Natural Insectary and Honey Bee Stewardship Programs
Our Honey Bee Stewardship Program
The careful and responsible support system which includes; devotion, nonintrusive observation, research, attentiveness, and compassion for the biome, including the microbiome of the Honey bee ecosystem.
I love bees. I also love many other beneficial insects that we encounter on our demonstration site. However, I don’t fancy myself a beekeeper.
Since the colony collapse phenomena has become a somewhat common topic in recent years, I believe that a few words from my perspective are in order.
The first issue is to point out that the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) was brought to the Jamestown colony (Virginia) in 1622. Thus the honey bee is an introduced species to the United States. If we determined that the species caused economic harm it would be considered an invasive species. Having pointed out that the honey bee is not native it is nonetheless a beloved insect that is utilized to pollinate many of the foods we consume. Honey bees are pollinators, it’s estimated that they visit between 50 and 100 flowers during a typical collection trip. They produce honey, wax and they provide some medical benefits.
What makes our stewardship practices different from most beekeepers?
Ecology of honey bees is the branch of biological sciences that deals with the intra-relationships and interrelations of honey bees to one another, their physical surroundings, their microbiome, microorganisms that live within the colony, plants, insectivores, animals, habitat, and human management practices.
A hive is far more than a colony of bees. So what else is in that hive?
A bee colony is a superorganism which is a social unit of eusocial animals, where division of labor is highly specialized and the individual bees are not able to survive by themselves for extended periods of time. Each bee colony is unique and if allowed time will perish or adapt to its surroundings.
Today we recognize the important work of scientist studying the human microbiome as well as the honey bee microbiome. However there are also other microbiomes within the hive such as the microbes that are responsible for the bee bread.
Bee bread is a mixture of pollen and nectar or honey that has been collected and placed into the cells of a comb to be used as food by the bees. The bee bread is fermented within the cells which is dependent on the microbiome within the pollen that develops into the bee bread.
So the point that people don’t realize is that there are many organisms that are dependent on creating optimal health of the colony.
Now for my “Case Against Treatment”
When we treat we disrupt the ecosystem disrupting the health potential of the hive.
Some folks believe treating with essential oils might be a good thing. Wrong! The essential oils, even if the oils are of the highest quality, will kill beneficial microorganisms which the health of the hive is dependent on.
Using Organic acids disrupt the pH of the hive which also kills off the beneficial microorganisms. Just like plants and animals the microbes thrive within a narrow pH range.
Growing blueberries in soil that has an alkaline pH won’t be productive. If our blood pH falls below 7.35 (metabolic acidosis) or above 7.45 (metabolic alkalosis) we are ill and may die without intervention.
My point is that minute changes in the pH results in a shift from the beneficial microbes to a more favorable environment for opportunist microbes with a resultant compromise of the health of the colony. Like all living things when the health has been compromised they are more susceptible to being overcome by invaders, parasites, weather extremes and man made chemicals.
Treatment with antibiotics and antifungal medications are a shotgun approach to beekeeping.
Acaricides (insecticides) used to kill mites and ticks.
Developmental changes occur when bee larvae (destined to be workers) are switched from eating royal jelly to a diet of jelly that includes honey and beebread.
Royal jelly (bee milk) is a highly nutritious glandular secretion of young bees, used to feed the queen and young brood. Royal jelly is fed to the larvae of worker bees and drones for the first three days of their lives to stimulate growth.
Royal jelly is secreted by the hypopharyngeal glands of young worker (nurse) bees, to feed young larvae and the adult queen bee. Royal jelly is always fed directly to the queen or the larvae as it is secreted and is not stored in cells like the bee bread.
Queen bee larvae are fed exclusively royal jelly throughout her life. The key word is exclusively. It may be that the absence of bee bread is what determines that she will become a queen.
The workers and the queen share identical genes. However, it has now been proposed that the absence of the bee bread, which is fed to the workers, is what changes the expression of the genes in the queen and makes her a reproductive marvel. Conversely, royalactin a 57-kDa protein in royal jelly, may also play a role inducing the differentiation of honeybee larvae into the queen. The jury is still out and I suspect that the gene expression is multifactorial and temporal in nature.
The important point that I wish to make is that gene expression is dependent on nutrients in the diet of the bees.
Furthermore the health of the bees and the superorganism are dependent on nutrients.
The nutrients are ultimately dependent on:
The Natural, Healthy and Reasonable way to support bees is to
The careful and responsible support system which includes; devotion, nonintrusive observation, research, attentiveness, and compassion for the biome, including the microbiome of the Honey bee ecosystem.
I love bees. I also love many other beneficial insects that we encounter on our demonstration site. However, I don’t fancy myself a beekeeper.
- I believe in being a worthy steward to all creatures great and small.
- Insects play a vital role in the “Web of Life”.
- They are the foremost element of biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems.
- They are essential in enabling the foundational relationship between plants and living systems.
- Our existence is dependent on insects and their vital role in nature.
Since the colony collapse phenomena has become a somewhat common topic in recent years, I believe that a few words from my perspective are in order.
The first issue is to point out that the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) was brought to the Jamestown colony (Virginia) in 1622. Thus the honey bee is an introduced species to the United States. If we determined that the species caused economic harm it would be considered an invasive species. Having pointed out that the honey bee is not native it is nonetheless a beloved insect that is utilized to pollinate many of the foods we consume. Honey bees are pollinators, it’s estimated that they visit between 50 and 100 flowers during a typical collection trip. They produce honey, wax and they provide some medical benefits.
What makes our stewardship practices different from most beekeepers?
- No chemicals are used to treat the bees including organically approved chemicals
- The hives and the colonies are not rented out to other orchards for pollination
- Our crops and food forests are not sprayed with chemicals
- We plant both perennial and self-seeding guilds of plants that provide nectar and pollen for the pollinators from early spring until early winter in a cold temperate climate with lots of snow accumulation.
- There are no GMO crops on our property
- Our hives are overwintered on our temperate climate demonstration site
- We are not in the beekeeping business
- We do not “harvest honey” and then feed the bees sugar mixtures
- Our honey is not pasteurized nor is it finely filtered and therefore contains intact proteins, enzymes, propolis, pollen and some wax
- Our hives are raised above the ground, well ventilated, have viewing windows for observation and are disturbed (opened) infrequently
- No supplements are fed to the colonies
- We encourage the use of alternative (more accurate) terminology to describe observed and interactive activities with the hives
Ecology of honey bees is the branch of biological sciences that deals with the intra-relationships and interrelations of honey bees to one another, their physical surroundings, their microbiome, microorganisms that live within the colony, plants, insectivores, animals, habitat, and human management practices.
A hive is far more than a colony of bees. So what else is in that hive?
- Over 8,000 microbes
- Over 30 mite species
- Over 30 different insect species
- Fungi
- Yeast
- Bacteria
A bee colony is a superorganism which is a social unit of eusocial animals, where division of labor is highly specialized and the individual bees are not able to survive by themselves for extended periods of time. Each bee colony is unique and if allowed time will perish or adapt to its surroundings.
Today we recognize the important work of scientist studying the human microbiome as well as the honey bee microbiome. However there are also other microbiomes within the hive such as the microbes that are responsible for the bee bread.
Bee bread is a mixture of pollen and nectar or honey that has been collected and placed into the cells of a comb to be used as food by the bees. The bee bread is fermented within the cells which is dependent on the microbiome within the pollen that develops into the bee bread.
So the point that people don’t realize is that there are many organisms that are dependent on creating optimal health of the colony.
Now for my “Case Against Treatment”
When we treat we disrupt the ecosystem disrupting the health potential of the hive.
Some folks believe treating with essential oils might be a good thing. Wrong! The essential oils, even if the oils are of the highest quality, will kill beneficial microorganisms which the health of the hive is dependent on.
Using Organic acids disrupt the pH of the hive which also kills off the beneficial microorganisms. Just like plants and animals the microbes thrive within a narrow pH range.
