Ingredients
□ 2 cups all purpose flour
□ 1 teaspoon baking soda
□ 1 teaspoon baking powder
□ ½ teaspoon salt
□ ½ cup honey
□ ½ cup oil
□ ½ cup Greek yogurt
□ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
□ 2 eggs
□ 2 lemons (juice from 1 + zest from 2)
□ 3 tablespoons poppy seeds

Directions
Step 1
Preheat your oven to 360°F

Step 2
Zest two lemons using a microplane, and squeeze the juice out of one lemon. Measure and prepare the other ingredients.

Step 3
Combine all the wet ingredients in a bowl: eggs, Greek yogurt, oil, vanilla extract, honey, lemon juice.

Step 4
Then, add the dry ingredients; baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour and lemon zest. Mix the ingredients together until just combined.

Step 5
Pour into a bread pan (or cupcake liners)

Step 6
Place them in the oven, and bake for about 17 min, (if making muffins) or until a skewer or toothpick inserted comes out clean. *bake for 40-45 mins if making a bread*

In early 2021, South Carolina Beekeepers Association (SCBA) began thinking about conducting a South Carolina statewide honey pollen analysis. Work on the Congaree River basin honey pollen analysis (Melissopalynology) was completed in 2021 and an article was submitted to Palynology.

For the Congaree River basin, we collected fresh honey during 2020 and analyzed the pollen in the honey to determine what nectar sources were contributing to the honey. The Congaree study was extremely successful, and we decided to replicate the Congaree study on a South Carolina statewide basis. South Carolina is the first state to do a honey pollen analysis on a statewide basis to determine what comprises our honey. The analysis will also help determine what to plant in the various parts of the state when bees forage. We will also observe what plants are blooming when we collect the weekly nectar. This will help the universities quickly identify the pollen sources.

Brett Kahley, a district manager for FedEx, was instrumental in setting up affordable shipping to Global Geolab Limited (see next page for full address), for slide preparations before sending the slides to the three U.S. universities for analysis. June Ponder, a long-time beekeeper in the SC upstate, was contacted and agreed to help co-manage the grant. A budget was generated for the SC statewide honey pollen analysis that included pollen analysis at three universities in the United States, labor, and travel. The budget came to approximately $400,000. USDA did not have that much money in their budget for this type of research, so the South Carolina Department of Agriculture was contacted. They had a grant available for $50,000. This meant all the labor and travel needed to come out of the budget, leaving the university the cost of the honey pollen analysis. Rosalind Severt (another Eastern Apicultural Society Master beekeeper and SC Master beekeeper) was consulted, and we decided the study was certainly worth doing. The participants decided to proceed without anyone taking a salary. SCDA was gracious enough to increase the budget to $70,000 to use mainly for university analysis. So, we had our funding, and the budget was approved at the end of September 2021. Travel expenses were covered by David MacFawn. The sales of his three published books defrayed the costs (Outskirts Press in Parker, CO, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Books a Million).

We had a chart of blooming plants in SC that was between 50 and 75 years old. This chart was defined using anecdotal information. Pollen analysis of the honey would be much more accurate, and the Congaree study identified multiple additional nectar sources contributing to the Congaree honey. To date, 19 out of 20 honey collectors have been lined up and we are in discussions for the remaining honey collector.

Project Goal
The South Carolina Beekeepers Association will select 15 local bee associations, resulting in 20 collection locations throughout the state of South Carolina (15 rural and five urban). These are based on the six SC ECO Regions collecting honey samples weekly during the nectar flow and check/collect nectar as available during the nectar dearth’s for honey pollen analysis to determine:
• when and which plants typically bloom
• what the nectar sources are for honey in particular areas of the state
• if maples that bloom at the end of January/early February are both a pollen source and honey/nectar source
The honey samples will be analyzed for pollen at universities throughout the United States and one or more articles will be published with the results. Replicating this study in the future will help determine changes to the SC ecosystem.

Project Workplan
07/2021 – 12/31/2021 Define primary and backup beekeepers who will collect honey from 15 local SC associations for 20 sites. Determine to which university each honey collection site will send its honey samples.
01/2022 – 12/2022 Collect honey from colonies during the nectar flows and check/collect nectar as available during the nectar dearths.
06/2022 – 01/2023 Process the honey samples.
01/2023 – 05/2023 Generate data reports.
05/2023 – 12/2023 Generate articles for journals.
12/2023 – 9/2024 Publish results online and in a book available to the public.

We have organized and identified the names, USPS mailing addresses, email addresses, and latitude/longitude of the honey collectors’ bee yards. Starting in mid-January 2022, each of the honey collectors were contacted weekly to discuss what is blooming and their honey collection. Hive scales  (BroodMinder purchased through Betterbee), specimen containers, and hive tools were purchased for all the sites. The material was mailed to the beekeepers in December 2021 to ensure they could start their work in January 2022.

During a nectar flow, the bees will stop taking sugar syrup if you are feeding it in favor of fresh nectar. If you believe you are in a dearth (between when the maples bloom and the Spring nectar flow starting in March/April in South Carolina, or the Summer dearth starting end of May into June in most parts of the state) and are feeding sugar syrup, you can tell if it is fresh nectar by doing the following:
• turn the comb upside down and if “nectar” shakes out, it is fresh and has not been cured by the bees
• if you are feeding sugar syrup and the bees are still taking the syrup, this is syrup, and you should not take a sample
• if you are feeding sugar syrup and the bees are not taking the syrup this is fresh nectar and you should take a sample

Several things will contribute to the success of our honey grant project:
– Collect honey samples weekly during the nectar flows. Collect honey samples for two weeks when the maples bloom and collect honey samples during the Spring nectar flow. There usually is a dearth in most areas in South Carolina between the maple bloom and the Spring flow during which we will not collect samples.
– Collect samples around the brood nest during the maple bloom and in the upper part of the super stack during the Spring flow.
– Check for fresh nectar when we believe there is a Summer dearth in most parts of the state. The upstate/mountains may be the exception with the Sourwood flow. If there is not any fresh nectar, do not collect samples. Be careful if you need to feed sugar syrup; it may appear to be fresh nectar, but it is syrup. If the bees are taking the syrup, do not take samples. If there is fresh nectar coming in, the bees will not take the syrup. Given the cost ($115 to chemically process to see the wall structure of pollen grains and analyze a sample, and we are on a budget), even though there are 25 samples available per site, we will only take 18 to 20 samples for the entire year. We need to have extra funds left to publish a very thorough book.
– It is very important to write the date the sample was taken on the label provided before placing the label on the specimen jar. This date is how we are going to track when during the flow the sample was taken.
– I will email/call the honey collectors weekly starting toward the end of January/first of February 2022.
The purpose of the contact is to discuss any questions and for me to collect information for our SCDA quarterly report.

There is usually a dearth after maples bloom until the main flow starts. So, in your area start going into the hive two weeks before you expect your normal flow. Look for bees flying with intent, fresh nectar in the comb, whitening of comb edges due to fresh wax, and increase in hive weight. Sample weekly during the flow until the Spring flow ends. The hive scale should help determine when the flow is over.

Check the hives during the Summer dearth for fresh nectar and sample accordingly. Do NOT take all supers off in Summer and start feeding during the dearth.

Sample during any Fall flow up to the first frost. We are trying to save work and expenses, so only take samples when there is fresh honey in the hive. It costs $115/sample to process the honey.

Bees store surplus honey above the brood nest. They typically store surplus nectar beginning in the center of the super and store outward as the nectar flow proceeds. When the super is full except around the outermost frames, the beekeeper adds another super. It is critical that the beekeepers sample honey from the outermost frames of the top honey super. How quickly the superframes are filled is a function of the number of bees in the hive and how strong the flow is. Also, I used supers with all drawn comb, not supers with foundation or foundation frames interspersed with drawn comb. The rule of thumb is it takes 8.4 pounds of honey to produce a pound of beeswax if the wax cells need to be drawn out from the foundation. Hence, honey may be impacted if drawn comb or just foundation is used. For plastic foundation, the plastic should be coated heavily with beeswax to get the bees to draw out the plastic foundation. The bees use the beeswax on the plastic foundation to assist them in drawing out the cells.

Hive Scale: The goal of the hive scale is to detect when nectar flows are occurring, and the hive is gaining weight. The nectar collector can move the scale to another hive in the same bee yard if the current colony swarms, dies, etc., so they can detect nectar flows.

We have three universities doing the analysis (University analysis subcontracts: Morehead State University, Dr. Jen O’Keefe; Louisiana State University, Dr. Sophie Warny; C & S Science Consulting, Dr. Carol Wymer). Mail samples approximately every other month starting the middle of May. Each specimen must be labeled with the hive’s latitude/ longitude, date sample taken and your name so we can keep track of the samples during lab processing.

Send your sample to:
Global Geolab Limited
729B 15 Street S.W.
Medicine Hat, AB
Canada T1A 4W7

Printed shipping labels will be provided.

Log of Honey Sample Dates and Blooming Plants
You may log blooming plants even when samples are not taken as indicators that hives are not producing honey. Try to take samples the same day of the week if possible. For example, avoid collecting on Saturday and then the Monday right afterward. That said, it is better to do it that way than to skip a week in a honey flow. The weather may alter the schedule. We will write another article in about a year to update you on our preliminary results. A book with the findings will be compiled and published by Clemson University Press and be made available to both the South Carolina beekeepers and the public.

Log Layout
2022
WEEK     DATE Sample Taken             Plants Blooming
Jan Wk1  _________________      _________________________________
Jan Wk2  _________________     _________________________________

David MacFawn (dmacfawn@aol.com) is an Eastern Apiculture Society Master Beekeeper and a North Carolina Master Craftsman beekeeper living in the Columbia, South Carolina area. He is the author of three books:
Applied Beekeeping in the U.S. https://outskirtspress.com/appliedbeekeepingintheus/
Beekeeping Tips and Techniques https://outskirtspress.com/BeekeepingTipsandTechniquesfortheSoutheastUnitedStatesBeekeepingFinance
Getting the Best from Your Bees https://outskirtspress.com/gettingthebestfromyourbees

Readers: My editor, Jerry Hayes grants me extraordinary subject selection freedom on my monthly Bee Culture Magazine piece. As previously stated, this freedom is fabulous; and terrifying. I can write ‘The World According to John’ a semi-fictional varnished truth or two about beekeeping. Commercial beekeeping is my background.

But I’ve also seen bee clubs large and small, state and local beekeeping clubs that thrive, barely survive – and struggle in the new wilderness of meeting attendance and participation. In North Dakota, if a beekeeper in Williston decides to attend the North Dakota Beekeepers Assn. annual meeting, in early October – it’s an investment; not a small investment of time and money and fuel. It is 220 miles from Williston to Bismarck [depending on how hard & which direction the wind is blowing]. Once in Bismarck, an overnight stay on Friday, October 7, 2022. Membership dues, meals; and an expensive side trip to the Sporting Goods store, Scheels adds up.

Thinking about the meeting itself. The beekeeper makes a decision to invest the time necessary to attend the meeting. What information should the Association provide the Membership attending the meeting? Is there an expectation of a Return on Investment [ROI]?

The beekeeper invested, say, $1,000 in the weekend. If she returns with a Chinese grafting tool, snagged as a door prize – is that a return on investment? If she returns with the correct ingredients, say glycerin & oxalic acid, the correct ingredient mixing equipment, a contact for the correct size and absorbent sponge capacity – and application instructions to control Varroa destructor in her outfit – and how to safely transport 5,000 doses from shop to bee-yard -is THAT a good time investment?

When her Winter losses drop from 30% to 15%, that is a measurable return on investment.

In 1999, Apimondia was held in Vancouver, British Columbia. I have the commemorative hive tool. I’m not sure it was funds well invested. I can’t tell you a single thing about the products or machinery displayed. Can’t remember a single talk by a single speaker; apologies to readers who presented. What I do recall was a big brute of a guy seated in a lounge chair in the hallway. He was old, and bent like a beekeeper. It was Jim Powers. Jim, his brother Carl, and his father Irvin Francis Powers were beekeeping innovators. Jim had retired. Jim Powers was instrumental in the Miller family beekeeping success.

Jim Powers did not attend Apimondia to glean a return on investment – he had no ROI expectation. His decision to spend time attending Apimondia was to enjoy refreshing and renewing friendships made across the globe. Jim may be the only Harvard Business School – Small Business Management School graduate beekeeping ever produced. His was a life full of experiences and for me, spending time with Jim Powers produced a large ROI.

In 2017, my son, Jason was selected for Class #47 of the California Ag Leadership Program. Twenty-four emerging agricultural leaders are annually chosen from across California to participate. The commitment, for participants was 40 days of 2017 attending Ag Leadership events: International travel; presentations from financial, agricultural, scientific, governmental, mechanical, chemical, genetics and supply-chain experts. Leadership at Miller Honey knew the time invested would equal a big ROI on Jason’s career arc – and Miller Honey’s fifth generation of ownership is better prepared for emerging opportunities and challenges.

Everyone gets the same 24 hours, every day. The top ten outfits, the top ten operators, the top ten clubs, the top ten Bee Associations – all those leaders and members get the same 24 hours every day. The challenges and the solutions to a big change now underway in beekeeping involves how we spend our time and how we invest our hours.

