeth.m.walsh@usda.gov.

References
Avalos A, Fang M, Pan H, Lipka AE, Zhao SD, Giray T, Robinson GE, Zhang G, Hudson ME. 2020. Genomic regions influencing aggressive behavior in honey bees are defined by colony allele frequencies. PNAS. 117(29): 17135-17141. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1922927117.
Harrison JW, Palmer JH, Rittschoff CC. 2019. Altering social cue perception impacts honey bee aggression with minimal impacts on aggression-related brain gene expression. Scientific Reports. 9:14642. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-51223-8.
Rittschof CC and Robinson GE. 2013. Manipulation of colony environment modulates honey bee aggression and brain gene expression. Genes, Brains, and Behavior. 12(8). DOI: 10.1111/gbb.12087.

Loren Tate and his top bar hive at the 2022 Fall MBA Conference (photo by Joan Mandell)

Before I delve into the basics, let me share a bit of background as to how I chose the topic for this issue. In the November issue of Bee Culture Magazine I wrote about the advantages of taking a class, joining a club or doing extensive reading before acquiring your first beehive (That article on Resources for the New Beekeeper can also be found on the Bee Culture website: https://www.beeculture.com/off-the-wahl-beekeeping-2/). I understand that the costs involved or the time commitment required for these activities may be an inhibiting factor for some individuals with young families or competing work schedules. But there is another possibility which requires only a day or two and a minimal cost. That is to attend an annual or semi-annual beekeeping conference, convention or meeting. Most state or country beekeeping associations hold annual or semi-annual get-togethers of this type lasting for one or two days. Simply type your state or country name into an internet search engine followed by “beekeepers” and more than likely several organization or association events related to beekeeping will show up. Searching Michigan Beekeeper’s Association (MBA) will take you directly to the 2022 Fall Conference Review. This coming year’s MBA Spring conference is scheduled for March 11, 2023.

Stephanie Slater and Chris Beck judging honey at the 2022 Fall MBA Conference (photo by Joan Mandell)

Shortly after I began writing for this column a year ago, I was asked to be a speaker at the MBA Spring conference. Although I had heard about such events, I had yet to attend such a conference and was uninitiated on what such an experience would entail. Given the latitude to determine my presentation topic made acceptance of the invitation a bit easier as I could use my previously prepared topic from two years earlier where I taught a small beginner class just before the COVID lock downs. That coupled with the fact that I had taught high school college prep mathematics for sixteen years made the option of public speaking a bit less daunting. With some trepidation I accepted the invitation. My topic was aimed at the new beekeeper or the individual thinking about starting out as a beekeeper, summarized and re-tailored a bit farther on for this article. Most beekeeping association conferences will have at least one track of speakers throughout the day and may have as many as three or four. Often these tracks are split toward the level of the beekeeper audience experience, be those just getting started, those with a few years of experience, or possibly directed topics such as queen rearing or commercial beekeeping challenges. In addition to the lecture tracks there is often a room set up where vendors can bring in their beekeeping wooden ware, bee related or other hive products for sale. At Fall conferences, it is not unusual to find a honey and/or wax judging contest.

I found all levels of experience and expertise to be present at last Spring’s MBA conference. I was expecting maybe thirty to forty participants for my “Getting Started and Sustaining Your Hives” topic and was surprised as a first time speaker to draw an audience of near one hundred interested newer beekeepers, representing about one-quarter of those in attendance.

Back to Basics to Consider
Before jumping into the art of beekeeping one needs to consider the time commitment and costs involved. When asked by the casual honey purchaser or interested party, “What does it take to be a beekeeper?”, my short answer is that it is animal husbandry, only with an insect. Just as your pet cat, dog, pony or aquarium fish have food, water and shelter needs along with watching out for pests and diseases, so do the bees. Far too many first time beekeepers think a box can be set out, the bees fend for themselves and a little honey can be collected in the late Summer or Fall. The concept that feral bees survived in the wild for thousands of years without human intervention is no longer the norm. Due to invasive pests such as varroa mites and hive beetles along with the myriad of agricultural chemical use that continues to challenge survival of any insects, the existence of feral colonies is becoming more and more non-existent in many parts of our chemically dependent world. Although a beehive does not require daily attention for water and food needs as other pets would, there are still periods in the Spring and Fall where more concentrated efforts are required for inspections or honey collection. It is highly recommended that the new beekeeper make a good inspection every two to three weeks through the late Spring, Summer and Fall to assess the state of their hives and catch any abnormalities before they become lethal to the hive. As experience is gained, fewer deep inspections, moving frames about, are required. During mid-Summer months, one can get a good idea how well the hive is doing by watching the bees coming and going at the entrance. Weather conditions will often dictate optimal hive inspection times. Time of day, frontal passage, temperature, rainfall, wind and humidity should all be taken into consideration when opening a hive. The bees work very hard to keep their micro-climate inside the hive at an optimal state and when the hive is opened and frames moved about these optimal conditions are upset. It may take days after a long or thorough hive inspection for the bees to return things to their optimal condition. If the only available inspection times are weekends due to a beekeeper’s work or travel schedule and those weekends are coincidentally rainy, windy or consistently have a frontal system moving through, optimal inspection times may be difficult to achieve. Several years ago, I assisted a new beekeeper whose work schedule only allowed for hive inspections on weekends. Unfortunately, a number of less than ideal weather conditions precluded thorough hive inspections on a number of subsequent weekends resulting in an unnoticed queen loss that could have been corrected sooner if it had been caught in earlier midweek better weather conditions. (I see a potential future article here on the effects of weather in beekeeping.)

