THE “RULES” FOR SUCCESSFUL BEEKEEPING Advice for recreational beekeepers by Randy Oliver
Mr Oliver wrote a wonderful article for
the American Beekeeping Journal titled THE “RULES” FOR SUCCESSFUL
BEEKEEPING and we asked him if we could pass it around.
Mr Oliver responded back:
I
grant you all permission to reprint, provided that you state
"Originally published in the American Bee Journal. All of Randy's
articles may be found at www.ScientificBeekeeping.com."Thank you all for your interest!
Randy
So here you go!
The “Rules” for Successful Beekeeping
Advice for recreational beekeepers
Randy Oliver
ScientificBeekeeping.com
In
my articles I chronicle my own process of self-education in becoming a
successful beekeeper—which has been much more difficult since the
invasion of varroa. The learning curve has been brutal—there were times
when I thought that I was the worst beekeeper in the world (although
that notion was quickly dispelled by visiting others). For a change,
I’m going to direct this article toward beginning beekeepers, who are
often overwhelmed by conflicting advice about the “proper” way to keep
bees.
Advice to Beginning Beekeepers
This
spring, as usual, I’ve given quite a number of beekeeping workshops to
beginning and “recreational” (formerly “hobby”) beekeepers. These
beekeepers are wallowing in information gleaned from the Internet about
the “right” way to keep bees. Unfortunately, they do not yet have
enough experience to know what to believe, whereas long-time beekeepers
simply roll their eyes at some of the suggestions being promoted.
There
is an old adage that if you want to get a definitive answer to any
beekeeping question, just ask a second- or third-year beekeeper, as they
are generally at the peak of their confidence level regarding their
knowledge about beekeeping (and often blog away offering advice to
others). After that, most of us are humbled by the fact that beekeeping
is a lifelong learning experience, full of surprises, and ruled largely
by Murphy’s Law.
The best way to learn
beekeeping is to work with an experienced mentor who has successfully
kept bees in your area for many years. I’d look for someone who is
candid about the mistakes they’ve made, and the number of times that
they’ve recovered from major crashes. Such beekeepers are generally not
the noisiest self promoters, but here’s a tip: any beekeeper worth his
salt will have bees for sale every spring. The biggest problem with
healthy overwintered colonies is how to keep them all from swarming off,
and it is relatively easy for any good beekeeper to triple his number
of hives each spring if he wishes.
The “Beekeeper Taliban”
In
many areas that I’ve visited, there exists a well-intentioned and vocal
“Beekeeper Taliban” that is adamant that newbies must practice some
specific sort of bee management (such as the style of hive, type of
comb, strain of bee, or sort of mite management, or lack thereof). In
some areas the local Taliban exhorts newbies to rigidly adhere to some
form of “Faith-Based Beekeeping” in which their sacred duty is to follow
some specific practices, or to trust in Nature to be benevolent.
The
reality is that Nature and varroa aren’t nice to bees. I recently
spoke to the beekeeping club in a California region known to be a
beekeeping paradise, but whose local Taliban promotes “treatment free”
beekeeping. In a survey of their membership last year, some six out of
ten colonies perished! It makes no sense to me to set up bright-eyed
new beekeepers for the feelings of failure, disappointment, and guilt
that come when their darling little bees die a miserable death. Indeed,
a quarter of those in the survey did not plan to try their hand at
beekeeping again. To me, this sort of dismal outcome is unnecessary and
inexcusable.
May I suggest that if you’re
going to put your faith into some sort of unproven varroa management
method, that you at least monitor mite levels and have a back up plan.
(If you are reading this article, then you clearly were not swept up in
the Rapture on May 21. I covered my bets by supering up my hives the
week prior, just in case.)
A colony that has
succumbed to a varroa/DWV collapse. Note the adult bees head up dead
in the cells, the white guanine deposits on the cell ceilings, and the
bee with deformed wings. This is the most common way for untreated
colonies to die. It’s not a pretty death, and is totally preventable!
