Year 1810

On December 25^th, America will celebrate the 200^th birthday of “The Father of American Beekeeping”.  L.L. Langstroth was born in 1810 and is credited with the discovery of what apiarists commonly call the “bee space” in top-opened hives.  Langstroth’s invention, subsequent patent, mass production and beekeeping contributions significantly led to the industrialization of modern beekeeping.  With his innovated design, colonies could multiply more quickly, weak colonies could be strengthened, queens could easily be replaced, and problems within the beehive diagnosed and remedied. In the 1800’s and up to recent times, honey production was the economic driving force.  Langstroth’s design turned the art of beekeeping into an all-out industry.  Two centuries later, while the hive has to a large degree remained unchanged, the status of the honey bee, by most media accounts, appears to have changed significantly.  However, when viewed as part of a bigger picture, honey bees have a remarkable ability to survive.

Let’s fast forward to 2010.  While no major changes have been made to the hive itself, the status of the honey bee has changed.  With honey prices falling over the past few years, beekeepers have taken an interest in commercial pollination services as a more viable means of income.  The almond bloom in February is the single greatest demand for honeybee colonies in the world.  The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) states bearing acres will be up by 20,000 more acres compared to the preceding pollination season.   Meanwhile, even though Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) symptoms are decreasing, bee losses are hovering at about 30%.  While recent scientific meetings are not illuminating any discoveries as significant as the Langstroth’s discovery a couple centuries ago, scientists and the public alike are keeping honey bees top-of-mind.

The health of the honey bee has garnered much needed attention and the honey bee’s prominence has increased.  In July, the Center for Pollinator Research at PSU led the way with the 1^st International Conference on Pollinator Biology, Health and Policy. Among researchers and scientists, current honey bee terminology includes descriptions like “eusocial” and “superorganisms”.  They are duly being recognized as a highly complex form of social organization akin to humans.  Swiss entomologist, Peter Neumann, in his opening remarks at the conference called this period in time “the golden age of bee research”.   Scientists, government agencies and industry representatives from around the world and U.S. are taking up the challenge to improve the health of the honey bee with both fervor and funds.  Organizations such as Project Apis m (PAm), the Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC), the  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)  are just a few of the many entities committed to improving honey bee health.

New theories

Two recent theories associated with CCD have evolved.  One theory points to the queen as being the key to the health of the “superorganism”, while another has found a large DNA virus previously unassociated with bees but found in CCD colonies.

The queen

As the single reproductive female in the colony, the queen no doubt plays a role in colony health.  She is the mother of all offspring contained within the hive.  Bee health must not only consider the health of individual bees, but also the health of the superorganism.  The reproductive qualities of the queen are key.  Dr. David Tarpy, with the Department of Entomology at North Carolina State University, cited at the Eastern Apicultural Society (EAS) Conference in August that beekeepers suffered 31% losses due to queen failure, 28% due to starvation, 24% to mites and only 9% to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) symptoms.  Also at EAS, Dr. Keith Delaplane, University of Georgia, emphasized that the superorganism forsakes reproduction by all other individuals in the colony to concentrate on reproduction by the sole queen.  Sue Cobey, who now holds a joint appointment with UC Davis and Washington State University (WSU) and Dr. Steve Sheppard (WSU) are working towards increasing genetic diversity in the lineage of the queen, making the case that this will result in a better fit colony, with greater ability to deal with pests, disease and stress imposed by intensive management of colonies.  Best management for beekeepers includes requeening at least annually, in addition to good nutrition, to aid in the resistance of pests which carry viruses and diseases.

A new virus

Not previously associated with honey bees, noted bee scientist Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk of Bee Alert Technology, Inc., Missoula, Montana, has discovered a new virus in the honey bee, the Invertebrate Iridescent Virus (IIV).   Dr. Bromenshenk calls this “a particularly nasty virus” that kills by one of two mechanisms:  1) proliferating to the point of damaging the host, or 2) producing a protein toxic to the host.  Dr. Bromenshenk’s research team found the IIV in combination with Nosema ceranae to be directly associated with CCD colonies.

Short term and long term

Hopefully it will not take all of these noted scientists and their institutions two centuries to get to the bottom of CCD.  In the short term, management practices are being promoted to improve bee health enough to get back to annual losses of 10% rather than 30%.  In the long term, as research unveils new viruses and diseases, the impact of these on the superorganism will be more thoughtfully considered. 
Perhaps not always the individual bee, but the superorganism has a remarkable ability to survive environmental and physical stressors and to reproduce overlapping generations of offspring.

Tax consideration

Note there is a new California tax consideration now being pursued.  Growers should point out to their out-of-state beekeepers that if they do not file a California state tax return, they should complete California Form 588, the Nonresident Withholding Waiver Request.  Out-of-state beekeepers will not favor a grower withholding 7% of their income for the California’s Franchise Tax Board.  Beekeepers will want to claim California expenses against California income by proper filing.  More information and Form 588 is available at www.ftb.ca.gov. 

Christi Heintz and Meg Ribotto are with Project Apis m. a non-profit bee research organization.  Should you have comments on this article or suggestions for other management practices for growers renting bees, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .