Author: pattisherlock

bee health · beekeeping · bees, pollinators, beekeeping, environment · natural cures · nature

Bee Health around the Globe: MEXICO

pattisherlock

Mexico has great biodiversity in birds, amphibians, plants, and insects. Diverse species require abundant and varied vegetation, and that depends on a healthy population of pollinators.

The country’s farmers rely on pollinators, too. Like other countries around the world, Mexico has experienced a decline in its bee population due to loss of vegetation and increased use of fertilizers and agrochemicals on plants the bees visit.    

Add to that, the varroa mite. The enemy of beekeepers throughout the world has found its way to Mexico. When the mite showed up in the U.S. and Canada, Mexico closed its borders to U.S. bees. But it was only a matter of time until the destructive parasite showed up in our southern neighbor’s colonies.

The decline has economic implications. Mexico has 42,000 honey producers operating 2 million beehives. Honey exports bring about 56 million (US) dollars into the Mexican economy.

Mexico is home to native bees that live in small colonies and make honey. And many indigenous communities engage in beekeeping, cultivating and harvesting honey with pre-colonization methods, like using clay pots to house bees.

But the domesticated European beepollinates many more plants and produces much more honey. The two main production areas are the Yucatan Peninsula and the states of Chiapas, Veracruz, and Guerrero.  

Adding to the country’s beekeeping woes, Mexico has been under severe drought and faced extreme heat, especially in the northern part of the country. This exacerbated the problems facing domestic and wild bees.

Bees are dying in huge numbers because the lack of rain drastically reduced wild flower blooms. The bees went looking for pollen in fields with crops. Chemicals killed them, as well as pests.

The northern state of Chihuahua has a dry or semi-dry climate at the best of times, but rainfall has been unusually low in recent years. Dams and lagoons have emptied.

Farmers decided to leave land unplanted and use scarce water to keep long-standing groves of walnut trees from dying. One longtime beekeeper said that in his memory, the landscape has never been so bleak.

Mexico’s southern states have not been immune from lack of rainfall and high heat. Last year, beekeepers mounted a campaign to rescue wild bees that had no water or food sources, because the farmers needed them to pollinate their crops.

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Bee Health around the Globe: MEXICO

pattisherlock

Mexico has great biodiversity in birds, amphibians, plants, and insects. Diverse species require abundant and varied vegetation, and that depends on a healthy population of pollinators.

The country’s farmers rely on pollinators, too. Like other countries around the world, Mexico has experienced a decline in its bee population due to loss of vegetation and increased use of fertilizers and agrochemicals on plants the bees visit.    

Add to that, the varroa mite. The enemy of beekeepers throughout the world has found its way to Mexico. When the mite showed up in the U.S. and Canada, Mexico closed its borders to U.S. bees. But it was only a matter of time until the destructive parasite showed up in our southern neighbor’s colonies.

The decline has economic implications. Mexico has 42,000 honey producers operating 2 million beehives. Honey exports bring about 56 million (US) dollars into the Mexican economy.

Mexico is home to native bees that live in small colonies and make honey. And many indigenous communities engage in beekeeping, cultivating and harvesting honey with pre-colonization methods, like using clay pots to house bees.

But the domesticated European beepollinates many more plants and produces much more honey. The two main production areas are the Yucatan Peninsula and the states of Chiapas, Veracruz, and Guerrero.  

Adding to the country’s beekeeping woes, Mexico has been under severe drought and faced extreme heat, especially in the northern part of the country. This exacerbated the problems facing domestic and wild bees.

Bees are dying in huge numbers because the lack of rain drastically reduced wild flower blooms. The bees went looking for pollen in fields with crops. Chemicals killed them, as well as pests.

The northern state of Chihuahua has a dry or semi-dry climate at the best of times, but rainfall has been unusually low in recent years. Dams and lagoons have emptied.

Farmers decided to leave land unplanted and use scarce water to keep long-standing groves of walnut trees from dying. One longtime beekeeper said that in his memory, the landscape has never been so bleak.

Mexico’s southern states have not been immune from lack of rainfall and high heat. Last year, beekeepers mounted a campaign to rescue wild bees that had no water or food sources, because the farmers needed them to pollinate their crops.

bee health · beekeeping · bees, pollinators, beekeeping, environment · natural cures · nature

Bees Health around the Globe. Ukraine.

pattisherlock

We in the states wring our hands over problems facing bees. A high death rate for colonies. Varroa mite invasion. Wild fires. Loss of habitat and flowers. The EPA dragging its feet in banning chemicals that kill bees and threaten human health.