Analytics. I’m not wandering here – the above examples I hope illustrate how the past informs the future. We don’t keep data the way we used to. Big, wonky bee boards give way to bilingual Cloud data storage retrievable in the field. Advantage: Analytics. Ten years ago, analytics upended professional sports. In 2022, with analytics, beekeepers can access real time data from distant beehives; anticipating needs without sending a crew to see when bees need supering/requeening/control materials/moving – imagine the possibilities of a device communicating from the bee yard to the operator – say hundreds of bee yards – or hundreds of paid pollination sites – in multiple crops – in multiple states – sampling tens of thousands of beehives.

This will be a messy process – several devices are now in development. The competition to optimize analytics is fierce. Actual money is being invested. The software to run these devices will rapidly improve. A beekeeper, a club, an Association; the vendors will all invest time, a precious commodity in development and refinement.

Beekeeping Analytics have arrived. Spend some time on a good investment.

JRM

Having honed my endurance by watching dozens of Winter Olympic events (who knew curling was so TV-friendly and intense?), this month I am ready to tackle not a couple but 17 new works: specifically, a compilation by members of the American Association of Professional Apiculturists (comprised of Apiary Inspectors, researchers and educators who work with honey bees, along with a few passionate beekeepers, https://aapa.cyberbee.net/). The AAPA joins one of the two major national bee industry meetings each year via their American Bee Research Conference (the results of which have been presented in Bee Culture this month and last) and every few years officers of the AAPA collect and edit a series of peer-reviewed papers from our field. This time, Drs. Michael Simone-Finstrom (USDA-ARS), Hongmei Li-Byarlay (Central State University) and Margarita M. López-Uribe (Penn State University) edited papers for two rounds in the freely available Journal of Insect Science (https://academic.oup.com/jinsectscience/issue/21/6 and https://academic.oup.com/jinsectscience/issue/22/1). This Special Collection “Honey Bee Research in the United States: Investigating Fundamental and Applied Aspects of Honey Bee Biology” truly has something for everyone.

For those interested in bee disease, four works tackle Varroa mites. Bee Culture writer and scientist Jennifer Berry and colleagues from the University of Georgia and Auburn University show the good and the bad of repeated mid-season oxalic acid treatments (in this case by vaporization; https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab089). Quite ambitiously, they treated colonies every five days, seven times in a row, in the middle of Georgia and Alabama Summers. This held mite levels in check in treated colonies while, in two of three years, untreated colonies showed the predicted seasonal mite increases. Overall, the ‘percent mite intensity’ (mite counts per 100 bees) differed by five mites in treated versus untreated colonies, almost entirely due to increases in the latter. Colonies themselves survived the aggressive treatment regime fine and in one trial the treated colonies showed a trend toward having more food stores. No word yet on how colonies with diminished mites fared during late-season and Winter challenges.

Cameron Jack and Jamie Ellis (University of Florida) reviewed the available integrated pest management (IPM) strategies for Varroa in the U.S. (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab058). They started by defining the mite levels that result in unacceptable injury and economic damage to honey bees and beekeepers, respectively. Prior to that are thresholds for management action. In general, the ethic of IPM is to avoid risk altogether by breeding or isolation, monitor often, and then apply gradually more and more aggressive control methods when mite impacts are imminent. The authors covered the latest recommendations on mite counts, available controls, and vailable bee stock that might help delate or avert escalation.

Kate Ihle and USDA-ARS colleagues tackled a potential form of mite resistance to Varroa. They label social apoptosis, namely a tendency for parasitized brood to give up and die when capped, perhaps sealing the fate of their mite parasites (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab087). They found some differences in this tendency across different bee lines and also a striking effect of the colony environment. By rearing brood from egg to sealed brood in common colonies, they showed that bees raised in colonies with high mite loads tended to die at higher rates.

Finally, Taylor Reams and Juliana Rangel review the state of knowledge for mite genetics and behavior (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab101). To explore diagnostic tools for European foulbrood, Meghan Milbrath and colleagues at Michigan State University and USDA-ARS (including myself) pitted three diagnostics based on microscopy, genetics, and a commercial antibody test against each other (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab075). For 77 cases of true EFB, and nearly 400 larvae, all three methods behaved similarly.

Several authors focused on the stresses faced by bees in managed farmlands. Dylan Ricke and colleagues from the Ohio State University measured the effects of agrochemicals on honey bee queen development (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab074). The insect growth regulator diflubenzuron was especially damaging, reducing queen survival to adulthood by more than 80% when presented in pollen at field-relevant levels. This paper also provides critical data for the persistence of chemicals and adjuvants from pollen to royal jelly to developing bees.

Bradley Ohlinger and colleagues at Virginia Tech University looked at the impacts of sugar syrup laced with 26 parts per billion of imidacloprid on foraging and recruiting (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab095). Foraging trips decreased by a third, a significant result, while there were trends toward reduced dancing by returning bees to direct their sisters to food.

Arathi Sehadri and Elisa Bernklau (USDA-ARS) found that plant chemicals found in nectar and pollen can interact with a common insecticide, thiamethoxam, to either increase or decrease risk to honey bees, depending on conditions (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab053). Michael Simone-Finstrom and colleagues described the impacts of local bee colony transport on stress genes and disease agents in bees (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab096). These are hard experiments because bees on the move face different foods than those left behind. Here, through a clever use of bee-swapping after migration they were able to decouple in-move stress versus lasting effects and did see some minor changes in pathogens for both. As someone who has puzzled for years over the web of microbes in bees and their importance, this paper also offers a strong look at how microbes and bee traits like immunity relate to each other. To add layers to that complexity, in a provocative but hard read for many of us, Maggie Shanahan from the University of Minnesota presents the case that we are missing the forest for the trees (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab090). With some tough-love for both researchers and the beekeepers we support and respect, she argues for a major upheaval of current practices. She is an excellent writer and this essay provides food for thought and thought for food.

No compendium of bee science is complete without some love for reproduction and this batch has several papers on this topic. Sarah Lange and colleagues from Louisiana State University and USDA-ARS shed light on how treating or ‘priming’ a queen might lead to better immunity for her thousands of offspring (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieac001). I described some early evidence for this in Bee Culture in 2017 (https://www.beeculture.com/found-in-translation-3/) and it remains a hot topic today. By carefully exposing queens to a virus either through oral exposure or through the fluids used in instrumental insemination, Lang and colleagues found evidence in one trial that consequent offspring (from nine queens treated via insemination fluids) were indeed less prone to virus infection. Regrettably, in round two of the same experiment ‘primed’ queens produced MORE vulnerable offspring. In both cases the results, yeah or nay, were significant, suggesting that bee genetics or underlying infections affect the outcome…not quite ready for prime time but exciting nonetheless.

