To simplify record keeping, John Rudebusch, President of the Nebraska Honey Producer's Association, asks that all current members of the Nebraska Honey Producer's Association renew their membership at this time by subscribing to the newsletter. Commercial beekeepers who wish to further support the goals and objectives of the NHPA should send additional dues directly to George Bunnell, NHPA Secretary, Box 596, Oxford, NE 68967.
Marion's extension efforts will focus on finding practical solutions to introduced bee mites. He is developing an educational program to inform the public about tropical (alias "killer bees") and the importance of pollinators, stressing the need to conserve bees and beekeeping to minimize the effect of this recent introduction. In addition, he will provide leadership and extend information to minimize accidental damage to pollinators by pesticides.
In addition to extension programming, Marion will also have teaching responsibilities. An introductory beekeeping class will be offered spring semester each year. Additionally, a master beekeeper training program is being developed to provide basic beekeeping information to new beekeepers. The program will offer apprentice, journeyman, and master beekeeper certification and will be done as a three to five day intensive training program. To support these activities, a series of NebGuides are under development on various aspects of beekeeping.
The apiculture program will have a field lab at the Agricultural Research and Development Center located at Mead, Nebraska. A 30' by 50' building is currently being remodeled and is scheduled for completion by August 1, 1995. The field lab will provide an excellent opportunity to conduct applied research, field days, and special training programs. Beekeepers will be invited to an open house and field day when construction is completed.
Many thanks to all who helped create this position including: The Nebraska Honey Producer's Association, The Nebraska Beekeepers Association, The Nebraska Department of Agriculture, and many individual beekeepers. Beekeepers have been severely stressed by introduced parasites and pests, loss of farm program benefits, and a depressed honey market. The new extension program is dedicated to finding solutions to beekeeping problems, to generating a renewed enthusiasm in beekeepers, and to protecting our state's pollinator resource. Honey bees are our State Insect, and Nebraska has a long history of providing opportunities for producing bountiful crops of premium quality honey. The new extension apiculture position is dedicated to continuing that tradition by providing beekeepers with the skills and tools needed to succeed.
August 25, 1995 - Nebraska State Fair Opens. For information on classes and entry requirements contact: Cheryl Panko, Nebraska State Fair, State Fair Park, P.O. Box 81223, Lincoln, NE 68501-1223. If you want to help with this year's booth, contact Jerry Bishop at 402-291-1843.
September 9, 1995 - The Fall Festival of Color, the Horticulture Department's annual open house, will be held at the Agriculture Research and Development Center, Mead, Nebraska. . The new Apiculture Lab will be open to participants to learn about the fascinating world of bees and beekeeping.
October 1995 - Open House for University of Nebraska Apiculture Lab, Mead, Nebraska. Date and time will be announced in the August newsletter.
November 17-18, 1995 - Nebraska Honey Producer's Association Annual Meeting. Meeting will be held at the Harvester Motel, 1151 Centerpark Road, Lincoln, NE 68512. For reservations call 402-423-3131 or 800-341-8000. Be sure to mention that you are attending the Nebraska Honey Producer's meeting to get the convention rate. Lincoln can be a busy place in November, so book your room now to secure lodging at the meeting site. More details will follow in subsequent newsletters.
Recently, two excellent publications and one videotape have become available that provide guidelines for beekeepers and growers involved in crop pollination.
Another good source of information is to solicit advise from beekeepers who have experience in crop pollination. David Green, publisher of the Eastern Pollinator Newsletter, P.O. Box 1215, Hemingway, SC 29554, offers some good advice to new pollinators in a recent newsletter.
"Pollination service is an alternative use of honey bees. You need to note that word alternative, because in order to do pollination, you will have to manage your bees differently, and you are going to give up some or all of your honey production. Considering the shape of our markets for honey, and the almost desperate need of our farmers for more bees, I consider this a good decision. An added advantage is that pollination service is more consistent from year to year. Honey production is a much greater gamble.