Growing blueberries in soil that has an alkaline pH won’t be productive. If our blood pH falls below 7.35 (metabolic acidosis) or above 7.45 (metabolic alkalosis) we are ill and may die without intervention.
My point is that minute changes in the pH results in a shift from the beneficial microbes to a more favorable environment for opportunist microbes with a resultant compromise of the health of the colony. Like all living things when the health has been compromised they are more susceptible to being overcome by invaders, parasites, weather extremes and man made chemicals.
Treatment with antibiotics and antifungal medications are a shotgun approach to beekeeping.
- Such approaches take out beneficial and supportive bacteria and fungi.
- Promotes antibiotic resistance in the target species worsening the potential of wide spread resistant species.
- Hopefully we are all aware of the dangers of the indiscriminant use of antibiotics in the factory farming industry. The indiscriminant use of antibiotics has created concern of:
- life threatening infections
- reduced efficacy of medications available to treat infections.
Acaricides (insecticides) used to kill mites and ticks.
- Based on their properties, these chemicals can be classified into four groups: 1) organophosphates, 2) carbamates, 3) organochlorines, and 4) pyrethrins and pyrethroids.
- Beekeepers place this into the hive in order to kill a tiny mite on the bee.
- Unfortunately the insecticide is lipophilic and accumulates in the wax comb. Yes in health care products made from beeswax.
- This ultimately affects the fertility, health, and longevity of the queen.
- It affects the fertility of the drones as well as the health of both workers and drones.
- The insecticide is nonselective and kills or affects all 30 species of mites in the hive.
- Some of the other non-target mites may provide beneficial impact to the colony and may be competition for the undesirable mites in the hive.
Developmental changes occur when bee larvae (destined to be workers) are switched from eating royal jelly to a diet of jelly that includes honey and beebread.
Royal jelly (bee milk) is a highly nutritious glandular secretion of young bees, used to feed the queen and young brood. Royal jelly is fed to the larvae of worker bees and drones for the first three days of their lives to stimulate growth.
Royal jelly is secreted by the hypopharyngeal glands of young worker (nurse) bees, to feed young larvae and the adult queen bee. Royal jelly is always fed directly to the queen or the larvae as it is secreted and is not stored in cells like the bee bread.
Queen bee larvae are fed exclusively royal jelly throughout her life. The key word is exclusively. It may be that the absence of bee bread is what determines that she will become a queen.
The workers and the queen share identical genes. However, it has now been proposed that the absence of the bee bread, which is fed to the workers, is what changes the expression of the genes in the queen and makes her a reproductive marvel. Conversely, royalactin a 57-kDa protein in royal jelly, may also play a role inducing the differentiation of honeybee larvae into the queen. The jury is still out and I suspect that the gene expression is multifactorial and temporal in nature.
The important point that I wish to make is that gene expression is dependent on nutrients in the diet of the bees.
Furthermore the health of the bees and the superorganism are dependent on nutrients.
The nutrients are ultimately dependent on:
- what the colony consumes
- what they are exposed to
- any treatments given that ultimately impact the microbes
- that are essential to the health of the hive
- as well as the constituents of the honey we consume
The Natural, Healthy and Reasonable way to support bees is to
- Stop treating the bees/hives. The advantages include:
- Save money - don’t have to purchase treatments
- Save time and energy - don’t have to put treatment in or take them out
- You’re not contaminating your wax
- You’re not upsetting the ecosystem of the hive
- The bees that survive will potentially be hardier
- You can breed for mites that can live in balance with the colony
- Stop disturbing them (frequent opening/examination of the hives),
- Frequent opening of the hives changes the odor, light exposure, temperature, air flow and results in crushed bees which also changes the odor of the hive
- Communication within the hive is by vibration and smell
- Honey bees have 165 olfactory receptor genes
- Most chemicals including essential oils interfere with their ability to communicate (smell)
- The queens location is detected by smell
- Smell is used to determine when the brood needs to be fed
- Smell is used to guard the hive entrance
- Honey bees memorize olfactory cues to navigate back to the hive
- Specially tuned olfactory system of drones is used for mating with the queen
- Nasanov's gland produces a pheromone that is used to attract workers during a swarm and is used to direct workers back to the hive
- Stop robbing from the bees (removing too much honey from the hive),
- leaving the colony to perish from starvation during the winter or
- possibly surviving only to succumb to disease pressures
- thus creating greater pest pressure on the apiary (other hives on site).
