“The faster we can move away from reliance on tactics that introduce additional stress to the hive such as toxic mite controls and antibiotics, the sooner we are likely to see relief” – Ross Conrad- Author of Natural Beekeeping.
Amen Brother.
I just finished reading a small article in the February issue of Bee Culture titled Honey Bee Stress Reduction.
In the article, the author discusses how honeybees have been put under too much stress during the last century from a wide spectrum of sources. Pesticides, mites, you know the litany. It should be no wonder that honey bee populations are crashing around the world. What gets me is that we should have seen it coming. When our bodies and psyche’s are under stress what happens to us humans? We get sick, feel weaker, or decide one day to blow away half of our office mates after having Elf Bowling emailed to us for the nth time. The proverbial “straw” adds up until finally we succumb.
Well honeybees or any other living organism are no different.
I have a confession to make. I like gadgets. From the IPhone to the indoor remote control helicopter, I love technology. Even with beekeeping I once could have seen myself buying all of the latest gadgets and miticides to solve my problems of the instance. But I think what happens over the long term is we end up building a process of actions akin to a Rube Goldberg device just to maintain our bees health and make our life “easier”. When really what we could be doing is helping our bees over the long term through more of a hands off or natural approach. When I say “natural” approach I don’t mean stop brushing your teeth with fluoride but returning to a state of beekeeping that allows the bees to solve their own problems rather than relying on quick fixes.
Poppycock you may say. 90% of my hives will be lost. And to you I say you are probably right. This is a bitter pill that you will have to swallow but just listen to some of his ideas before you nay-say.
1. Our apiary’s medicine cabinet is full of miticides and antibiotics that were all designed to make life easier for our bees by not allowing them to suffer through tremendous losses. However this has caused several things to happen. It has left toxic residues in our hives which will vector into the food chain and has fostered the rise of a weaker bee. The antibiotics we use do kill off the bad bacteria in our hives such as AFB, but also the good pro-biotics which in the end, negatively effects the overall immune system of our honeybees.
It is true that through the use of chemicals/medicines we have prevented the immediate total collapse of our honeybee colonies but over the long term our bees are only going to become weaker and succumb to other stressors. However, if we can keep these pests and diseases in check using natural methods that don’t cause stressors of their own compared to the unnatural ones, we are able to eliminate or reduce several stressors at once. With each stressor eliminated we are able to increase our hives chances of survivability when dealing with other stressors effecting their immune system.
To this effort of eliminating unnatural elements in our hive Ross Conrad suggests we begin relying on ordering honeybees that have a proven reliability when dealing with these stressors. For instance purchasing honeybees that have come out of the program run by Dr. John Harbo and Dr. Roger Hoopingarner to develop Varroa resistance mites through Russian stock is a good option. Other breeders, such as Bee Weaver, are producing honeybees that have not relied on chemicals since 2001.
In the past it was popular to not use honeybees that generated huge amounts of propolis as this caused hives components to become stuck to one another. However this propolis has been known for years to be an extremely powerful antibiotic/antiviral and is responsible for extending the immune system of honeybees. Because propolis is so powerful it is surmised that throughout the course of natural history honeybees have not needed to develop an especially strong immune system to the same extent as required by other insects. – C. Ross, Bee Culture.
2. Another recommendation by Mr. Conrad is to rely on quality wax sources that are not infused already with chemicals as a source of foundation. However finding a source of chemical free wax can be hard to do and expensive. One suggestion is to allow the bees to draw out their own comb while providing them with a limited amount of foundation instead of a full sheet. He mentions when doing this to be sure your hive is level with the ground as bees will naturally draw comb parallel to the direction of gravity. So if your colony is situated on a slope, the honeybees will pull their comb down and miss the mark of the bottom frame.
I was wondering if maybe very thin sheets of balsa wood could work too. Maybe I will try this with one of my hives this year.
If these potential solutions work in conjunction with each other this may help reduce the total stress levels on a hive to the point that it will outweigh the necessity to rely on chemical solutions.
In my opinion, our best option is to purchase honeybees from producers of good survivor stock. This focused effort of forcing the bees to deal with the stressors through tough love may at first seem brutal but in the long haul may be to the benefit of honeybee populations in general. Evolution has brought bees through at least 35 million years of disease and predators. With human efforts we can narrow the time limit but it takes an initial dose of perseverance and a willingness to basically start over.
JPBELLAVANCE
