The Bee Health Update is a bi-monthly newsletter which provides updates of new content and activities of the Bee Health, eXtension.org community content at:
Archived newsletters:
Bee Health CoP Updates
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Community fact sheet:
Download and distribute the Bee Health Fact Sheet .pdf
Bee Health funding is provided by:
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Managed Pollinator CAP: Coordinated Agricultural Project
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USDA-ARS Areawide Program for Improving Honey Bee Health, Survivorship, and Pollination Availability
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There are regional bee Extension newsletters you may also be interested in for your location. See:
Clemson University, South Carolina Clemson newsletters
Georgia Bee Letter, University of Georgia UGA newsletters
U.C. Apiaries, University of California fill out UC Apiaries News
eXtension Newsletter Subscription:
The Bee Health Update is distributed via email. You can be added to the distribution list by subscribing here.
Contents |
Varroa Sensitive Hygiene
The USDA-ARS has bred bees that hygienically remove mite-infested pupae from capped worker brood. This research program has been over a decade in the making and has developed lines of bees with consistent and significant mite resistance. It is possible to either select for the same traits within your lines of honey bees, or you can introduce the trait into your population using open mated daughters of commercially available instrumentally inseminated breeder queens. These two pages from the Baton Rouge lab explain Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VSH) trait and how to select for it.
CAP Updates
Wild bees:
Concerns around bee decline and pollination services are not limited to the Western honey bee species, Apis mellifera. Several other species of bees are important pollinators both as commercially reared species and wild occurring species. This article by by Anna Morkeski and Anne Averill (University of Massachusetts/Amherst) outlines this important issue from the perspective of bee health.
Microsporidia:
Microsporidia were first discovered in the 19th century associated with "pebrine disease" of silk worms. Today beekeepers are acutely aware of 2 other microsporida that cause nosema disease in honey bees. In this CAP update, Leellen Solter from the University of Illinois provides details of the biology and life cycle of microsporida.
Varroa sampling, NEW and improved!
From the University of Minnesota, comes a new and improved method for estimating varroa densities. A general mite density can be determined at the apiary level or hive level for use in treatment decisions or research. Their research shows that sampling all colonies within an apiary is not necessary to determine a mite density for that apiary. Details for this and more can be found on the page:
Plight of the Bees
A new article in Environmental Science and Technology by Spivak, Mader, and Euliss, describes bee decline in the context of honey bees, native bees, and Colony Collapse Disorder.
Video from the American Bee Research Conference
The American Bee Research Conference (ABRC) is held annually by the American Association of Professional Apiculturists (AAPA). This is an opportunity to learn about the latest in bee research from around the world. Presentations are encouraged that showcase new, unpublished results from ongoing or newly completed research projects. The 2010 event occurred in conjunction with North American Beekeeping Conference & Tradeshow. The proceedings were published in the June 2010 American Bee Journal, and are also available on eXtension.org along with videos of 19 of the presentations.
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One of 19 recorded presentations, Steve Pernal presents: Disinfection of Nosema ceranae infected comb by irradiation, acetic acid fumigation, and heat.
The 2011 ABRC will be held in conjunction with a joint meeting of the American Beekeeping Federation and the American Honey Producers Association in Galveston, TX on January 4-8, 2011. To attend, see nabeekeepingconference.com
UC Apiaries Newsletter
Extension Apiculturalist Eric Mussen of the University of California, Davis, Department of Entomology publishes a bimonthly newsletter with subjects covering bees in the State of California and national concerns. He has generously allowed archiving of these on eXtension.org. At this time, no other online repository of these newsletters exists. There is also a link to signup to receive these newsletters by email from UC Davis.
New FAQs
- Why do newly installed packages of bees seem to abscond more than well-established hives? Answered by Bill Skelton, North Carolina State University
- The drone has no father but has a grandfather. How is that? Answered by Ed Beary, NY
- What are some suggestions for keeping bears out of active beehives? I live in Colorado.
Thank you for your time and attention,
Michael Wilson
University of Tennessee
Bee Informed Partnership