- Stop poisoning them with your treatments
- Stop feeding them high fructose corn sugar(HFCS), pollen substitutes, or processed sugar water
- The honey should not be harvested in the fall with the intention of feeding the bees sugar concoctions
- Beekeepers calculate what they believe the bees need to get through the winter. But just like us they should have an emergency fund just in case.
- The honey won’t spoil over the winter.
- Studies show bees fed sugar syrup are short lived compared to bees fed honey.
- Sugar syrup has a much higher pH (6.0) than honey (3.2 to 4.5)
- Sugar is more alkaline and honey more acidic
- The pH of the sugar solution affects the reproductive capabilities of every brood disease that the bees are fighting
- These opportunist (bad) organisms reproduce in a higher pH range than the honey.
- Studies show bees raised on pollen substitute are short lived
- When harvesting honey the some of the natural pollen is also removed
- Bees shouldn’t be eating when there’s nothing to forage (winter)
- Placing pollen substitutes doesn’t benefit the colony
- However the small hive beetles love those pollen substitutes
- Stop AI (Artificial insemination). These selective breeding programs have been used in domesticated animals, farm animals and I do not see a reduction in disease pressure. However we do see many problems with selective breeding programs.
- Historically selective breeding has benefited people (jobs, research and profit) and sometimes at a high cost to other species
- Given the impact of optimal nutrition on gene expression (nutrigenomics) and other environmental factors -Epigenomics (chemical compounds that influence the genome’s impact)
- Therefore nutrition and husbandry are more important
- Stop pinching queens (killing queen and replacing the queen) There may be a good reason why the queen isn’t laying eggs
- Purchasing a queen from someone producing lots of queens won’t be as healthy or productive in your hive,
- The queens are raised for early shipment when there is not a lot to forage
- A cell is placed in a mating nucleus hive and the queen emerges, is inseminated and shipped.
- If the queen is left in the mating nuc for 28 days, from the time she emerged, she reportedly
- lives longer
- has a better acceptance rate
- she will produce more offspring because her ovaries continue to develop without interruption
- Dufour’s gland secretion may provide a reliable signal for ovarian activation which if interrupted for an early spring shipment impacts the queen
- Therefor queen cells in a hive left undisturbed with ample nutrient supply will likely produce the best queen for your hive.
- We desire the best queens which are queens that have shown longevity and good supersedure skills for the hive’s geographic location
- Supersedure is a process whereby the workers identify that a queen is no longer able to meet the needs of the hive and therefore replaces an older or inferior queen bee with a young or superior queen.
- Stop moving/shipping them
- stress has detrimental effects on the health of the hive
- Stop placing hives in monoculture sites
- they need nectar and pollen throughout the spring, summer, and fall
- Start by establishing an ecosystem (home) for them to meet their nutritional needs for all foraging seasons.
- Selective pressure will occur
- either the parasite develops resistance to treatments or the bees will develop resistance to the parasites and they live in a balanced relationship
- Foundationless hives allows the bees to build the comb with new chemical free wax which allows the bees to live in a home that is healthier.
- Also if the beekeeper treats the hives more chemicals are added to the wax pollution their home.
- Natural comb allows the bees to build a natural cell size for the bees
- Standard foundation has a 150% increase in the size of the cells which produces a larger bee – unnatural
- Let the bees build what comes natural to the bees.
- Advantages of natural comb
- Less work for the beekeeper
- Clean wax
- Healthier bees
- Contaminated Wax (fluvalinate, coumaphos, amitraz and other lipophilic pesticides)
- Causes infertile queens & drones
- Causes regular supersedures
- Causes debilitated bees
