The beekeeping buzz

On a stinging fall morning on the Rathdrum Prairie, Chad Moore moved from one container to another, simultaneously inspecting and stirring up his stock of more than 200 honeybee colonies ahead of their annual cross-country migration. With the top off one microwave-sized box, the ungloved commercial beekeeper deftly removed one of six frames, still crawling with its black-and-orange caretakers guarding their honeycomb prize.

“That has plenty, so I’m going to put a G on there,” Moore said about the hive’s “good”-stamped quality before moving onto the next waist-high hive. Over the course of the day, he and two other employees inspect more than 300 hives before they’re shipped to California for the winter pollination of the almond crop, a common practice for many beekeepers as the price of almonds has skyrocketed in recent years compared to the relatively low price of honey.

Removing the top of another container, a strong sour odor wafted from the inactive colony. “You smell that? That’s European foulbrood. We’ll take it home and burn it all,” Moore remarked. “You do not mess around with it.”

As a third-generation beekeeper and owner of the Three Bee Honey Co. outside Sagle, Idaho, Moore has developed a keen eye for the well-being of his more than 2,000 honeybee colonies spread from Bonners Ferry to Stateline. In a trade that depends on the furry fliers’ pollinating habit, Moore has weathered numerous natural setbacks with his hives through the years, including droughts, mites and the falling price of honey, just to name a few.

However, the past few years have brought about a startling turn of events that no one predicted, or has been able to positively identify, but its ripple effect has been felt around the world, from beekeepers to grocery shoppers – the little-understood occurrence known as colony collapse disorder.

For Moore, he began to see the symptoms of the disorder almost four years ago, when some hives he’d crack open would have a queen and only a few remaining workers, while others would appear completely vacant. “No one knew about it; no one knew what it was until a year ago,” he said while standing in the field surrounded by boxed hives. Though his biggest problem remains mite infestations, Moore said he thinks he’s seen six hives this year with telltale signs of CCD.

While beekeepers across the country have been under assault for the past few decades from a host of diseases and infectious agents, including the Varroa mite, an external parasite that appears as a red blemish on the bee, and the Tracheal mite, an internal parasite that infests the bee’s airway, the recent phenomenon of CCD is unusual in its symptoms. Characteristics include adult bees that disappear from the colony without any sign of the dead surrounding it, which is unusual since hives are kept clean by worker bees that “toss out” the carcasses and are usually found littering the ground; the capped, or unhatched, brood are abandoned inside; and the honey supply are not robbed by other colonies, which happens in all other cases, even when it’s mite-related.

“People just don’t know what it is yet,” said Steve Sheppard, professor of entomology, an endowed chair at Washington State University who also oversees honeybee research at the college.

With theories ranging from pathogens and pesticides, to climate change and beekeeper practices, “this new thing, this colony collapse disorder, is generally considered to be different from mites,” Sheppard said. And, he added, “To my knowledge, there isn’t much evidence of it being found in Washington.”

Though some of the problems plaguing beekeepers have been around for more than a decade, they’ve compounded over the years and made it harder to maintain colonies, those interviewed explained. Where as only a few years ago queen bees would last four to five years, many colony keepers are now hoping to get at least one to two years out of them before they have to be replaced. Also, some hives are seeing a dramatic drop in worker bee numbers, despite the natural drop-off that occurs during the colder months.

Those problems are being echoed in apiaries and supply stores across the Inland Northwest, including Jerry Tate’s Spokane shop, where conversation often revolves around beekeeper’s ills.

“We’re having a harder and harder time keeping our hives healthy,” said Tate, president of the Washington State Beekeepers Association and owner of Tate’s Honey Farm in the Spokane Valley, which provides everything from beekeeping equipment to imported queen bees. “There’s a whole bunch of contributing factors out there that have built up from 1980, 1985. … Sorting out what’s happening is really difficult for us.”

Though there are treatments available for mite-related problems, such as Apiguard, a slow-release gel used to control the Varroa mites, they are expensive, Tate said, with prices at about $3.50 to $5 per hive. And they work best if caught early and applied in the hive during the summer months. However, with cases of CCD, not enough is yet known about it, so possible treatments remain far off.

For the short-term chemical solutions, they might actually be contributing to current trends, according to Sheppard. “(The mites) quickly become resistant to chemicals we use to control them,” he said, adding that the almond pollinating trade in California provides a “melting pot” where nearly one million honeybee hives intermingle, with the more resistant parasite strains being passed on. While compounds such as Apiguard have proven somewhat effective when used ahead of a mite outbreak, Sheppard said, “Chemical compounds are not a long-term effect.”

“It’s sort of a Catch-22,” Tate said about the line of available chemicals, some of which are so new they have to be applied by beekeepers in the presence of certified agents. While some bees have proven to bounce back from infections and diseases, such as the feral colonies in the Southwest, the more popular species among beekeepers, such as Italian and Caucasian, have been slow to recover, Tate said. So, he added, “Beekeepers are being forced into doing desperate things.”

For WSU’s Sheppard, he believes the solution lies in the laboratories, such as the selective-breeding program for more mite-resistant queens that he’s currently overseeing. “There is a tremendous need for managed colonization. Genetics and breeding and management practices are the solution,” he said.

Back out on the Rathdrum Prairie, where most of the hives were slow in the cold to respond to Moore’s invasive investigations, his livelihood is tethered to each and every covered colony.

The situation is dire straits, he said, especially when you compare the 50 total colonies lost just a few years ago out of almost 1,800, to the nearly 800 colonies he estimated he’ll lose out of this year’s nearly 2,000. Even though this year looks better than last year, probably because he used Apiguard early on, Moore said he’ll continue to take every precaution in the interim to save his hives.

“The long-term solution I’m counting on is with the WSU guys coming up with something. But for the short-term I’m doing whatever it takes,” he said, including taking his hives south where he makes most of his yearly income. “If I don’t do that, I’m out of business,” he said.

In the meantime, Moore said he’d like to see better communication between groups on all sides of the issue, from commercial beekeepers to hobbyists to entomologists. “One thing I’d like to see is the professors talk to the beekeepers more,” he said. “There’s not near enough communication.”