Also exciting are new ways for bee breeders to improve their selection routines. Kaira Wagoner from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, with longtime leaders in bee behavior and hygienics, described a brand-new assay for identifying hygienic stock (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab064). Using a cocktail of smells released by stressed bee larvae, they vetted colonies for the tendencies of worker bees to identify and clean out parasitized sisters. The assay, based on ‘Unhealthy Brood Odor’ (UBO), held up well against the freeze-killed brood assay, is safer for humans, and relies on only a tiny circle of brood. Stay tuned as Dr. Wagoner and team develop this into a package breeders can acquire and use. For now, just remember that if UBO, then UBD (you be dead).

Bradley Metz and colleagues from North Carolina State University and Mississippi State University present an analysis showing exactly how nurse bees react to these types of smells (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab085). With significantly less stress (being blocked from receiving food for four hours), developing larvae were able to attract a larger crowd of attendant workers during the next hour. The researchers did not quite succeed at isolating this ‘HBO’ (‘Hungry Bee Odor’) at the chemistry level, but the result alone suggests a volatile or surface mix of chemicals does bring a helpful response. They also found that hunger cues isolated from deprived larvae can lead to greater pollen foraging at the colony level, a result with great practical and biological implications.

Males (drones) were not ignored in these articles, starting with a demonstration of the physiological stages of drone bee sex parts as they mature by Colby Klein and colleagues from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab064). Along with confirming that drones take longer to mature in cooler Spring temperatures (a four-day difference between June and July), this paper gives a day-by-day ‘expected’ state for drone testes. This roadmap can be used in future studies aimed at the many biological, temperature, and chemical stresses that impact fragile males.

Next, Bradley Metz and David Tarpy from North Carolina State University gave an overview of drone quality for U.S. bees (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab048). They first generated a useful metric for good males by contrasting many measurements for drones reared in drone cells with those reared, atypically, in worker cells. As expected, drones reared in the right places looked better and performed better. This separation fed into statistics for what a healthy drone SHOULD look like when emerging from a drone cell. 2% of such drones actually fell into the worker-cell category, while 17% orfworker-cell drones came out ready to battle equally with drones reared in drone cells. They also compared drone quality across 19 operations and found substantial variation. As with their excellent work on queen quality, these tests were not designed to shame specific breeders but perhaps to guide them in ways to do better.

In another attempt to understand how genetic and environmental backgrounds favor survival in bees, Kilea Ward and colleagues from Central State University measured longevity of foraging worker bees plucked from traditional and feral colonies (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieac002). Bees from feral colonies survived significantly longer when held in an incubator, while also showing more signs of oxidative stress. How they were able to tolerate that stress remains an open question.

Finally, for fascinating natural history, you should read Willard Robinson’s story of the most bird-like bee, Apis dorsata, a species that moves miles and miles as a colony across the seasons, and in search of forage (https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab037). These colonies move over 100 miles, apparently to the same spots, and he discusses the conundrum of who drives the return when surely most, if not all, workers die between migrations.

These papers reflect the passions of researchers to better understand our favorite insect and to use science to improve their survival. Reading these great works at once felt like doing a 17-stage beeathlon, so it’s back to curling on the couch for now.

In the 25 years that have elapsed since that meeting, research into the medicinal properties of propolis has increased exponentially with hundreds of papers now being published every year from research institutions all over the world. My own work includes publishing two books about propolis and contributing to around 30 peer reviewed research papers including papers illustrating how propolis is effective against MRSA.

11 years ago, I started ARC (Apiceutical Research Centre, www.apiceuticalresearchcentre.org) to research and develop Apiceuticals (medicines from bee products) and Sustainable Beekeeping. ARC organised the first conference ever inthe UK on medicines from the beehive with the ambitious title – Apiceuticals: Future Medicine?

Six years ago, I started the IPRG (International Propolis Research Group, www.iprg.info) which every two years has brought academics together from around the world for a conference: Propolis: In Human and Bee Health. Our last physical conference in Sofia, Bulgaria attracted over 125 researchers with over 40 papers presented. Our next physical conference planned for Istanbul in 2020 had to be postponed because of COVID, but the stream of research including clinical research into the use of propolis did not stop. Clinical trials research began to appear about the use of propolis in treating COVID, upper respiratory tract infection and metabolic syndrome i.e. diseases connected with COVID, like Diabetes and Obesity. Rather than waiting for COVID to abate and for travel to be allowed again, the IPRG decided to explore an online conference. Would contributors come? Would there be any participants? It was stressful but highly successful. Over 3000 people viewed the conference Propolis: Medicine for the Future? with 400 fulltime participants from 90 countries and 40 papers presented.

At ARC we presented a paper showing how propolis combined with antibiotics can radically improve their efficiency and reduce the side effects.

Suddenly propolis is being talked of as a new medicine rather than a nuisance. It has become a bridge between traditional natural medicines/herbal medicines and pharmaceutical medicines and is proving to be a real contender in the fight against antibiotic resistance, now defined by WHO as a global health challenge.

Global interest in the medicinal properties of propolis is now a reality. Propolis though is a new medicine which works by stimulating our immune system, by disabling bacteria and viruses rather than destroying them. Propolis, more than any other natural substance, is leading the way towards a more holistic, gentler, and ultimately more humane and effective medicine of the future.

About the Author
James Fearnley has been researching the amazing properties of propolis for over 30 years working with universities around the world, publishing two books: Propolis: Natural Healing from the Hive Souvenir Press and Propolis and Oral Health – Dispensary Press.

James has travelled the world too collecting propolis samples to analyse back home in Whitby North Yorkshire, contributing to over 30 peer review journals exploring the many ways that propolis can help with human health.

