Colony Collapse Disorder and Bee Loss

What is colony collapse disorder?

It is a recent phenomena occurring primarily in more industrial beekeeping operations in which a large number of their bees disappear or their beehives seem to collapse. For many it is often very unexpected. One day they have a large number of healthy, productive beehives, and then next, everything is gone. As a result of the many variables and different methods of beekeeping, it makes the exact cause of this phenomena hard to pinpoint. Many think it could be a number of factors that eventually culminate in collapse.

"Common symptoms of CCD include:

(1) a sudden loss of the colony's adult bee population;

(2) very few dead bees present in or around the hive;

(3) the presence of a healthy laying queen bee with a small cluster of newly-emerged attending workers;

(4) frames of healthy, capped brood with low levels of parasitic mites, indicating that the colony was recently vigorous and healthy;

(5) substantial food reserves of pollen and honey, which are not readily robbed by other active colonies in the vicinity;

(6) minimal evidence of invasion by wax moths, small hive beetles, or other opportunistic hive pests. In colonies that are actively collapsing, the number of worker bees is insufficient to maintain the amount of brood present, and the workforce that is present is composed entirely of younger bees."

-University of Arkansas

This has been going on for about a decade now and while things seem to have improved, there is still a strong focus on bee loss.

The current focus?

  • Work to reduce habitat destruction and improve nutrition for bees. This paired with disease and parasites are likely the two main causes of CCD

  • The second, breed better bees. Working to strengthen certain genetic traits can improve their resistance to pests and also increase their productivity or honey production.

  • While CCD is a big concern in the beekeeping world, it is not the first issue and certainly will not be the last

  • We need to look towards the future. While many in Ohio are no longer concerned about CCD, we need to be careful. Overall there is and should be worry about the future of bees.

  • for this reason, we need to act and focus on not quick fixes, but long term solutions.