I
meet hundreds of newbies each year, and really enjoy their enthusiasm
and joy in their newfound hobby. My wish is for them to be successful
at their novel adventure. The point that I try to make is that it is not up to beginners to save the world by trying to keep bees without treatments. Everyone wants to be a “treatment free” beekeeper—but you are not really “keeping” bees if they die each year! Beekeeping is enough of a challenge to learn without making it more difficult by allowing varroa to run rampant.
What
I suggest is to first learn to practice good bee husbandry, such as you
would if you were starting with any other pet or livestock. Learn to
keep your bees alive and well for a few years; then you can raise the
bar. You wouldn’t allow your dog or cat to suffer from a gruesome mite
infestation, so why would you allow your bees to die a similar awful
death?
My advice to newbies is to relax, and
have fun keeping bees—it’s one of the most amazing and enjoyable things
that you’ll ever do, and a great way to get in touch with nature. Keep
in mind that beekeeping is simply another form of animal husbandry.
It’s your responsibility to take care of your charges, and the reality
is that sometimes they may require your help in dealing with a lack of
forage or the relentless depredation by the varroa mite. It is
rewarding to assist them through difficult times.
Well,
by this point I’m sure I’ve affronted quite a few beekeepers, but since
I am an equal opportunity offender, please allow me to continue to get
into more hot water!
Some Common Misconceptions About Bees
Misconception #1—That Nature is “Nice” to Bees
Nature
does not play favorites, and bees must compete in the “all’s fair”
evolutionary game. Many plants produce toxic nectars and pollens (note
that the honey bee did not evolve in North America, and may not
recognize our poisonous plants). For example, in my area there are two
extremely toxic plants that can wipe out entire apiaries under the right
(or should I say, wrong) conditions.
Similarly,
some plant pollens may be nutritionally inadequate for honey bees, and
some honeys are unsuitable for wintering upon. Contrary to what one
might think, there are instances where bees actually survive better when
fed pollen substitute or refined sugar syrup, than they do on
unsuitable natural forage!
Misconception #2—That Colonies Survive in a Blissful State in Nature
The
local population of bees is limited by the lack of suitable cavities
and by the frequent inability to store enough honey to make it through
the winter. In addition, viruses and other parasites (notably varroa)
often take down stressed colonies.
Even under the best of conditions, nature is brutal to bees. Let’s imagine a natural paradise with a stable
population of colonies, free from human influence. In an ideal spring,
every colony will produce at least one swarm, which means that the
population of colonies will temporarily more than double. But since the
population is stable, only the original number will survive
through the next spring. The simple math is that under the best of
conditions, in a stable population, half the colonies will perish each
year. My point—don’t beat yourself up if you lose some colonies.
Starvation,
as indicated by all the tails pointing out of the cells, was the number
one cause of colony losses by surveyed hobby and sideline beekeepers
last winter (van Engelsdorp 2011). Starvation is easily preventable by
good husbandry and a sack of sugar.
Misconception #3—That Bees Don’t Like “Chemicals”
The
reality is that bees seek out and collect some of the most toxic
chemicals in nature, and intentionally bring them back to the hive and
smear them over all surfaces to kill microorganisms and parasites, and
to repel ants! The bees’ favored chemicals are the odorous
resins exuded by plants in their protective sap—we call the product that
bees collect “propolis.”
Bees have the
ability to detoxify these chemicals, and also many of the other natural
toxins in pollen and nectar (almond pollen, for example, is chock full
of toxic amygdalin). Our concern with “chemicals” should be directed
toward the additional “xenochemicals” to which they are exposed—the
man-made pesticides and pollutants, and especially synthetic
beekeeper-applied miticides.
My point?
There is nothing unnatural about using essential oils or organic acids
as treatments against the varroa mite or other disease organisms.
Putting such natural treatments in our hives is akin to the way that
people have long used herbs and spices to repel and kill parasites, and
to preserve food.
Misconception #4—That There is Any “Best Hive” in Which to Keep Bees
Contrary
to the exhortations of some Beekeeper Talibans, it doesn’t seem to
matter much to the bees as to what kind of box you provide for them or
sort of comb that you keep them on. A few years ago, I saw a large
egg-shaped hive made out of manure-plastered straw, containing curved
plywood frames, being touted as the “most natural” way to keep
bees—please, give me a break! As far as I can tell, the type of
equipment that you use is of no more concern to the bees than is the
color that you paint your boxes. The style of equipment is more a
reflection upon the beekeeper’s aesthetics than a factor in success at
beekeeping.
I get along just fine with local
beekeepers with top bar hives or Warre hives; screened or solid bottom
boards; migratory covers or copper English garden pitched roofs; pine,
cedar or Styrofoam boxes; deep, medium or jumbo frames; small cell,
large cell, or foundationless; “organic” folk or those using synthetic
miticides. To each their own!
Each of
these groups at times has healthy hives, and each experiences
collapses. When nature is benevolent with abundant bloom, any damn fool
can successfully keep bees; when times get tough, better beekeepers
sell bees to those who are whining. I choose to pay attention to the
quiet beekeepers who sell bees and make honey year after year! I
attribute success more to good stock and proper husbandry, rather than
to any particular equipment, treatment, or philosophy. Hang with me,
and I will give you all the “rules” for successful beekeeping.
My
point—standard Langstroth hives are “standard” since they have proven
the test of time for over 150 years. Believe me, if anything better had
been invented, commercial beekeepers would have adopted it in a
heartbeat! Use whatever you want—top bar hives (a current fad) with a
window are a kick for the beginner who just wants to observe comb
building closely. However, if your interest is ease in
beekeeping, and maximum honey crop, then I’d start with standard
equipment, using 10- or 8-frame deeps for the brood chambers.
Misconception #5—That “Natural Beekeeping” is New
I’m surprised by those who tout “natural beekeeping” as being something new and revolutionary! Folks, we were all
“natural” beekeepers before varroa arrived (and my Australian friends
are all “natural” beekeepers still). We all kept bees on “organic”
natural beeswax foundation, in “natural” pine boxes, and most of us on
“natural” forage. In fact, a number of cheapskate beekeepers cut costs
by making the bees draw foundationless combs. The only argument in
those days was whether or not to prophylactically treat with antibiotics
for AFB. I personally choose to eschew synthetic miticides,
antibiotics, and syrup feeding in general in my own operation, but I
don’t feel that gives me the right to criticize others.
The
migratory beekeepers who move bees from crop to crop are doing nothing
more unnatural than herding their livestock to better pasture, or than
the “natural” migrations of Apis dorsata or Apis mellifera scutellata (the Giant and Savannah honey bees).
Clearly, moving bees on semitrailers to pesticide-laden crops is not
“natural,” but neither is buying factory-farmed cheap food at the
supermarket. The commercial migratory pollinators should be thought of
as hard-working heroes, and a critical player in agricultural
production.
Bees “naturally” live in
irregular tree cavities far off the ground, not in rectangular boxes
located at knee level. And as soon as you set up an apiary of a few
dozen hives, you have created an unnaturally crowded situation—and are
now engaged in a concentrated livestock operation. Plus, there is
nothing “natural” about taking their honey, feeding them syrup, or
opening a hive and disturbing them.
Whew!
Glad that I got that off my chest! (No offense to Ross Conrad or the
“organic” beekeepers, as I strongly support their efforts to return to beekeeping without synthetic miticides).
T
This beekeeper didn’t even realize that he was being a “natural beekeeper”! Back in the day, we were all “natural” beekeepers.
Misconception #6—That “Treatment Free” is Good Husbandry
Some
may make the argument that by treating your bees that you are working
against nature by propping up weak stock that should be allowed to die.
The reality is that it serves no purpose whatsoever to allow colonies
to unnecessarily die from varroa, and if you do so, you actually do a
disservice to surrounding beekeepers, as their colonies will quickly
pick up the mites from your collapsing hives. The ensuing domino effect can wipe out all the hives in a neighborhood!