Research Potential Costs

Hive components with a single deep and honey super.

Startup costs are another factor to be considered. A basic hive kit that includes a bottom board, entrance reducer, ten frame deep box (called a super) with ten frames and foundation, an inner cover and a telescoping outer cover would be the minimal hive requirement. Toss in a few more essentials such as a smoker, good hive tool, bee brush and bee suit and you may be set to order your first bee package or nucleus hive. Prices on all items can vary dependent on mail order from a bee catalogue or if there is a local supplier where a pickup can be made to avoid shipping fees. But then as the eternal optimist you need to consider that your hive will continue to expand and your bees will soon need more room, which will demand a second deep with the associated frames and foundations. As Summer progresses and your bees bring in more pollen and nectar, a honey super or two with even more frames will need to be added.

If you are placing hives where cattle or large predators co-exist, there may be a need for fencing, possibly electrified. The point is to do some research on expected costs before jumping into the beekeeping hobby. Early Spring and Summer feeding can aid greatly in getting that first hive off to a good start. Once the bees become active after that first Spring pollen collection, a pollen patty is a good idea for a boost and good early brood development. Adding a one to one sugar syrup mix will serve as a nectar substitute if your nectar flow lags after that first Spring pollen burst, as it does in my area, minimally adding to additional start-up costs. My maples pop in early March for a day or two with a month lag before the dandelions provide any sort of nectar flow. In the Southeast Michigan Beekeeper Association (SEMBA) class that my partner and I taught this past year, we recommended the purchase of two nucs (nucleus hives which usually come with a mated, laying queen and five frames, at least three with that queen’s brood) to start two hives. The purpose of nucs is that they provide about a month head start over a package purchase and two hives allow for a comparison.

A ten frame deep split in two sections with two story, four frame nucs above that. Successfully came through Winter with both entrances facing forward.

This past Summer, I was asked to assist two different first year beekeepers who had some concerns about their hives. Each new beekeeper had two hives and one beekeeper’s set was doing well. We even started a third nuc hive from his strongest hive during my visit. The other beekeeper had a legitimate concern as one hive did not have the same activity as the other. Come to find out the weaker hive had lost its queen and we were able to set an egg/larva/brood frame from the stronger hive in it. A later report indicated the weaker hive had produced a new queen and that both hives were doing well. Had there only been the one weaker hive, this discrepancy may not have been discovered in time to take remedial action, and no available second hive would have meant ordering and purchasing a new queen.

Location, Location, Location
As the saying goes, location can be a great determining factor as to the success of the beginning beekeeper. There are numerous considerations to make when siting a hive. Ideally, a spot for hives should be chosen that is a bit elevated off the ground and gets early morning sun with the bottom entrance facing east or south. Leave three or four feet behind the hives to make working in them easier as working in the front entrance bee path is more irritating to the bees. Any natural or constructed protection from north and west Winter winds is certainly a plus, particularly in unpredictable northern climates. Looking into any local ordinance requirements may preclude confrontation with governing officials. Letting neighbors in on your new beekeeping endeavor and offering to share a jar or two of your future honey crop can go a long way to appease neighbor’s concerns. Just a quick explanation to neighbors as to what to do if they encounter a bee can create better peace of mind. I find that honey bees are not prone to sting unless they feel threatened as you deep inspect a hive or pinch them in some way. Their normal action when out in the open, or even as you get closer to the hive, is to buzz around your head and even do a head bump or two before they sting. If you walk quickly away from the hive location they may follow you for a bit, but I find they will often abandon the chase as you get farther away from the hive. This seems to work particularly well if you walk under low tree branches. I have succeeded with this quick walk away action many times, but naturally there is always the exception. Once, several hundred feet away from my hives, days past any inspection activity, I encountered a bee that was obviously on a direct path back to the hive. Without provocation or preemptive notice the bee made a direct hit and sting on my forehead. Accepting the fact that you may get stung is another consideration when determining if beekeeping is for you. Of course the Africanized bees, now more prevalent in the southern U.S. states, require much less stimulation to get agitated and reach the attacking, stinging state.

Hives with a birdbath water source.

An additional consideration for hive placement is to have a nearby water source. Bees seem to love the chemical content of a neighbor’s swimming pool if nearby. My bees avoid my very hard well water or even distilled water if provided and prefer my neighbor’s pond or a nearby drainage ditch. Another consideration is the ease of access to the location of your hives. Hauling a thirty to forty pound honey super any short distance can easily put a strain on one’s back. After getting my truck stuck in a relative’s farm lane that had several drainage ditches, I gave up on the placement of several hives on that end of the lane property that had a natural overgrown, brushy protected spot otherwise ideal for a hive.

Mentors, Classes, Clubs and Books
My November article, as noted in the opening paragraph, covered classes, clubs and books. An equally optimal option is to find a person willing to be your mentor. An experienced beekeeper even with only a few more year’s experience can go a long way to get a new beekeeper off to a good start. The perfect place to meet these experienced beekeepers is to attend a convention or conference, join a club or take a class which brings us full circle back to the opening of this article. This year’s MBA conference will be held in Lansing on March 11, 2023. Find more information as it develops at: www.canr.msu.edu/events/michigan-beekeepers-association-conference. The new beekeeper’s success will only be enhanced by seeking out answers and having a willingness to learn. I find nearly all persons in this intriguing insect management endeavor to be pleasant, conversant people willing to share their experiences. If you have been hesitant to jump into the hobby of beekeeping, give the aforementioned ideas some thought and if your situation is amenable to the conditions stated above give beekeeping management a try. I do not think you will be disappointed.