from the July 2007 American Bee Journal

Q Varroa in Hawaii

Jerry, Howard here from Hawaii. I asked you last year about Africanized honey bees (AHB) getting here. I’ve used your line, “If you’re not looking for it, you won’t know until it’s too late” over and over again. How prophetic. We weren’t looking for mites and got blind-sided. Shame on us–let us hope we learned from this. I’m disappointed in some of the more experienced beekeepers who continued to lose hives here, wanted to blame rain or CCD or whatever the current disease was, but never got out into the hives to see just what was going on. (Sensing my frustration?).

So, now that we have them, what are we to do? While it seems everyone has them, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on what works, what doesn’t.

My questions:

1. How do we keep from spreading them? Different suits, gloves, tools, between apiaries? Hive movement restrictions are a given, but what else do we need to be looking for?

2. What’s Florida doing to manage them? Given the similarities in climates, perhaps the Florida remedies are going to be more effective here.

3. What’s the status on the fungal control methods? I found references to studies done in 2000, but nothing recent. Is this a dead end?

If there’s any lesson to be learned, it’s that your saying, “If you’re not looking...” is so true. I’m going to start reading up on the small hive beetle. If you ever get out here, we’d love to have you come and talk to our Co-op members!

Just back from a weekend at the Virginia State meeting Howard. I’ll give your questions a shot.

1. Varroa travel on and/or with honey bees and sometimes bumble bees. If beekeepers do not move colonies around or hide queens in cages in their pockets, there are no swarms moving around, and no ships come in from Asia or US mainland with traveling swarms, then you will be fine. What are the chances of this happening? Slim and none! All one can do now is consistently survey with ether, sugar rolls or sticky boards for natural drop. Whatever way you choose, once you have them, you have them and this will just give you an early warning.

2. The more IPM techniques that you can incorporate, the better. Use screened bottoms, drone trapping, powdered sugar treatments, Apiguard (thymol) applications, and try to stay away from fluvalinate and coumaphos for as long as you can, and then use them as simply varroa tools and not silver bullet treatments.

3. We stopped our “fungus” control research efforts with our partners USDA/ARS Logan, Utah, Dr. Rosalind James because it didn’t work very well.

I think that you need to survey for small hive beetle (SHB) and AHB with your Dept. of Ag. leading the way.

Q Is Phoretic Really a Word?

Jerry, in the May issue of ABJ page 402, the efficacy of the “Dowda” method is discussed. In part it says, “Mites are only phoretic (emphasis mine) for about 5 days...” My dictionary does not include “phoretic”. Can you help? Thanks.

Don Anderson

On my Blackberry from Virginia. Phoretic is a fancy word that simply means they are in the open and exposed. Varroa life cycle includes concealment sealed with the brood. When they emerge with the brood, they are now phoretic and more easily killed.

Q RARE T REAT

Hi Jerry, I’ve been a beekeeper for about four years, and I’ve harvested honey for the last three (I have two hives). This April I harvested a super of honey that tasted like nothing I’ve tasted before (this is the earliest I’ve ever pulled off a super). The best I can describe it is having a strong floral aroma with a floral taste similar to the aroma. I had a local experienced beekeeper sample it and he wasn’t sure of the source either, but we agreed that a possible primary source could be wisteria. Wisteria was in bloom all over the place within the last month or two, but I didn’t think much about it at the time because I never saw honey bees foraging there. However, from the time I put on the empty super (in March) until I pulled it in April would correspond with the wisteria bloom. Have you ever heard of wisteria honey? I’ve looked on the Internet and searched through several books, but none mention wisteria as a significant honey source. Do you know where I can get information on wisteria as a honey source, or a source of comprehensive information on honey plants (I have the 1926 edition of Lovell’s Honey Plants of North America)? Thanks.

Steve Carroll

Hot Springs, Arkansas

Steve, American Honey Plants, Frank C. Pellett, 1976, notes on page 445, “The wisterias are very attractive to the bees and some references indicate that where sufficiently abundant, they may be very important. The cultivated sorts may be of some value in cities and towns, while the wild ones yield nectar in the swampy regions of the southern states.” In Arkansas you have Wisteria fruitecens and Wisteria macrostachys, which may be your source. Pretty cool. I’ve never seen it. Good job.

Q LONG ENOUGH TO HURT!