"Many beekeepers who are just beginning, think they are going to keep on making honey, and they do not figure in the added costs, so they tend to underprice. With current markets, you cannot do an adequate job of managing your bees and provide good service for less than $30-35 per single story hive, per crop. This is just a break-even proposition at that price. The profit comes from doing more than one crop per season.
"You need to protect yourself (and your customer, as well) by having a written contract. The two central points that need to be addressed are that you will provide good bees, and that the grower will not hurt them. Then you can deal with other factors such as placement, responsibilities, problems that can arise, liabilities, etc.
"Traditionally pollination service has quantified the bees in terms of hives. However, the development is in the direction of numbers of frames of brood. Most almond pollination is done this way today. I use single story brood chambers and guarantee a minimum of five frames of brood at placement, and try to average 6 to 6 «. If you use double brood chambers and guarantee, say 12 frames, you should price accordingly (and figure on a forklift to move them).
"I also guarantee the bees to be healthy and queenright. They are treated for varroa mites and foulbrood, and selectively bred for resistance to tracheal mites, chalk brood, and other diseases. I agree to open a reasonable number for grower inspection upon delivery, if requested. The contract also indicates grower responsibility to notify me, if there is poor flight, and I agree to replace hives, if more than 5% are substandard, queenless, or have foulbrood.
"It would be good to have your grower understand, even if it is not in the contract, that it is important to have not only a minimum standard, but a maximum as well. An overly strong hive, especially if it is last year's queen, is likely to swarm, and swarmy bees do a poor job of pollination, not only after swarming, but during the week or so ahead, while they are preparing. The best pollination is provided by young queens (I figure 80 - 85% of my queens are this season's) who are laying heavily. This forces the bees to do a lot of pollen gathering. Studies show bees who are deliberately gathering pollen are up to ten times more effective pollinators than those who are gathering nectar.
"Very important, for your protection, is a liability limit. Like the seed companies, you cannot guarantee a crop; that depends on too many factors, so, like them, you should limit your liability to the price of the contract. I hold growers liable to an agreed amount for damages to the bees based on things under their control, such as their employee running over the hives with a disc, or burning off hedgerows (they have happened to me). We split damages that are outside of grower control, such as, bear damage, trespasser vandalism, etc. Growers are also responsible to notify others who are at risk of stings, and they assume liability for these.
"Placement and timing need to be addressed. The bees need shade, water, and some sort of stand, (trailer, pallets, old tires, etc.), and you may need to be pulled out of a mud hole. Resist the grower who wants you to place one hive every hundred feet. You have a much harder time taking care of them. Put the bees in a favorable spot with a good road to it. They will easily cover one half mile.
"There are two myths that need to be addressed (a myth is an idea with a germ of truth that has become universalized). One such myth is to wait until the bloom has started, because the bees may get used to working other plants and neglect the crop. If there is a lot of other bloom, and the crop you are pollinating is a poor nectar source, such as pears or kiwi, the principle can apply. But our melons, cukes and vine crops bloom when there is little else available and the bees will work them just fine, even if you put them in well ahead of bloom. Suppose it rains for a week, just as bloom starts and the farm roads are pools of mud. Better placed six weeks early than one week late!
"The last serious issue to address is pesticide use. The grower should be taught to monitor for foraging bees as the label requires. With the newer, non-residual pesticides that are often used today, the only protection the bees need is that the grower not apply during the time bees are actually foraging. The grower should understand that compliance with label directions is required by law and by the contract, and is sufficient protection for the bees. The label directions protect foraging bees in the application area, whether the bees are kept or feral, and they protect all bees, honey bees, bumble bees, and solitary bees (non-Apis bees). Residual pesticides such as Penncap M, Sevin or any of the organophosphates should never be used during bloom. The label clearly marks them as residual.
Mr. Green kindly offers to send a copy of his contract upon receipt of a self-addressed stamped envelope. I also have sample pollination contracts that I will send upon request.