These are legitimate concerns. But consider the unfortunate Ukrainian beekeepers and what they face. The Russian invasion threatens a proud industry.  

At the start of the invasion, Ukraine was the largest European honey producer and the second largest producer in the world. Ukraine produced a bit more honey than the US, partly because along with a thriving commercial industry, many people keep bees and regard them almost like pets.

 The EU favors Ukrainian honey because of its quality. Producers lean organic or have achieved that already. In 2020, Ukraine exported 81,000 tons of honey. About 220,000 beekeepers were registered with the government, but a fraternal organization of beekeepers estimates that real numbers are twice that.  

War has savaged the industry. Honey bee research came to an end. Beekeepers had to flee their homes and abandon their hives. With no one to tend the colonies, disease and the lethal varroa mite parasite go unchecked.

Bombing and skirmishes have destroyed plants and flowers. Russian soldiers set homes ablaze, and some beekeepers have no home to return to. Other beekeepers are cut off from their bee yards.

Exporting honey and other crops became more difficult. Sunflowers, a major crop for Ukraine and a mainstay for bees, have been destroyed in some areas. Growers are hesitant to replant because Russian vehicles can hide in sunflower fields. Farmers may choose to plant rapeseed and buckwheat instead, but that is a difficult choice, because grain growers have been badly hurt, and they might prefer to plant sunflowers that bring in more money than wheat and barley.

Bees that survive have difficulty foraging for food in the ravaged countryside, which impacts the country’s long-term food security and economy.

Trapped in this horrific struggle to remain sovereign, brave Ukrainians dare to look ahead, and hope.  

One beekeeper organized honey sales, with profits going to the military to buy bullets for soldiers. “We will take care of our business afterwards,” he said.

A man who owned a thriving commercial honey business lost everything in a bombing. He turned his efforts to volunteering, and started a program to educate injured combat veterans so they will have a profession to turn to after the war, and a way to support their families. He believes the program contributes to the soldiers’ psychological rehabilitation.    

Beekeepers in areas not impacted by war are reaching out to help beekeepers in war-torn regions. One woman said, “We live in turbulent times that have a definitive bitter taste. All the more need for the sweet taste of honey.”

A google search turns up organizations that help Ukrainian beekeepers. Some have paired with Ukrainian beekeeping organizations to supply replacement bees, bee pollen, sugar for supplemental feeding, cleaning supplies, and vaccines.

Charity Navigator rates organizations for their effectiveness and legitimacy.   

bee health · beekeeping · bees, pollinators, beekeeping, environment · natural cures · nature · Uncategorized

Bee Health around the Globe-Australia

pattisherlock

Photo by Amy Blizzard

Bee Health around the Globe. Australia

Australia’s honey producers have something to celebrate and something to mourn.

Australian honey has a reputation for good flavor and purity, and the country is one of the top ten honey producers in the world. Honeybees in Australia live amid an abundance of natural resources in a comparatively pollution-free environment. Bees have a variety of plants to visit, and the climate is mostly favorable.  

The country’s commercial industry mostly operates as nomadic. Hives are moved up to 20 times in a year, either for pollination contracts or for honey production. Beekeepers follow the budding and flowering of plants.

Australia’s native bees are small and stingless. For honey production, beekeepers depend on Asian and European honeybees.   

Australia was the last major country to remain free of the varroa mite, a parasite that has brought calamity to beekeepers around the world. But in 2022, the mite was found in Australian hives.

A government agency jumped into action to keep the mite from spreading. But only two years later, the agency said the mite can’t be eradicated, and shifted its emphasis to trying to contain the parasite. This is the goal in the U.S. also. Beekeepers try to control the spread and lessen the mite’s impact. 

Australia produces a variety of honey on its huge land, with flavors influenced by the local flora. Well-known honeys include:

• Manuka, known for its medicinal properties, produced from the nectar of the Leptospermum (tea trees).  

• Leatherwood, unique to Tasmania, known for its distinctive spicy flavor and aromatic properties.