Good Morning. Just a quickie, as I’m sure that you have much more serious matters with Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). How long is a bee’s sting? I have a figure (measured with a micrometer on a not-very-long-dead bee - very unscientific) of about 2.3 -2.5 mm. This is from an Apis mellifera, but is an Africanized honey bee’s sting any longer? Also, is AHB venom substantially different from the European bee? As always, enjoy your ‘articles’ but feel you must need the patience of Job! If you ever visit us ‘across the pond’ would love to show you round a bit. Cheers

Peter Smith

U.K.

I certainly hope that I never have to have the patience of Job. I think I would lose that one. AHB are Apis mellifera. They are simply the grumpy cousins of the Apis mellifera (Ligustica, Carnica, Caucasica, etc.) that beekeepers have had a relationship with for thousands of years. As such, AHB anatomy is very similar, but not exactly like gentle managed honey bees. Their stinger is not longer than any other Apis mellifera at between 3.0 and 3.2 mm. The venom sac can store about 0.1 mg of venom.

The real difference between Apis mellifera ligustica (Italian) and Apis mellifera scutellata (AHB) is behavior. Their aggressive defensive behavior is highly developed and instead of a few guard bees coming out to investigate a perceived predator, AHB send hundreds, then thousands. Even though the venom load is the same, the mass-stinging event of AHB can cause severe injury and death.

I would love to come across to “the old sod” and visit.

Q IS NOTHING SAFE?

I have read your “Classroom” for many years and find it very it interesting. You mentioned the problems of toxic nectar and I would like to add almonds to your list. Please see our paper: I. London-Shafir, S. Shafir and D. Eisikowitch, Amygdalin in almonds and pollen—facts and possible roles. Plant Systematics and Evolution, Vol. 238, 2003 (87-95)

Best regards

Dan Eisikowitch, Professor Emeritus

Israel

You are absolutely right Dr. Eisikowitch. And we (I) forget that too often commercial colonies in almond pollination are under this toxic stress for the time they are in almonds and after, as they feed on stored honey and pollen from almonds. Thank you for reminding me and bringing this to the collective memory.

Q DOWDA IS A SWEET TREATMENT!

I am a novice beekeeper, about to put my first bees in my first hive here in Oregon in 3 days time. I went to “Bee School” here in Lane County and the president of the local beekeeping society gave a talk on pests and advocated your method of varroa mite control. He advocated doing the powdered sugar/garlic treatment once a week for four weeks, then once a month thereafter. I have a few questions.

1. Since I’m putting in new (presumably miteless) bees, how soon do I have to start treatment?

2. I presume no treatment in the winter, so does the once a week for four weeks routine repeat every spring?

3. (Less important) What does the garlic do?

Thank you for your help.

Gary Halvorson

Welcome to beekeeping Gary.

1. Since no miticide kills 100% of the mites, I would give them their first treatment when they are still in the package before you even think about installing them. Dust it through the screen wire cage.

2. Once a week for four weeks and then once a month after that. If weather in winter is above 60 degrees F., I would do it when you can.

3. We have never recommended garlic powder added to the powdered sugar, but it probably won’t hurt either.

Q CCD & AHB in Florida

Greetings, I have a simple question. Is the ‘Colony Collapse Disorder’ affecting the Africanized bee colonies? I live in St. Cloud, Florida (Osceola County). As you may know, the first colonies (in Florida) of the African bees were reported in my area. The idea occurred to me that if the African bees are not affected, then they might be utilized as pollinators until the European bee problem can be solved or a hybrid bee can be developed. If that were the case, then eradicating the African bees would be a mistake. It is obvious that the management of the African bees is a problem. Is finding a way to manage them worth the effort?

Jeffry Krotts

Unfortunately we have not had the resources or time to look at the loss of other insect pollinators, as yet, to see if they are being affected also. All of our time has been spent on trying to find a cause for CCD among managed colonies that are responsible for pollinating billions of dollars of agriculture crops. Our thought is that since AHB are in the wild and not subjected to the stress of production beekeeping and production agriculture, they may not be experiencing colony health problems. The AHB is a “survivor” bee and will be the dominant bee species in Florida and the Southeast in the future. We will have to learn to live with it on several different levels.

I attended the Virginia State meeting. It was absolutely wonderful, which I heard from multiple sources. The only negative was bleacher butt from lack of padding on the chairs. I looked over the info handed out, but want to be absolutely accurate as I pass info along to other beekeepers.

One thinks he may have had colony collapse disorder, and buttoned up his dead hives as directed. Now he wonders when/if there is a safe time to open those hives and allow bees to take the honey? I saw the three-week recommendation, and it’s been that. He is willing to sacrifice the honey if that’s the recommendation, but if not, he’d like to use it as feed. What’s the consensus? Thanks so much.

