Beekeeping 

  • While beekeeping is essential to the survival of honey bees, in some ways, their biggest threat is also the beekeepers themselves

    • Chemicals used by beekeepers to control varroa mites persist in beehives for about five years

    • Once opposed to the use of chemical pesticides (and still when it comes to nearby farming), today beekeepers largely depend upon these chemicals to combat pests and diseases.

      • Long term this could factor into CCD

    • Every year, about 2 million bee colonies are rented for U.S. crop pollination

  • Natural Beekeeping Tips (from Heidi Herrmann)

    • Keep bees for pollination first and honey second

    • Allow bees to overwinter in their own honey instead of feeding a sugar substitute

    • Only open the hive when really necessary

    • Allow the bees to reproduce naturally by swarming (helps reduce varroa issues)

    • Don’t use chemical treatments for disease and pest control

    • Don't cull the drones

    • Avoid smoking the bees

    • Observe the bees closely

  • Organic beekeeping methods

    • While some suggest that decreasing the size of the comb is an effective organic method, other beekeepers I have spoken with disagree.

    • A popular practice of industrial beekeepers is to discourage swarming because this reduces honey production. However, this is an essential method for encouraging natural practices and flushing diseases out of the hive.

    • All in all the methods used are various forms of IPM or Integrated Pest Management.

    • Many beekeepers will use selective breeding methods to produce bees with more ideal traits.

      • A recent practice has involved breeding a fleet of bees that have natural grooming behaviors which allow for them to take the mite and bite its legs off.

      • While this can be helpful, it will take awhile to integrate and has still not shown to be the most effective

All in all...

  • Current industrial beekeeping is a broken system.
  • with an average quarter winter loss and a recent survey that showed Ohio losses of up to 50 or 60% things don't look good for overwintering bees.
  • for this reason, it is essential that beekeepers are well-informed and consider a variety of options when looking at how to best manage their hives