The Bee Health Update is a quarterly newsletter which provides updates of new content and activities of the Bee Health, eXtension.org community content at:
Archived newsletters:
Bee Health CoP Updates
Visit us onYouTube 
Community fact sheet:
Download and distribute the Bee Health Fact Sheet .pdf
Bee Health funding is provided by:
-
Managed Pollinator CAP: Coordinated Agricultural Project
-
USDA-ARS Areawide Program for Improving Honey Bee Health, Survivorship, and Pollination Availability
Get Connected
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.
Winter Loss Survey Underway
Continuing the past survey efforts of the USDA-ARS Areawide program and the Apiary Inspectors of America, the Winter Loss Survey seeks to quantify the colony losses suffered by US beekeepers over the winter.
The survey can be accessed at beeinformed.org
Bee Informed Partnership launches new website
The Bee Informed Partnership is an extension project that endeavors to decrease the number of honey bee colonies that die over the winter.
This effort extends and expands on the work of previous surveys and sampling in commercial, part-time, hobby, and bee-breeding operations. The new website is the launch window to participating in surveys and accessing a database which will house results from current and past projects. There are also YouTube posts and a 'blog' with intriguing updates from the field at beeinformed.org
CAP Updates
Research Updates from the Managed Pollinator CAP: Coordinated Agricultural Project
Best Management Practices:
Together with Project Apis m. (PAm), BMPs for Beekeepers have been developed. The elements of these recommendations include the following.
- Bee Nutrition
- Pest Control/Varroa
- Disease Control/Nosema
- Hive Management/Equipment
- Colony Management
- Business Management
- BMP's for Almond Growers/Bee Rentals
You do not have the Flash plugin installed, which means you are missing out on great interactive content. Download Flash.
Genetic Toolkits for Bee Health
Jay Evans from the USDA-ARS updates on diagnostic genetic tools available for major honey bee pests and pathogens. These tools can be used to predict ailments and causes of colony declines.
For the details on how labs do this, see Protocol for Honey Bee PCR Diagnostics
Thank you for your time and attention,
Michael Wilson
University of Tennessee
Bee Informed Partnership