BeeVital produces the largest range of high quality propolis products in the UK backed up by decades of research managed by their own trained chemists and researchers in their own laboratories. www.beevitalpropolis.com
Apiceutical Research Centre www.apiceuticalresearchcentre.org was founded by James in 2010 and has built an international community of researchers looking at how propolis works for both the honey bee itself and for man.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.55406/ABRC.22.Short

Favorable interactions between genetic selection and polyandry
Delaplane KS, Given JK, Menz J, Delaney DA
University of Georgia

A queen’s mating frequency is positively associated with her workers’ genetic diversity and colony’s fitness. Over 90% of a colony’s diversity potential is achieved by its mother’s tenth effective mating (me); however, many females mate at levels of me > 10, a zone we here call hyperpolyandry. We show experimentally that average brood survival was higher in colonies whose queens were instrumentally inseminated with mo (observed mating number = 54 males) compared to colonies whose queens were inseminated with mo= 9 males. We also show that colony levels of Varroa destructor were lower in colonies whose queens were inseminated with drones carrying resistance alleles (Varroa-sensitive hygiene), but only at the highest polyandry level tested (mo=54 vs. 9). These results are consistent with two hypotheses for the evolution of mating levels in excess of the genetic diversity asymptote: hyperpolyandry improves colony fitness by (1) optimizing genotype compositions for common tasks and (2) by capturing rare specialist allele combinations, resisting cliff-edge ecological catastrophes. Our work implies that increasing queen mating number should be an intentional input alongside targeted genetic selection in our efforts to improve queen performance. This work is published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (2021) 75(126), https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-021-03065-6

Reducing Winter mortality of honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera) by applying treatments against Varroa destructor parasite during Summer
Plamondon L, Giovenazzo P, Dubreuil P, Paillard M

Université LavalUncontrolled varroa mite (Varroa destructor) infestation has been identified as one of the major causes of Winter colony loss and in Canada. Many beekeepers try to follow a varroa integrated pest management strategy that will keep infestation rates below the recommended threshold of 2% during Summer and 3% in Fall. Below these thresholds, colony health is usually sustainable until the following Spring. There are many recommended varroa treatment options in Fall, but unfortunately, there are few treatment options when infestation rates are above the Summer threshold. The goal of this project was to measure the efficacy of a novel Summer varroa treatment by applying oxalic acid/glycerine impregnated shop towels in colonies. We compared one control group and two experimental groups: Group 1: control, no treatment, Group 2: formic acid (MAQS), Group 3: oxalic acid/glycerine impregnated shop towel. Treatments were tested simultaneously in three regions of Quebec Province Canada, during Summer 2021 using a total of 135 colonies. Dependant variables measured were efficacy of treatment, colony performance (brood and bee population, cluster size and weight), Winter mortality, Spring brood and population buildup, varroa infestation level and six virus infection levels linked to Varroa destructor.

Resilin Distribution and Abundance in Apis mellifera Wing Joints across Biological Age Classes
Anderson, A, Keime, N, Fong, C, Fassbinder-Orth C

University of Nebraska-LincolnThe presence of resilin, an elastomeric protein, in insect vein joints provides the flexible, passive deformations that are crucial to honey bee flapping flight, especially in forager worker bees. Resilin is a potential novel and age-dependent indicator of health. In this study, resilin was quantified in different age classes by gene expression and autofluorescence. Gene expression was determined via ddPCR on whole bees. Resilin autofluorescence was measured in 1m-cu, 2m-cu, Cu-V, and Cu2-V joints on the forewing and the Cu-V joint of the hindwing. These joints were analyzed using a fluorescence microscope equipped with an aniline blue filter. Quantitative fluorescence imaging analysis was performed to yield Corrected Total Cell Fluorescence (CTCF). Resilin gene expression varied significantly with age, with resilin activity highest in the pupae, lowest in the nurse bees, and intermediate in the hatchling and forager bees. Autofluorescence of the 1m-cu and the Cu-V joints on the ventral forewing, and the Cu-V joint on the ventral hindwing varied significantly between age classes on the left and right sides of the wing. The results of this study suggest that the resilin expression is age-dependent and may inform us more about the physiology of aging in honey bees.

Honey bee aging: Exploration of molecular markers of age in the European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
Fong, C, Keime, N, Anderson, A, Fassbinder-Orth, C
Creighton University

Populations of bees and other pollinators are in decline worldwide, which has major implications for ecosystem health as well as global agriculture. When colonies decline, they often experience dysfunction in their social structure and a decline in the number of older bees, such as foragers. As the foragers die, they often leave the queen and her brood behind with sufficient food stores. There is little research exploring the physiological markers of this shifting age demographic in colonies undergoing rapid decline. In this project we investigated the gene expression of several key aging markers in bees using ddPCR. We investigated the expression of DNA-methyltransferase (DNMT), octopamine (OAR), and juvenile hormone (JH) in pupae, hatchling, nurse, forager, and drone bees. Clear patterns of expression were obtained for each age class. Establishment of standard patterns of aging and social structure markers can provide us with comparative markers for decline and may aid in early diagnoses of colony decline.

Show me the honey (and soybean, too!)
Lin C-H, Passifiume W, Johnson RM
The Ohio State University

As one of the most important commodity crops in the U.S., the expansive acreage of soybeans can potentially produce a substantial honey flow during bloom for beekeepers while pollination by honey bees could improve soybean production. However, evidence for the mutual benefits between soybeans and honey bees has been inconsistent due to the self-fertilizing nature of soybeans, varietal differences in floral attractiveness, and various environmental conditions affecting the growth of soybeans and foraging behaviors of honey bees. To evaluate the benefits to both honey bees and soybeans, we installed honey bee colonies in ten soybean fields in Ohio during soybean bloom. Colonies that were surrounded by more soybeans gained more weight during soybean bloom. Abundant soybean pollen was detected in honey collected from the experimental colonies post-bloom, suggesting soybeans as an important source of nectar. Improved pod development was observed in soybean plants near the honey bee colonies compared to plants that were far away from the bees, although the difference was less prominent in smaller fields. Data on honey origins and soybean production in response to bee pollination could help guide management decisions to maximize benefits to both farmers and beekeepers in regions where soybeans are grown.

Impacts of indoor mass storage of two densities of honey bee queens during Winter on queen survival,
reproductive quality and colony performance
Levesque M, Giovenazzo P, Rousseau A
Laval University

Winter honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colony losses represent a major barrier to the Canadian beekeeping industry and force beekeepers to import queens in early Spring. However, these imports carry several risks, such as the dissemination of pathogens or undesirable genetic strains. A potential way to reduce these imports is the mass storage of queens in bank colonies during the Winter period. In our study, we first assessed the impact of the density of queens in bank colonies on their Winter survival. We also tested the effect of mass Winter storage of queens on their reproductive quality and colony performance. Our results show that storing a higher number of queens negatively impacted their Winter survival. Banking queens also significantly reduced their weight and size, but their sperm viability in their spermatheca remained intact. Stored queens were readily accepted into a colony the following Spring, but egg laying is delayed during the first weeks after introduction compared to queens overwintered individually in their colony. After 12 days in a nucleus colony, the stored queens regained their normal size and weight. This study highlights the potential of mass storage of queens for the Canadian and global beekeeping industry.

