Bee Health
Honey Bee Losses in USA – White House Demands Federal Action
On June, 20th a Presidential Memorandum was issued by the White House titled Creating a Federal Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators.
The memorandum states that:
“Over the past few decades, there has been a significant loss of pollinators, including honey bees, native bees, birds, bats, and butterflies, from the environment. The problem is serious and requires immediate attention to ensure the sustainability of our food production systems, avoid additional economic impact on the agricultural sector, and protect the health of the environment.”
On May 20th, National Geographic Daily News covered a USDA report that Losses over the 2013-2014 winter in the USA were lower than most previous years. But commented:
Even so, the USDA’s survey of beekeepers found that nearly a quarter of the bees in managed honeybee colonies—a total of 23.2 percent nationwide—perished from October 2013 to April 2014.
That was far better than the average annual loss of 29.6 percent reported since 2007, and the 30.5 percent loss recorded during the winter of 2012-2013. But it’s appreciably higher than the threshold of 18.9 percent losses that beekeepers consider economically sustainable, the USDA said.
“This year’s survey results, while encouraging, do not provide much comfort because it is not known why the bees seemed to do better this past winter than previous winters,” said Gene Robinson, director of the Institute for Genomic Biology and an entomology expert at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “We can’t rest until we really understand the factors that drive differences in losses.”
The White House Memorandum requires a “National Pollinator Health Strategy (Strategy)” to be developed within six months.
The food industry in the USA is huge and has become reliant on intensive use of chemical pesticides included neonicotidoids which have been banned since late 2013 for a two year trial period in the EU. Will be interesting to see what action results from this – is it too little too late?
Bee Disease Workshop
A reminder that the Bee Disease Workshop organised and presented by the National Bee Unit is taking place this Saturday June 14th.
Workshop starts at 2.00 pm and ends at 5.00 pm. Taking place in the Picton Community Centre, Freemens Way, Haverfordwest, SA61 1TP.
Bee health is important and this event is open to any beekeeper who can attend not just members of Pembrokeshire Beekeepers’ Association, no need to book. This is not suitable for non-beekeepers.
We are grateful to Bee Disease Insurance (BDI) for their financial support in sponsoring this workshop.
NBU Warning on High Varroa Populations
The following email has been received from the National Bee Unit.
“Many of our Bee Inspectors have reported a high population of Varroa mites in colonies across England and Wales. We believe these high levels are largely due to many colonies continually rearing brood throughout the mild winter. Continuous brood rearing dramatically reduces the efficacy of winter Varroa treatments such as oxalic acid, which do not kill mites sealed in brood cells.
We urge beekeepers to monitor colonies and check either the natural mite drop from a sticky insert/ open mesh floor or by uncapping drone brood. From May to August, a natural mite drop should be monitored over a week. The number of mites then counted over this week should be multiplied by 30 to give you a rough population of Varroa in your colonies. A figure of 1000 mites or more is considered to be a high infestation. If uncapping drone brood, then only 5 Varroa mites out of 100 uncapped pupae need to be found to be considered a high infestation.
Should you discover that your colonies have a high amount of Varroa then a range of options are available from biotechnical methods such as drone brood removal, to authorised varroacides. NB Varroacides used will be weather and temperature dependant. If you have supers on your colonies then thymol treatments should not be used due to tainting of the honey. More information is available in our leaflet ‘Managing Varroa’, from our website: or alternatively, a hard copy can be obtained by phoning the NBU office 01904 462510.”
Varroa Research – Can You Help?
The following has been received from Peter Kennedy at Exeter University.
“Varroa are needed as part of a collaboration between Rothamsted Research (where I was previously based) and myself. It links to a paper that will hopefully be published soon (already accepted): González-Cabrera , J., Davies, T.G.E.,, Field, L.M., Kennedy, P.J. and Williamson, M.S. An amino acid substitution (L925V) associated with resistance to pyrethroids in Varroa destructor. PLOS ONE. The paper describes how molecular biology / chemist colleagues at Rothamsted have identified a mutated gene that is likely to be involved in the mutation that has conferred varroa resistance to the pyrethroid-based varroacide products, Apistan and Bayverol. This was based on samples collected from hives in Bedfordshire & Hampshire.
We are now keen to confirm how common this single mutation is over a broader range of counties, hence the request for varroa. For the genetic analysis, it is important that the mites have not been dead for too long to avoid deterioration of DNA. Live would be even better, that is harder to achieve; we’ll take them dead or alive. Hence the request for varroa mites or board scrapings within a few days of clean boards being added under mesh floors (or trays inserted onto solid floors). To avoid the additional delay in transit of samples coming to me and having to forward them on, I am asking people to send samples directly to my colleague, Joel Gonzalez Cabrera, at Rothamsted (see address below). To make sense of the samples, we also need some additional information (as described below) and are particularly keen to receive samples from colonies that have received either Apistan or Bayvarol within the last 5 years (but are equally keen to receive varroa samples that haven’t).”
How to collect and supply samples
Collecting Mites Using Bottom Board
- slide in your clean board (if in already, just slide out to clean first and return).
- leave in for 24 – 48 hrs.
- collect all mites as you count them (place in small container), or … just brush everything into a sealable bag.
- mites from each hive in a different container/bag.
Mites need to arrive within 7 days of boards going in; e.g. set up Sunday, collect Tuesday, & post Tuesday/Wednesday.
Sending Mites
Include the following details:
- your name.
- your address (approximate if you prefer; postal address if you’d like to receive results).
- colony ID.
- dates & details of previous treatments.
Send mites & details 1st class to:
Joel Gonzalez Cabrera,Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ.
Mites need to arrive within 7 days of boards going in; e.g. set up Sunday, collect Tuesday, & post Tuesday/Wednesday.
This is interesting research towards understanding and perhaps control the process of resistance to treatments.
Pembrokeshire Beekeepers' Association 