The
“be tough or die” approach (Bond Method) of bee breeding certainly
works, but is crude, and often selects for bees that have undesirable
characteristics—such as small colony size, excessive swarming, and
irritability. The point to keep in mind is that selective breeding
takes place at the genetic (and epigenetic) level, rather
than at the worker bee level. Genetics are carried by the queens--there
is absolutely no reason to allow the death of all those innocent
workers in a potentially productive colony just to make your point.
The
only bees that need to die are the queen and drones; both are easy to
intentionally kill at the appropriate time (during swarming season).
Requeen with resistant stock, best obtained locally. The ultimate
evolutionary result is exactly the same as if you had allowed
mite-infested colonies to die, but you get honey in return rather than a
bunch of deadouts. To me, good husbandry is all about keeping your colonies alive and healthy!
Misconception Bottom Line
I
find it of great benefit to intentionally question my own thinking and
assumptions, so as to avoid falling into comfortable complacency of
thought and habit. If I have provoked you by challenging the common
misconceptions above, then perhaps you may become a better beekeeper for
it!
The “Rules” for Successful Beekeeping
Beekeepers
historically enjoy pettifogging over details of management, but such
minutiae are of little import to beginners, who just want to learn how
to keep a couple of hives of bees alive. To that end, I’ve come up with
a set of four general rules for beekeeping that address what I’ve
previously called “The Four Horsemen of Bee Apocalypse”—famine, chill, pestilence, and poisons. Let’s go over them one at a time.
Rule #1—Bees Need Flowers
Bees
thrive on good forage, and get sick or die when forage is poor. I have
covered this subject in great detail in my “Fat Bees” and other
articles. The take home message is that colony health is nearly
completely dependent upon good nutrition, with pollen being the most
important source of critical nutrients (notably protein).
I’d like to make three main points:
1.
A bee’s immune response to pathogens, notably viruses, is dependent
upon that bee receiving adequate protein. A stunning piece of
information came from a recent study from the Tucson Bee Lab
(DeGrandi-Hoffman 2010). The researchers measured the levels of
Deformed Wing Virus in newly-emerged adult bees, and then kept them in
cages, placing them under one of three protein feeding regimes—no
protein, pollen substitute, or natural pollen. The results were
eye-opening! DWV levels skyrocketed nearly 700x in the bees that did
not receive protein, rose and then fell in those fed pollen supplement,
and completely disappeared in the bees fed pollen. These results hammer
home the point as to how important it is for newly-emerged bees to have
access to nutritious pollen.
2. During the
spring and summer, the average lifespan for adult workers not
parasitized by varroa or nosema is about 36 days (Harris 2010)—it is
even shorter if they are parasitized. That means that the entire adult
bee population in a hive “turns over” once every five weeks! That’s
about 2 lbs of bees that need to be reared every week, which means that a thriving colony requires about 2 lbs of pollen weekly simply to maintain its population (the pollen to bee conversion ratio is roughly 1:1 (Rashad 1958)).
3.
In order to successfully winter in cold areas, the colony must have
ample pollen in late summer and fall to produce a population of
protein-rich “winter bees,” and store enough pollen for midwinter
broodrearing.
Practical
Rule #1: Good bee husbandry means that you either keep bees where
there lots of flowers in bloom, or feed sugar syrup and/or pollen
supplement when appropriate.
Rule #2—Give ‘em a Sunny Warm Bedroom
Honey
bees evolved in the tropics, and can only survive in temperate regions
if they have a warm, dry cavity in which to cluster and raise brood.
Chilling stresses bees and shortens their lifespan and resistance to
disease (see Old Bees, Cold Bees, and Sick Bees 2).
Bees
use honey as the fuel source to generate the heat necessary to warm the
bedroom—it is critical that they always have a “heating fuel reserve”
in the form of combs of stored honey within the periphery of the cluster.
Colonies
benefit by being kept in full sun (unless the temperature exceeds
broodnest temperature). Hives in full sun have fewer problems with
varroa, tracheal mite, nosema, chalkbrood, and small hive beetle, and
winter better. I also find that colonies in full sun are much more
amendable to being worked, and sting far less than those in the shade
(an important point for beginners).