Creative Communication in Apiculture Education
Kirby M
Institute of American Indian Arts/Zia Queenbees/Adaptive Bee Breeders Alliance

Information transfer between academics, beekeepers, and the general public requires different communication languages. For scientific communication, we’ve been trained to use language that is concise, clinical, and “cold” – without relaying emotion as if we are outside of our research like detached observers. For artistic expression, we’ve been encouraged to tap into our creativity and to blend our realities into multidimensional interpretations. The past paradigms for these communication approaches are evolving, and so should we as our arena learns to integrate interdisciplinary approaches for better understanding our bees’ needs, their existence and behavior, and how we interact with them in this shared space we call Earth. Science and Art encompass each other – for what are each without the abilities to share experiences that explore relationships? It is time to metamorphosize BEEyond how we’ve been conditioned to communicate as “strict scientists” and explore how multi-sensory communication of our research can benefit diverse audiences and support the next generation of science communication storytellers. Our bees don’t live on stats and graphs alone, and neither should we – especially if we strive for our efforts to not only add to the growing body of work, but to also building better relationships through aesthetic information transfer.

Bee-based environmental biomonitoring of pesticides, pollutants, and pathogens
Cunningham MM, Tran L, McKee CG, Ortega-Polo R, Newman T, Lansing L, Griffiths JS, Bilodeau GJ, Rott M, Guarna MM
University of Victoria/Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Monitoring the environment for pollution, pesticides, and pathogens is crucial for protecting human, agriculture, and overall ecosystem health. The European honey bee, Apis mellifera, is a globally managed pollinator that can serve as a continuous biomonitoring species. During foraging, honey bees are exposed to pesticides and pathogens and carry them to their hives where they can be detected and quantified. Although individual bees are vulnerable to many contaminants, the honey bee colony is more resilient and accumulates stressors without collapsing. This allows for long term monitoring and the potential to create spatio-temporal gradients of environmental contamination. We will discuss demonstrated and proposed uses of honey bees and their hive materials (honey, bee wax, and stored pollen) for environmental biomonitoring of pesticides and plant pathogens. We will also present the use of gene expression, microbiome profiling, and other high-throughput methodologies to increase detection sensitivity. Bee-based monitoring could also be expanded to study emerging threats such as antimicrobial resistance. This presentation highlights the versatility and potential utility of honey bees as biomonitors of ecosystem health.

Mating success of queens fed different pollen source during development
Mahmutoglu E
Nigde Omer Halisdemir University

We know how important nutrition is for honey bee queen development and how important queen quality is for a healthy hive. In this study, we investigated if diet during development affected honey bee queen development success and eventual mating success. We reared queens under identical conditions in the laboratory with two different diets. Queen development was followed until day 10, and then queen cells were introduced into mating nucleus colonies in the field. Furthermore we continued with the healthy queen cells by introducing new queenless colonies to measure the acceptance in the colony. We measured the acceptance rate and then returned to record mating success 16 days after introduction. While our results were not significant, the natural pollen fed group had a higher success rate over the pollen-sub group.

The impacts of smoke and heat during the Oregon wildfires on honey bees
Chakrabarti P, Metz BN, Yang L, Tarpy DR, Sagili RR
Mississippi State University

Recent wildfires and the resulting smoke in the west coast including Oregon have impacted thousands of managed honey bee colonies and potentially hundreds of feral honey bee colonies in the wild. The effects of smoke and fire on honey bees are not well understood. During the period of smoke, beekeepers noticed significantly reduced foraging in their colonies. The ash (particulate matter) resulting from wildfires/forest fires may impact olfaction, respiration and physiology of honey bees. Further, the colonies that were in close proximity to these fires may have encountered significantly higher temperatures. Past studies have shown that stressors like heat-shock can reduce stored sperm viability and result in queen failure in honey bee colonies. The present study investigates both the impacts of smoke and the wildfire heat on workers and queens across impacted honey bee colonies.

Working with Project Apis m.: Funding Research and Practical Solutions for Beekeepers
Shreve P, Downey D, Kunkel G
Project Apis m.

Project Apis m. (PAm) is a nonprofit organization linked closely to commercial beekeepers, growers, and research scientists in the USA and Canada. PAm funded studies encompass the range of honey bee health issues, and this year we expect to pass nine million dollars in funded research. We are always on the lookout for projects that focus on practical solutions, resulting in better yields and lower losses for beekeepers and growers, looking to translate the science into practices, tools and resources for healthier bees. Learn more about what research PAm funds, the process, and how to apply for this funding opportunity.

The Ontario Varroa Dashboard: from regulatory inspections to citizen science and healthy apiaries
Sobkowich K, Berke O, Bernardo TM, Pearl DL, Kozak P

Beekeeping agencies are routinely collecting data with more potential than being realized. Dashboards have become a commonly used communication tool that brings data to life, offering users the ability to explore patterns and trends. In Ontario, we have developed an online interactive dashboard centered around regular varroa mite inspection data. Producing dashboards such as these allows for data otherwise limited to static figures and spreadsheets to be liberated into interactive visuals, able to be accessed by all members of the beekeeping community at any time. Maps, time trend plots, and summary tables, are all able to be filtered, and sorted by region and/or time, permitting intuitive data exploration and giving beekeepers the tools to recognize the status of varroa mite prevalence in their area. The current dashboard serves as a proof-of-concept, with the goal to utilize citizen science data collection methods to help detect outbreaks earlier and improve the success of targeted intervention strategies. In addition to varroa mite data, general information regarding how and when to sample and treat for varroa makes this dashboard a comprehensive tool for Ontario apiarists, ministry officials and researchers and could become the central hub for monitoring the varroa status in the province and beyond.
Lighting Talks – Session II

Manipulating ventilation during indoor Winter storage to suppress varroa and improve honey bee health
Currie, RW, Rempel, Z
Dept. of Entomology, Univ. of Manitoba

Indoor wintering or storage of honey bees is commonly practiced in Canada and becoming more common in the U.S. Indoor-wintered colonies have better survival or lower population loss than outdoor wintered colonies when under stress from pathogens or parasites using standard ventilation requirements. Restricting ventilation, increases ambient CO2, and Humidity and decreases O2 in the cluster resulting in greater mortality of varroa mites in both cage studies (Kozak and Currie, J.Econ.Ent. 2011) and full size colonies (Bahreini and Currie J.Econ.Ent. 2015). In this study we compared colonies under standard ventilation (n=21) to those held under restricted ventilation (n=21) during indoor Winter storage in Canada. Colonies were monitored daily to assess C02, O2, temperature, humidity, varroa mite drop and colony size, weight, mite level, viruses were assessed before and after Winter storage. The results showed that restricting ventilation significantly increased colony CO2 levels, increased daily mite mortality rates and marginally suppressed some viruses relative to standard ventilation. Colony survival was not improved by restricting ventilation however, when under high mite loads, colonies that did survive were larger and the proportion of colonies that survived that were considered economically viable was significantly greater than those held under standard ventilation.