Kathy Miller

Not knowing exactly what is going on with CCD Kathy and from just what I have seen in my little world here, my belief is that when wax moths or SHB move in, it is okay for honey bees. How is that for a science-based recommendation! Best I can do at the moment.

Q LIMITATIONS?

I am a student at North Broward Preparatory School in Coconut Creek, Florida. Now that the African Honey Bees have officially arrived in Florida, I have personally experienced bee problems at my house. I would like to know if the behavior of the bees is going to get worse with time? Also, is there a climate restriction that will prevent the bees from going any further and what is being done to try to contain the problem?

Good morning. Because of the way AHB dominates the breeding scheme, they will purify their genetics over time. The defensive trait is dominant and, as such, their behavior will become more defensive as they spread and become the predominant bee species in Florida and the Southeast US. They are the most successful invasive insect species ever. After an environmental blunder in Brazil in 1957, where these insects were introduced, they have displaced all of the more gentle honey bees of European ancestry in South America, Central America, Mexico and moved into the Southwest US in the early 1990s.

Our population is separate from this movement coming, we think, directly from South and Central America as reproductive swarms hitch-hiked rides on shipping traffic to Florida’s deep water ports. AHBs have not been able to be controlled since 1957, so there is no reason to think they will be now. They are a tropical bee that does not adapt well to long cold winters, so the upper half of the US may not have permanent populations. I hope this information helps.

Q Will Formic Sterilize?RMIC STERILIZE?

I have heard some claim that formic sterilizes the hive. No doubt at high concentrations, it would sterilize anything. Do you have any info on whether the typical concentrations applied have any effect on viruses, fungi, AFB, etc? Randy

I don’t know that anyone has any hard data that shows to what extent formic may affect other organisms in a colony of honey bees. Anecdotally, it seems beekeepers think the incidence of chalkbrood decreases with formic use, which makes some sense. But, for any of the really small and tenacious stuff like AFB, protozoans and viruses that are surface dwellers or are protected in the wax, spores, larval skins, honey, bee bread etc., I have not seen any data that treatment with a formic product at label rates does anything one way or another.


	The Classroom by Jerry Hayes Please send your questions to Jerry Hayes, 17505 NW Hwy 335, Williston, FL 32696 Email: gwhayes54@yahoo.com