Ideally,
face the hive entrance toward the morning sun, and provide a winter
entrance near the cluster so that they can quickly take advantage of
flight opportunities.
The type, size, shape,
or color of the cavity makes little difference so long as it is dry and
not drafty. The cluster naturally works up and down vertically to take
advantage of heat convection, so bees in stacked hive bodies will
likely produce more honey and winter better than those in horizontal
hives.
Practical
Rule #2: Keep bees in tight boxes with good sun exposure. Make sure
that there are always combs of honey available as fuel for keeping the
cluster warm.
Rule #3—Suppress Parasites
My
Sick Bees series has detailed how honey bees are in evolutionary flux
as they evolve to deal with a host of recently introduced parasites,
notably the varroa mite and its associated viruses. Great progress has
been made in the development of parasite-resistant stocks, notably the
Russian and VSH strains developed by the ARS Baton Rouge Bee Lab—both of
these strains are maintained without any treatments against parasites.
There are also a number of beekeepers who are successfully breeding
regionally-adapted parasite-resistant stocks (I will be writing about
this in the near future).
Mark
and Melanie of Zia Queen Bees at their scenic high-elevation New Mexico
home yard. In this area, no one treats for varroa, yet mite levels
generally remain very low (I checked). However, survivor stock that
does well in one area may succumb to mites when introduced elsewhere. I
don’t know why!
Many small-scale beekeepers
in areas of low mite pressure are able to keep naturally resistant bees
without treatments, with acceptable rates of survival. It’s more
difficult to do so as you scale up, but there are now a number of
“natural” treatments that are quite effective at keeping varroa in check
(see Miticides 2011).
What I recommend is
to monitor varroa levels regularly, and to help your bees if they can’t
keep the mite in check by themselves. By simply keeping varroa levels
low, you’ve already won over half the battle for maintaining healthy
hives. In my next article, I will demonstrate effective methods for
monitoring for varroa and nosema.
Note that
varroa levels are unpredictable. For instance, this spring in the
California foothills we had over a month of unseasonably warm weather in
January. Flowers started blooming early, and colonies brooded up
prematurely in response. As a result of that and a humid spring, mite
levels are much higher this season than “normal.” I usually don’t need
to apply any mite treatment until July 1st, but this year
monitoring is calling for me to give one in May. Only by regular
monitoring will you be able to keep varroa from blindsiding you and your
bees.
Practical Rule #3: Use mite-resistant bee stock. Monitor mite levels! Use “natural treatments” if necessary.
Rule #4—Avoid Toxins
I’ve
already mentioned that toxic pollens and nectars should be avoided or
diluted, but those are relatively predictable. Much more of a problem
are the man-made synthetic pesticides, plus the more generic pollutants
that bees pick up in dust and water. Agricultural (and landscape)
pesticides have always been the bugaboo of beekeepers.
Nearly
100 million pounds each of insecticides and fungicides are applied in
the U.S. each year—many of which are toxic to bees. Commercial
beekeepers have long recognized the effects of being “sprayed”—piles of
twitching dead bees in front of depopulated hives. But nowadays, the
effects are often more insidious.
There a
three other new problems since the arrival of varroa: beekeeper-applied
miticides, pesticide synergies, and systemic pesticides. It used to be
that pesticide spraying mainly affected the foragers, and the colony
could often recover from such a loss, as not much of the pesticide would
actually make its way into the broodnest.
All
that changed when beekeepers started intentionally applying synthetic
miticides directly into the hives. Most of these miticides readily
dissolve into the beeswax combs, and then migrate back out into the
brood and bees over the long term. Even worse, the different miticides
can synergize with each other, and with other pesticides to create even
greater toxicity (Johnson 2009). The effects of pesticides upon
colonies moved into a new arena when beekeepers elevated the background
level of toxins in the combs by the repeated application of synthetic
miticides.