Registration - Registration of new chemicals is very time consuming and expensive. Economically it is not very attractive for chemical companies to develop new drugs for the sole purpose of using them to control varroa. Most acaricides that have been developed to control other mite pests have already been tested for their effect on varroa, so it is not very likely that a number of new drugs will be developed for use against varroa in the new future.
The list of registered acaricides differs from country to country. If a drug is not registered in one country, but has been registered on the other side of the border, illegal use is promoted. As an example, formic acid is an approved treatment in Canada, but it is not registered in the U.S.
Chemical residues - When treatments are applied, residues may occur in honey, beeswax, or other bee products. Many consumers consider bee products to be health foods, therefore, small amounts of residues, considered safe for human health, may negatively impact the market. It is important that beekeepers develop a system for monitoring their colonies for varroa and only treat as often as necessary.
Apart from health risk to consumers, small amounts of residues may have undesirable effects on bees (e.g. sublethal effects) or mites (e.g. promoting resistance).
Synergistic effects - It has been found that pyrethroids (Apistan is a pyrethroid) in low concentrations can increase the toxicity of other pesticides. Certain fungicides that are not normally toxic to bees become very toxic after the administration of small amounts of pyrethroids. This is the result of blocking the bee's detoxification system by the pyrethroid. Most combinations of anti-varroa drugs and non-hazardous pesticides have not yet been tested for synergistic effects.
Cumulative effect of varroacidal drugs and other chemicals - German researchers have shown that Perizin, a miticide used for varroa control, could increase the effects of pesticides with a similar mode of action. This phenomena has not been studied in other anti-varroa drugs that are widely used as pesticides in agriculture.
Mite resistance to anti-varroa drugs - Resistance of mites to drugs will almost certainly develop. Monitoring the toxicity of the different drugs and their active ingredients to varroa mites is necessary to discriminate between rumors and facts. Recently, varroa resistance to fluvalinate, the active ingredient in Apistan was documented in Italy. This should serve as a warning that it is especially important for beekeepers to use only registered materials and to read and follow label directions. Using unregistered forms of fluvalinate (which result in greater residues in beeswax) or leaving treatments in hives longer than necessary are good ways select for mite populations that are resistant to Apistan. A mite breeder (I hope you are not one) seeking to develop resistance to Apistan would probably use the same approach. Using only registered materials and using them according to label will extend the period of time that Apistan will provide good varroa control. Protect our beekeeping tools so they will be available and effective for years to come!
Resistance monitoring - Bees infested with varroa will be tested for resistance to Apistan. Beekeepers wishing to cooperate with this project need to identify colonies that have been treated with Apistan which subsequently show a high mite infestation level in a short period of time (6 months or less). They also should be willing to have one pound samples of bees taken from colonies for testing. High infestation levels in treated colonies may be the result of reinfestation from nearby untreated colonies or mite resistance to the acaricide. This study will monitor for resistance and provide an early warning if resistance appears.
Control - Glucosinolates extracted from crambe meal will be investigated for their varroacidal properties. Crambe is an oil seed crop grown for its high erucic acid content which has several specialized uses as a lubricant. The meal obtained as a by product of oil extraction is toxic to some arthropods and merits investigation as a varroacidal agent. Naturally occurring plant extracts are an attractive alternative to synthetic pesticides for use in honey bee colonies. They face fewer obstacles to registration if found to be effective, and their use is less likely to damage the image of the product if residues are found. Currently, researchers at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa are investigating glucosinolates for the control of house flies, mosquito larvae, and corn rootworm larvae. Initially, all test will be done on colonies maintained by the University of Nebraska. If preliminary results look promising, beekeeper cooperators will be sought for further evaluation.
Cumulative Effects of Apistan and Other Chemicals - This initiative will investigate cumulative effects of Apistan on bee exposure to chemicals used in agriculture for the control of crop pests. In Germany, it was shown that Perizin (a varroacide) could increase the effects of pesticides with a similar mode of action rendering treated colonies more vulnerable to injury. This phenomenon has not yet been studied in other anti-varroa drugs, including Apistan.
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