		from the July 2007 American Bee Journal Q Varroa in Hawaii Jerry, Howard here from Hawaii. I asked you last year about Africanized honey bees (AHB) getting here. I’ve used your line, “If you’re not looking for it, you won’t know until it’s too late” over and over again. How prophetic. We weren’t looking for mites and got blind-sided. Shame on us–let us hope we learned from this. I’m disappointed in some of the more experienced beekeepers who continued to lose hives here, wanted to blame rain or CCD or whatever the current disease was, but never got out into the hives to see just what was going on. (Sensing my frustration?). So, now that we have them, what are we to do? While it seems everyone has them, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on what works, what doesn’t. My questions: 1. How do we keep from spreading them? Different suits, gloves, tools, between apiaries? Hive movement restrictions are a given, but what else do we need to be looking for? 2. What’s Florida doing to manage them? Given the similarities in climates, perhaps the Florida remedies are going to be more effective here. 3. What’s the status on the fungal control methods? I found references to studies done in 2000, but nothing recent. Is this a dead end? If there’s any lesson to be learned, it’s that your saying, “If you’re not looking...” is so true. I’m going to start reading up on the small hive beetle. If you ever get out here, we’d love to have you come and talk to our Co-op members! A Just back from a weekend at the Virginia State meeting Howard. I’ll give your questions a shot. 1. Varroa travel on and/or with honey bees and sometimes bumble bees. If beekeepers do not move colonies around or hide queens in cages in their pockets, there are no swarms moving around, and no ships come in from Asia or US mainland with traveling swarms, then you will be fine. What are the chances of this happening? Slim and none! All one can do now is consistently survey with ether, sugar rolls or sticky boards for natural drop. Whatever way you choose, once you have them, you have them and this will just give you an early warning. 2. The more IPM techniques that you can incorporate, the better. Use screened bottoms, drone trapping, powdered sugar treatments, Apiguard (thymol) applications, and try to stay away from fluvalinate and coumaphos for as long as you can, and then use them as simply varroa tools and not silver bullet treatments. 3. We stopped our “fungus” control research efforts with our partners USDA/ARS Logan, Utah, Dr. Rosalind James because it didn’t work very well. I think that you need to survey for small hive beetle (SHB) and AHB with your Dept. of Ag. leading the way. Q Is Phoretic Really a Word? Jerry, in the May issue of ABJ page 402, the efficacy of the “Dowda” method is discussed. In part it says, “Mites are only phoretic (emphasis mine) for about 5 days...” My dictionary does not include “phoretic”. Can you help? Thanks. Don Anderson A On my Blackberry from Virginia. Phoretic is a fancy word that simply means they are in the open and exposed. Varroa life cycle includes concealment sealed with the brood. When they emerge with the brood, they are now phoretic and more easily killed. Q RARE T REAT Hi Jerry, I’ve been a beekeeper for about four years, and I’ve harvested honey for the last three (I have two hives). This April I harvested a super of honey that tasted like nothing I’ve tasted before (this is the earliest I’ve ever pulled off a super). The best I can describe it is having a strong floral aroma with a floral taste similar to the aroma. I had a local experienced beekeeper sample it and he wasn’t sure of the source either, but we agreed that a possible primary source could be wisteria. Wisteria was in bloom all over the place within the last month or two, but I didn’t think much about it at the time because I never saw honey bees foraging there. However, from the time I put on the empty super (in March) until I pulled it in April would correspond with the wisteria bloom. Have you ever heard of wisteria honey? I’ve looked on the Internet and searched through several books, but none mention wisteria as a significant honey source. Do you know where I can get information on wisteria as a honey source, or a source of comprehensive information on honey plants (I have the 1926 edition of Lovell’s Honey Plants of North America)? Thanks. Steve Carroll Hot Springs, Arkansas A Steve, American Honey Plants, Frank C. Pellett, 1976, notes on page 445, “The wisterias are very attractive to the bees and some references indicate that where sufficiently abundant, they may be very important. The cultivated sorts may be of some value in cities and towns, while the wild ones yield nectar in the swampy regions of the southern states.” In Arkansas you have Wisteria fruitecens and Wisteria macrostachys, which may be your source. Pretty cool. I’ve never seen it. Good job. Q LONG ENOUGH TO HURT! Good Morning. Just a quickie, as I’m sure that you have much more serious matters with Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). How long is a bee’s sting? I have a figure (measured with a micrometer on a not-very-long-dead bee - very unscientific) of about 2.3 -2.5 mm. This is from an Apis mellifera, but is an Africanized honey bee’s sting any longer? Also, is AHB venom substantially different from the European bee? As always, enjoy your ‘articles’ but feel you must need the patience of Job! If you ever visit us ‘across the pond’ would love to show you round a bit. Cheers Peter Smith U.K. A I certainly hope that I never have to have the patience of Job. I think I would lose that one. AHB are Apis mellifera. They are simply the grumpy cousins of the Apis mellifera (Ligustica, Carnica, Caucasica, etc.) that beekeepers have had a relationship with for thousands of years. As such, AHB anatomy is very similar, but not exactly like gentle managed honey bees. Their stinger is not longer than any other Apis mellifera at between 3.0 and 3.2 mm. The venom sac can store about 0.1 mg of venom. The real difference between Apis mellifera ligustica (Italian) and Apis mellifera scutellata (AHB) is behavior. Their aggressive defensive behavior is highly developed and instead of a few guard bees coming out to investigate a perceived predator, AHB send hundreds, then thousands. Even though the venom load is the same, the mass-stinging event of AHB can cause severe injury and death. I would love to come across to “the old sod” and visit. Q IS NOTHING SAFE? I have read your “Classroom” for many years