Another potential problem
is the increased use of systemic insecticides, which get into the
pollen and nectar. When properly used, the systemics are likely a
blessing for bees, but comb sampling suggests that they are sometimes
problematic. Judy Wu (2011) studied the effects of the toxic stew of
miticides and systemic insecticides in commercial brood combs upon bee
larval mortality and development, and adult longevity. Not
surprisingly, the brood and bees suffered. Wu concluded, “Combined
effects from honey bee exposure to pesticide residue in brood comb … may
contribute to reduced honey bee colony health, as affected queens and
worker bees are unable to meet the demand for brood production and
resources needed to sustain large colony populations.”
In
addition, both Judy and others have unpublished data that suggest that
pesticide residues may make bees more susceptible to nosema, viruses,
and varroa. The above findings may help to explain why colonies run in
commercial pollination are so hard to keep alive! I’ve spoken to a
number of such beekeepers who simply watch their colonies go downhill
after being exposed to the plethora of pesticides used in agriculture.
And the problem is that the residues remain in the combs, affecting the
next generations of bees when they restock their deadouts. Queen
failures are commonplace these days.
Insecticides,
miticides, and fungicides are clearly a major issue in commercial
beekeeping, and likely a contributory factor to bee health issues in
agricultural, urban, or suburban areas. Avoid them as much as
possible! The “natural” miticides, although stressful to the bees
during application, appear to be well tolerated in the long term, and do
not leave harmful residues in the combs.
Just
in case I haven’t offended every Beekeeper Taliban by this point, I’m
very much aware that a “fatwa” has been issued by some to ban the
neonicotinoid insecticides. However, there is very little scientific or
even good anecdotal evidence to back up their claims that proper application of seed treatments are causing major problems. I will be writing about pesticides in great detail in Sick Bees 10.
Practical Rule #4: Do not use synthetic miticides, and avoid pesticide exposure. Rotate out old combs.
Wrap Up
There you have it, successful beekeeping condensed down to four general rules for good husbandry:
1. Keep bees where there are lots of flowers all season, or provide supplemental feeding.
2. Provide a warm, dry, sunny hive.
3. Suppress varroa if necessary.
4. Avoid synthetic miticides and pesticides.
It’s
really not much more complicated than that! Any advice that you get
other than the above is largely superfluous and more a matter of style
rather than substance. Go ahead and enjoy keeping bees however you
want, and don’t worry about what others think!
Students
from my beginners classes go on to keep bees in every sort of
equipment. I caught newbies Kent and Catherine Heaton gingerly and
excitedly inspecting the first combs in their top bar hive—an amazing
process for someone who is seeing it for the first time!
ScientificBeekeeping.Com Update
I
have finally found someone to help me manage my website, and have
uploaded all my past articles. You may find that it’s easier to refer
to them there than to dig through your old issues of ABJ.
References
DeGrandi-Hoffman,
G, Y Chen, E Huang , and MH Huang (2010) The effect of diet on protein
concentration, hypopharyngeal gland development and virus load in worker
honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). J. Insect Physiology 56: 1184–1191.
Harris,
LJ (2010) The effect of requeening in late July on honey bee colony
development on the Northern Great Plains of North America after removal
from an indoor winter storage facility. Journal of Apicultural Research and Bee World 49(2): 159-169.
Johnson, RS, HS Pollock, and MR Berenbaum (2009) Synergistic interactions between in-hive miticides in Apis mellifera. J. Econ. Entomol. 102(2): 474-479.
Rashad,
S and RL Parker (1958) Pollen as a limiting factor in brood rearing and
honey production during three drought years, 1954, 1955, and 1956. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 61(3): 237-248.
vanEngelsdorp,
D, J Hayes Jr, RM Underwood, D Caron, and JS Pettis (2011) A Survey of
managed honey bee colony losses in the U.S., fall 2009 to winter 2010.
Journal of Apicultural Research 50: 1-10.
Wu, JY, Anelli CM, Sheppard WS (2011) Sub-Lethal Effects of Pesticide Residues in Brood Comb on Worker Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Development and Longevity. PLoS ONE 6(2): e14720. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014720