Honey bee swimming behavior: ecological significance and effect of pesticides
Huang ZY, Zhang J, Yin L, Saleem SM
Entomology, Michigan State University

Honey bees have recently been shown to have a unique swimming behavior (PNAS, https://doi.org/10.1073) upon dropped onto a water surface. What is not known is whether this swimming behavior is simply a “panic response” or is it adaptive behavior. We dropped honey bee workers to the center of a water bowl (diameter: 21.6 cm) and let the bees swim toward the edge. One piece of paper with a black area was presented to one direction of the bowl. We found a much higher percentage of bees swam toward the black area than expected if they swam randomly (Rayleigh test, P<0.01). We also found that bees that were fed a sublethal level of pesticide failed to show a preference to the dark area (Rayleigh test, P=0.36). We therefore conclude that honey bees, when dropped to a water surface, are behaving in an adaptive fashion: that they swim to a darker area, which presumably represents the closest bank of a small pool of water. Further, this adaptive behavior is changed when bees were pre-fed with a pesticide.

The remarkable size variability in U.S. Varroa destructor population
Christmon K, vanEngelsdorp D
University of Maryland, Department of Entomology

Varroa destructor, an ectoparasitic mite of the European honey bee (Apis mellifera), and the viruses they transmit, are the most important factors driving high rates of honey bee losses in the United States. In response to concern over the discovery of mites whose size (but not genetics), suggested they were V. jacobsoni, we conducted a survey of the varroa mite populations across the U.S. a total sample size of 9,065 collected in 2012-2013 and 2016-2018. We found that only 33% in 2012-13 and 79% in 2016-17 of mites collected in the surveyed years fell within the 95% confidence interval (CI) bounds of published V. destructor size. We also found a shift in mite size over time from the years of 2012-13 to 2016-18. We explore several hypotheses to explain this shift, including shrinkage from long term storage, season of collection, colony disease state, and miticidal resistance. Understanding the reason for size change may hold important clues for mite management in managed honey bee populations.

Incidence of European foulbrood in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies following blueberry pollination in Michigan and the effect of protein supplementation on disease occurrence
Kyle B1, Fowler P2, Graham K3, Milbrath M3
1Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph; 2Comparative Medicine and Integrative Biology, Michigan State University; 3Department of Entomology, Michigan State University
European foulbrood (EFB) is a serious bacterial disease of honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies with significant economic consequences for beekeepers. Beekeepers report a high prevalence of EFB within colonies contracted for blueberry pollination. It has been previously proposed that the elevated incidence of EFB seen immediately following blueberry bloom is due to poor nutritional quality of blueberry pollen. One possible mitigation strategy is to supplement colonies with commercially-available protein patties. During this prospective cohort study, 14 blueberry fields in Michigan were selected in 2018 and 2019 with nine colonies from each site enrolled in the study. Colonies were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups – protein supplementation, pollen trapping with protein supplementation, and control. Colonies were evaluated for EFB and colony strength parameters at the start of the study period (beginning of bloom), at the end-of-bloom, and two weeks post-bloom. Incidence of EFB was calculated and compared between treatment groups. Regression modeling was used to determine if protein supplementation was protective against the development of EFB. Trapped pollen from each field will be analyzed for species data and for macro- and micro-nutritional quality to evaluate the role that poor nutrition may play in the incidence of EFB.

The screening of new active ingredients against Varroa destructor
Padé R, Marsky U
Véto-pharma

Véto-pharma is a French company dedicated to honey bee health, and mainly focused on varroa mite control. Here, we would like to give you a quick overview on an R&D project that we have been working on for several years now: the screening of new molecules as active ingredients against varroa mites. We’re looking for both synthetic and organic compounds to enable beekeepers to develop a solid strategy of integrated pest management. We called this project “Varroa 2.0”. So far, we have been screening more than 40 molecules. We would like to present you some preliminary results for three of them.

Secret Sounds of Bees: Analysis of Honey Bee Vibroacoustics using Hidden Markov Models
Orth A, Fassbinder-Orth, C

Vibroacoustics are sounds and vibrations that are emitted by bees in response to stimuli and may be essential to understand more about honey bee behavior and health. In this study, I developed a Hidden Markov Model within Matlab using a Hidden Markov Model Toolkit for Matlab (MatlabHTK). Nine health states were included in the model, and five minute vibroacoustic signals were recorded at least weekly from 25 hives in Iowa from August-November, 2021. The signals were analyzed using this Hidden Markov Model to predict their colony health. The model was 100% accurate in identifying the signals from the training repository and 92% accurate when the entire collection of 258 audio files from 25 hives was assessed. This model will provide beekeepers with a non-invasive analysis of their colonies’ health that identifies vital situations like exposure to volatile chemicals, robbing of a dwindling hive, active honey flows, etc. This model can be used to reduce colony loss rates when combined with mitigation strategies from beekeepers.

Developing tools to study the honey bee (Apis mellifera) gut microbiome response to environmental stressors
O’Brien J1,2, Ortega Polo R1, Guarna MM3,5, Ho J3,4, Chen G1,4, Lansing L1, Wu L3,5, Cunningham M3,5, Gregoris AS3, Newman T3,5, Tran L3
1Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge, AB, Canada; 2Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada; 3Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Beaverlodge, AB, Canada; 4University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; 5University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada

The honey bee (Apis mellifera) gut microbiome has a relative low taxonomic complexity, with a core microbial composition of five to eight members: (Bifidobacterium asteroides, Gilliamella apicola, Snodgrassella alvi, Lactobacillus Firm-4 and Firm-5, Frischella perrara, Bartonella apis). These species and phylotypes are the most abundant and are reportedly constant across different honey bee living conditions. However, recent studies have shown that there can be changes to microbiota species diversity and relative abundance when the honey bee gut microbiome is subjected to stressors. As part of a large multidisciplinary project, BeeCSI (https://beecsi.ca/about/), we are exploring how proximity to different crops and exposure to pesticides and pathogens affects the honey bee gut microbiome. We will report our efforts to develop a bioinformatics workflow for analysis of microbiome metagenomics sequencing data, which includes data quality assessment, taxonomic profiling and downstream statistical analyses, as well as our initial results comparing the gut microbiome of bees exposed to different treatments. The nutrition, health, immunity, and productivity of honey bee colonies are greatly impacted by the composition of their gut microbiome. Therefore, our ultimate goal is to identify microbiome profile signatures in order to be able to diagnose factors affecting bee health.