and find it very it interesting. You mentioned the problems of toxic nectar and I would like to add almonds to your list. Please see our paper: I. London-Shafir, S. Shafir and D. Eisikowitch, Amygdalin in almonds and pollen—facts and possible roles. Plant Systematics and Evolution, Vol. 238, 2003 (87-95) Best regards Dan Eisikowitch, Professor Emeritus Israel A You are absolutely right Dr. Eisikowitch. And we (I) forget that too often commercial colonies in almond pollination are under this toxic stress for the time they are in almonds and after, as they feed on stored honey and pollen from almonds. Thank you for reminding me and bringing this to the collective memory. Q DOWDA IS A SWEET TREATMENT! I am a novice beekeeper, about to put my first bees in my first hive here in Oregon in 3 days time. I went to “Bee School” here in Lane County and the president of the local beekeeping society gave a talk on pests and advocated your method of varroa mite control. He advocated doing the powdered sugar/garlic treatment once a week for four weeks, then once a month thereafter. I have a few questions. 1. Since I’m putting in new (presumably miteless) bees, how soon do I have to start treatment? 2. I presume no treatment in the winter, so does the once a week for four weeks routine repeat every spring? 3. (Less important) What does the garlic do? Thank you for your help. Gary Halvorson A Welcome to beekeeping Gary. 1. Since no miticide kills 100% of the mites, I would give them their first treatment when they are still in the package before you even think about installing them. Dust it through the screen wire cage. 2. Once a week for four weeks and then once a month after that. If weather in winter is above 60 degrees F., I would do it when you can. 3. We have never recommended garlic powder added to the powdered sugar, but it probably won’t hurt either. Q CCD & AHB in Florida Greetings, I have a simple question. Is the ‘Colony Collapse Disorder’ affecting the Africanized bee colonies? I live in St. Cloud, Florida (Osceola County). As you may know, the first colonies (in Florida) of the African bees were reported in my area. The idea occurred to me that if the African bees are not affected, then they might be utilized as pollinators until the European bee problem can be solved or a hybrid bee can be developed. If that were the case, then eradicating the African bees would be a mistake. It is obvious that the management of the African bees is a problem. Is finding a way to manage them worth the effort? Jeffry Krotts A Unfortunately we have not had the resources or time to look at the loss of other insect pollinators, as yet, to see if they are being affected also. All of our time has been spent on trying to find a cause for CCD among managed colonies that are responsible for pollinating billions of dollars of agriculture crops. Our thought is that since AHB are in the wild and not subjected to the stress of production beekeeping and production agriculture, they may not be experiencing colony health problems. The AHB is a “survivor” bee and will be the dominant bee species in Florida and the Southeast in the future. We will have to learn to live with it on several different levels. Q I attended the Virginia State meeting. It was absolutely wonderful, which I heard from multiple sources. The only negative was bleacher butt from lack of padding on the chairs. I looked over the info handed out, but want to be absolutely accurate as I pass info along to other beekeepers. One thinks he may have had colony collapse disorder, and buttoned up his dead hives as directed. Now he wonders when/if there is a safe time to open those hives and allow bees to take the honey? I saw the three-week recommendation, and it’s been that. He is willing to sacrifice the honey if that’s the recommendation, but if not, he’d like to use it as feed. What’s the consensus? Thanks so much. Kathy Miller A Not knowing exactly what is going on with CCD Kathy and from just what I have seen in my little world here, my belief is that when wax moths or SHB move in, it is okay for honey bees. How is that for a science-based recommendation! Best I can do at the moment. Q LIMITATIONS? I am a student at North Broward Preparatory School in Coconut Creek, Florida. Now that the African Honey Bees have officially arrived in Florida, I have personally experienced bee problems at my house. I would like to know if the behavior of the bees is going to get worse with time? Also, is there a climate restriction that will prevent the bees from going any further and what is being done to try to contain the problem? A Good morning. Because of the way AHB dominates the breeding scheme, they will purify their genetics over time. The defensive trait is dominant and, as such, their behavior will become more defensive as they spread and become the predominant bee species in Florida and the Southeast US. They are the most successful invasive insect species ever. After an environmental blunder in Brazil in 1957, where these insects were introduced, they have displaced all of the more gentle honey bees of European ancestry in South America, Central America, Mexico and moved into the Southwest US in the early 1990s. Our population is separate from this movement coming, we think, directly from South and Central America as reproductive swarms hitch-hiked rides on shipping traffic to Florida’s deep water ports. AHBs have not been able to be controlled since 1957, so there is no reason to think they will be now. They are a tropical bee that does not adapt well to long cold winters, so the upper half of the US may not have permanent populations. I hope this information helps. Q Will Formic Sterilize?RMIC STERILIZE? I have heard some claim that formic sterilizes the hive. No doubt at high concentrations, it would sterilize anything. Do you have any info on whether the typical concentrations applied have any effect on viruses, fungi, AFB, etc? Randy A I don’t know that anyone has any hard data that shows to what extent formic may affect other organisms in a colony of honey bees. Anecdotally, it seems beekeepers think the incidence of chalkbrood decreases with formic use, which makes some sense. But, for any of the really small and tenacious stuff like AFB, protozoans and viruses that are surface dwellers or are protected in the wax, spores, larval skins, honey, bee bread etc., I have not seen any data that treatment with a formic product at label rates does anything one way or another.

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