• Jarrah and Karri, from Western Australia, known for high antimicrobial activity and thick consistency.

• Eucalyptus, with a slightly herbal flavor, harvested from the numerous eucalyptus species across Australia.

The arrival of the destructive varroa mite has been bad news, but the honey industry recently got some good news, too.  Seven years of research on Manuka honey validated its reputation as an antibacterial product. The research confirmed that Australian honey had medicinal properties similar to New Zealand’s well-known manuka honey.

This is a potential boon for the Australian industry. Medical-grade honey sourced from New Zealand earns that country an estimated $75 million a year.

Medical-grade honey has been proven to be an effective treatment for wounds and skin infections. Studies show it can kill superbugs that have built immunity to conventional antibiotics. The honey can be used to treat bacterial infections like C-diff.

“We had assumed that the unique antibacterial activity found in manuka honey is more active and stable than that of other varieties,” a researcher said. “Now, our research confirms this belief and goes a step further. We proved that Australia’s Manuka honey is just as effective, if not better, than New Zealand varieties, based on a survey of 80 Manuka-type Australian honeys.”

Beekeepers believe the research puts Australian Manuka honey on the international radar at a time when antibiotic resistance has been recognized as a global crisis.

bee health · beekeeping · bees, pollinators, beekeeping, environment · natural cures · nature

Bee Health Around the Globe. China

pattisherlock

In China, people revere bees as symbols of good luck and prosperity. Bees appear in art and on clothing.

China still leads the world in honey production, and has more than eight million managed colonies. Plus, the country boasts an enviable diversity of managed and wild honeybee species.

But in some rural parts of China, bees have disappeared. Uncontrolled use of pesticides since the 1980s has wiped them out.   

In Southern Szechuan Province, where pear orchards carpet hillsides and produce fruit for the entire country, no bees showed up to pollinate trees in 2013. Farmers reported this to the government. Beijing insisted that the farmers pollinate the crops by hand.

Today, humans do the work bees once did, and it is a laborious undertaking. A worker painstakingly collects pollen and sets it to dry for two days. Then, using a stick of bamboo and chicken feathers to imitate the body of a bee, the worker touches a blossom. A person can pollinate 30 or fewer trees in a day, whereas a hive of bees can pollinate up to three million flowers in that same time.

It isn’t just pear farmers who have learned to hand-pollinate. Apple, cherry, and other fruit growers also use people to pollinate. Farmers have proven adept at doing the work of bees, hard as it is, but some predict this may not be sustainable. As China makes economic strides, young people move to the cities. Some predict that in 10 to 20 years, farmers may not be able to find laborers to hand-pollinate crops.   

Asian bees have coevolved with the varroa mite, the parasite that has proved so destructive to bees in the U.S. and Europe, and have adjusted to it. But other diseases have jumped national borders and threaten Asian colonies. With its unparalleled diversity of managed and wild honeybee species, a further decline of bees in China would be felt globally.

China continues to use pesticides in large amounts. Farmers are told to restrict pesticide use when crops are blossoming, but some beekeepers find they must move their hives to the forests to try to shield them from heavy spraying.

Gloomy predictions say that once bees have been wiped out in an area, repopulation is unlikely.

Better to cherish and save colonies before that occurs.   

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Bee Health Around the Globe-Africa

pattisherlock

With bee populations in decline in the U.S., it is natural to wonder how bees are doing around the globe. How about in Africa?

In contrast to the docile European honeybees we raise in the U.S., honey bees in Africa generally live in tree cavities or on the ground, not in manmade hives. Africa has hundreds of millions of colonies.

 African beekeepers have little reason to establish hives near their houses. African bees can be highly aggressive, and special knowledge and precautions are needed to handle them.

When antiapartheid leader Nelson Mandela was still alive, he one day stepped out of the shower at his South African home into a swarm of attacking honeybees. The bees stung repeatedly, and Mandela had to run for cover.

Traditional healers speculated that the ancestors were expressing disapproval. In Xhosa tradition, an encounter with tranquil bees signifies ancestor approval; a visit from angry bees means ancestor displeasure.  

The incident made international news and reinforced the reputation of African bees as nasty critters.    

In the last 20 years, bee researchers from other continents, grappling with the problem of shrinking bee populations, started studying bees in Africa. Honeybee populations in South Africa, Uganda, Kenya and Benin are strong.  