BeeBiome.info: a portal for increasing the accessibility of bee microbiome data
Vishwakarma S1, Mesina L1, Lam K1, Ryabov M1, Lansing L1, Chen G1, Guarna MM2, Ortega Polo R1
1Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge Research and Development Centre; 2Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Beaverlodge Research Farm

The bee gut microbiome is the community of microorganisms living within the bee digestive system, and it directly impacts bee health and immunity. Recent advances in sequencing technologies has enabled the generation of rich bee microbiome datasets from diverse regions and research areas. There is an urgent need to increase the accessibility of these bee microbiome datasets so that information can be applied in scientific research and can be translated for stakeholder use. Our team is advancing the development of the BeeBiome Data Portal, which was initiated by the international Bee Microbiome Consortium. The portal will maximize the value of the complex and diverse bee microbiome datasets by enabling analysis and dissemination of information on the microorganisms and viruses associated with bees. Our main goal is to provide a comprehensive catalog of all currently available sequence datasets of bee-associated microbes and viruses, enrich it with literature data, and serve as an entry point to facilitate access to information on the diversity of bee-associated microbes and viruses and their impact on bee health. Our aim is to help catalyze bee microbiome research by promoting metadata standardization, sharing and analyses through the increased accessibility to bee microbiome data.

Hi beekeepers! The Bee Informed Partnership’s Annual Colony Loss and Management Survey team is looking forward to another season with you.

The Loss and Management Survey is a national effort that tracks long-term trends of U.S. honey bee colony health. The survey’s main objective is to monitor colony loss rates that beekeepers experience each year, the management actions that beekeepers take, and to compare these losses and practices among all types of beekeeping operations − from backyard hobbyists managing fewer than 50 colonies to large, multistate commercial operations with more than 500 colonies. This not only allows us to identify what groups or management practices are associated with higher colony loss rates, but also enables us to track how beekeepers adapt over time to respond to the changing circumstances of beekeeping. You can think of the survey as a barometer for U.S. honey bee health. In previous years, about one in 10 U.S. beekeepers – and 14% of the nation’s estimated 2.6 million colonies – were represented in the survey. We hope that this year we will have even greater participation from the beekeeping community!

Do you live in an area bringing good pollen flow? Nutrition and Environment is the theme of the year for the 2022 BIP Survey!

The survey data has yielded important insights into U.S. colony health trends. First, it has dispelled the notion that honey bee colonies only die in Winter. Though colony losses are higher in Winter, Summer losses are not trivial. In some rare cases, they can exceed Winter losses. Survey results have also confirmed that professional beekeepers experience lower mortality rates than small scale beekeepers, despite often being criticized for putting their colonies under stress by frequent moves and intense management. Finally, it has become clear that U.S. colony loss rates have not steadily increased since the beginning of the survey in 2007. Losses have followed a cyclical pattern, where one year of higher losses is followed by a year of (somewhat) lower losses. However, these loss rates remain consistently higher than what beekeepers identify as an acceptable level of loss. To read more about these cycles, visit https://beeinformed.org/citizen-science/loss-and-management-survey/, where you can find a list of the peer-reviewed publications resulting from the Loss and Management Survey.

With this year’s Survey, we are building on our past work in monitoring colony losses and exploring the relationship between them and management. While the Loss Survey has been running since 2007 (and a Management section was added in 2010), we continually want to make it better! Therefore, we made some changes to the Management section of the Survey last year to improve the experience for our respondents. Now, each year’s Survey will focus on a specific theme which will reoccur based on a regular rotation schedule. Last year, the Survey focused on “Queens and New Colonies” (particularly nucs and splits). This year, the focus will be “Nutrition and Environment.” By focusing on one topic each year, the survey is shorter and more focused!

How to prepare for the survey
To make it easier to answer this year’s survey, we will walk you through the different sections, step by step.

1 – Colony Loss Questions
You might want to have a couple of numbers in mind before you begin. The survey questions will ask you to report how many bee colonies you managed at specific times of the year – specifically, April 1st 2021, October 1st 2021, and April 1st 2022. If you’re a commercial beekeeper, those key times of the year are not set in stone, but rather determined by your “beekeeping year”. For example, your first colony count will be right before you made your first splits in the Spring. We will also ask you what date this was on. Perhaps it was February 25th, or maybe it was March 15th? To understand the number of colonies lost, we will ask you about other activities that make your colony numbers fluctuate: Making splits, combining colonies, buying/receiving or selling/giving away colonies, and the number of colonies involved in each of those activities. For beekeepers who move colonies across state lines at any time during the year, we also ask you to tell us when and for what purpose you moved colonies between states (e.g. pollination, honey production, wintering).

2 – Core Management Questions
There is a set of important core management questions that we will ask every year. Examples include: How did you obtain new colonies and queens? When did you monitor your colonies for pests and disease? When did you treat for Varroa and other diseases? What feed did you apply and when? We keep it high level to get an overall picture of what beekeepers do.

3 – Year-specific (rotating) Management Questions
This year, we are focusing on questions related to nutrition and the environment your bees experience. For example, we will ask you to tell us about the seasonality of nectar and pollen flows, details about how you provided feed to your colonies, what your honey harvest was, if you actively participated in the pollination of agricultural crops and whether your colonies experienced issues associated with pesticide exposure.

4 – Demographic Questions
We conclude the survey with an array of demographic questions sociologists like to ask, and the resources you are using to enhance your knowledge about beekeeping.
Don’t fret! Before the survey launch on April 1st, we will have the full preview of the survey on our website. We made enormous efforts to update the look of our online survey to make it easier and faster to answer the questionnaire. We hope you’ll like it, and take this survey as a chance to look back on your last beekeeping year and all the efforts you put into your bees!

We take your data seriously
Your participation in this research is confidential. All your answers will be stored in a secure, password protected database application that uses SSL encryption. No personally identifiable information will be disclosed in any publication or presentation resulting from this research. Completion of all or part of this survey is voluntary. If you are not comfortable answering a question, please leave it blank – we still use and benefit from the information that you do provide, even if you don’t answer every question.

Who are we?
The current survey team is composed of Dr. Geoff Williams (Auburn), Dr. Nathalie Steinhauer (UMD), Dr. Selina Bruckner (Auburn), Mikayla Wilson (UMD), and Dan Aurell (Auburn).

How to take the survey
The survey will be live on April 1st, and will stay open until April 30th.
Sign up to beeinformed.org (https://beeinformed.org/citizen-science/loss-and-management-survey/) to be added to our mailing list, and you will receive email survey reminders and updates.

We cannot overstate how important your responses are for documenting the state of the country’s managed honey bee colonies.
We hope you will incorporate taking the U.S. Annual Loss and Management Survey as a part of your Spring traditions!