DISEASE/PEST
Around the world, our colonized honey bees are being overworked and undernourished. Honey bees can be exposed to toxic endocrine-disrupting chemicals and are often fed high-fructose corn syrup and a monoculture pollen. Poor nutrition is also impacting non-captive bees through a combination of environmental stresses1.Honey bees are currently suffering very high disease pressure. To date, fourteen diseases have been identified: Deformed wing virus, Israeli acute paralysis virus, Sac brood virus, Black queen cell virus, Kashmir bee virus, Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), Varroa destructor1, Tracheal mites, Nosema ceranae, Small hive beetle, American Foulbrood (AFB), European Foulbrood (EFB), Varroa (vampire mite), and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD2.In general, higher viral loads are consistently present in colonies suffering from Colony Collapse Disorder. Whether this phenomenon is a potential cause or a potential effect of an already weakened immune system is a current topic of investigation<1.
Prevention
The diseases differ in their severity but all of them can be prevented or controlled by proper management. Such management includes knowing and recognizing the symptoms of diseases, inspecting colonies regularly, and applying control measures promptly when disease is found. Drugs and antibiotics are effective in preventing disease but cannot substitute for good management. They must be used at the proper time and dosage to avoid contamination of honey5.
Treatment
There are few treatments available:
Treatment |
|
Small hive beetle |
Keep one’s hive as strong as possible;Chemical controls |
Varroa mite |
Chemical controls*; oil products**(However, these are labour intensive and costly, and not consistently effective). |
AFB |
Kill bees from infected hives, burn their brood frames, bees, and wax, and bury the ashes;Antibiotic treatments*** |
EFB |
Antibiotic treatments*** |
* Chemical controls include Fluvalinate, Coumaphos, Formic Acid, and Oxalic Acid.
**Oil products include thyme oil, peppermint and wintergreen oils, clove oil, sucrocide octonoate, mineral oil, etc.
***Antibiotics treatments include Oxytetracycline, and Fumagilin.
The suggested dosage for each antibiotic is 1 teaspoon (5 ml) per treatment per colony. The antibiotic is added to prepared sugar syrup. For every colony, use 5 ml of product in 4.5 litres of syrup. Feed every two weeks between late winter and middle of spring3.
Regarding Canadian Organic Standards and hive pest and disease treatment, the use of therapeutic applications of non-synthetic or synthetic substances is permitted, if those substances are in accordance with CAN/CGSB-32.311, Organic Production Systems – Permitted Substances Lists 4. Antibiotics should be applied only if the situation is dire and the treated hive should be put in isolation for one year 4.
SUPPLEMENTAL FEEDING
Why is there a need for supplemental feeding?
Honey bees naturally feed on flowers’ nectar and pollen, as well as the hive’s honey reserves. When such materials are not available from flowering plants or there is a lack of stored honey, then one may need to provide supplemental feeding for the colony.
It is important to notice that no supplemental feeding can completely substitute for nectar or honey because it does not match the diverse nutritional needs of bees, especially young ones. In North America, a beekeeper should leave about 90 pounds of honey in the hive before the winter season 6.
What types of supplemental feedings are out there?
The main constituent of a bee’s diet is carbohydrates, primarily provided by sugars in the form of nectar. Sugar/carbohydrate supplements can be supplied to the hive through syrups from cane and beet sugar. Other artificial foods for bees are “bees’ candy” and dry sugar. Bees candy is a simple mixture of sugar and water (1:1) that has been heated and subsequently cooled down. Dry sugar is a feed that should be given only in emergency cases in late winter and should be accompanied by an extra source of water6.
Another important nutrient for bees is protein, which is primarily provided by pollen. Pollen substitute and pollen supplement diets can be served in two forms: dry mix and moist patty. Pollen substitute is prepared by mixing soybean flour, Wheast, brewer’s yeast with sucrose and water. Pollen supplement diets can be made from any of the pollen substitute formulations by adding 10 percent by weight of a clean pollen. Wheast and soybean flour contain decent quality and quantity of protein, lipids, vitamins and mineral for bee growth6.
The dry mixture can be placed inside the hive or outside as long as it is sheltered from the rain and other insects or birds, but keeping it inside may be better because only bees from that hive can consume it. The pollen supplement diet can be prepared as moist mixture (a.k.a cakes) for feeding inside the hive. The cake is a water-pollen-sugar mixture added with soybean flour, Wheast, or brewer’s yeast. One 1.5 pound cake lasts 10 to 14 days when placed into the hive6.
The following chart will be useful for preparing pollen supplement and pollen substitute diets:
Potential negative impacts of supplemental feeding
As pollen is a bee’s natural food source, supplements do not compare in terms of the suitable nutrients provided7. Likewise, when considering nectar and sugar substitutes. Lehner (1983) conducted a study that showed bees feeding on pollen had much larger and healthier populations than those that fed on feed substitutes7. In fact, a bad pollen supplement is worse than not providing a supplement altogether8. In regards to sugar substitutes, it is important to consider what kind of sugars are being fed to bees as many can be toxic to them. Toxic sugars includes galactose, arabinose, xylose, melibiose, mannose, raffinose, stahyose, and lactose9. However, glucose, fructose, maltose, sucrose, melezitose, and trehalose are suitable in terms of safety and nutrition9.
The Canadian Organic Standards also mention that supplemental feeding should be given to honey bees only after the collection of honey and 15 days prior to the first nectar or honeydew flow-period of the season4. Again, the substances used to make the supplemental feeding should comply to the list of permitted substances in organic production4.
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