Diseases, either native or imported, exist in colonies, but don’t seem to generate widespread mortality. Some researchers wonder whether our industrial method of beekeeping contributes to the bee crisis. Removing bees from their natural setting and confining them in hives may have weakened them.  

Despite the generally positive situation on the African continent, some decline in populations have been observed. In parts of Madagascar, Kenya. and South Africa, colonies have succumbed to the dreaded varroa mite that plagues U.S. honeybees. And some beekeepers are having more trouble trapping wild swarms to build their stocks.

Killer (African) bees arrived in South America in the 1950s and started migrating north. By the 1990s, they had reached Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, and have now spread to other Southern states.

A university study in Arizona said that today, 100 percent of Arizona’s wild bee colonies are Africanized, a fact people should know. Bees make their home in holes, walls, trees and junk piles. They are more easily provoked, but look almost identical to our easygoing Italian and Carniolan breeds.

Africanized bees in the U.S. led some warm-climate municipalities to prohibit backyard beekeeping. Beekeepers in those climates, who are trying to maintain non-Africanized colonies, face a steep, uphill battle.   

Some think inbreeding with the hardier African bees may strengthen our domestic genetics. But others warn that trading bees all over the world has negative consequences, not just for people. Bees end up in environments with diseases they have no immunity against. And aggressive breeds displace docile ones.   

We who live in northern states hope Africanized bees won’t come our way due to a warming climate.

Yet, because we depend on honeybees, it is comforting to know that somewhere in the world colonies thrive. If, through selective breeding, the African bee could contribute its hardiness while surrendering its bad temper, that could be a boon. Bees thriving without the intervention of humans is the Holy Grail for scientists and beekeepers.

Scientists hope that Africa shields its healthy colonies from further invading disease.  

bee health · beekeeping · bees, pollinators, beekeeping, environment · natural cures · nature

Checking in on Bee Health

pattisherlock

Photo by Amy Blizzard

How are bees doing? What is the latest word on apian well-beeing?

Most of us understand that the bees we depend on to pollinate our crops are floundering. But are things getting better, or worse?   

Pollinator advocates say a recent decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spells bad news for bees. The EPA postponed its review of neonics, a family of widely-used, bee-killing pesticides. The agency will not issue a report on neonics until 2026, and the pesticide’s extensive use will continue unrestricted.

Bee lovers fear that colonies cannot wait two years for relief. The precipitous decline in the U.S. bee population continues. Honeybee colonies have died off at an average annual rate of 40 percent over the last decade, and studies conclude that neonics play a major role.   

Bee defenders say the EPA should also consider the health of humans and other species. In the Midwest, neonics are the number one cause of butterfly decline. In humans, research shows that neonics pass from pregnant mothers to the fetus, and into the breast milk of nursing mothers. Studies link neonics to increased risk of birth defects, like malformations in developing hearts and brains.

Even an analysis by the EPA itself concluded that neonics jeopardize the existence of more than 200 threatened and endangered species. Canada, the European Union, and other countries in the world have already put strong restrictions on the pesticides.

In the face of convincing research, why does EPA drag its feet? Critics point to the influence of Big-Ag. Bayer and other agrochemical producers have launched extensive PR and lobbying campaigns. They warn that restricting neonics will harm crop production, but experience has shown otherwise.

In Quebec, Canada, a 2019 crackdown on neonics made farmers reduce their use of neonic-treated corn seed by 99.5 percent. Four years later, crop yield remained consistent. Cornell University found that neonic-treated seed for major crops provided “no overall net income benefit” to farmers.

A single neonic-treated seed can contain enough active ingredients to kill a quarter-million bees. DDT, which the U.S. banned, looks tame compared to neonics. Neonics are 5,000 to 10,000 times more toxic to bees.

The crop absorbs only a fraction of the neonics. The rest leaches into the environment to contaminate soil, rivers and streams, and even drinking water.

Persons who want to complain to the EPA about its decision can sign a National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) petition found online. Other environmental groups may be circulating petitions, too.   

Next time: How are bees doing around the globe?

bee health · beekeeping · bees, pollinators, beekeeping, environment · natural cures · nature

Lessons in Democracy from the Honey Bee

pattisherlock

My eight-grade civics teacher told us that ancient Greeks were the first to practice democracy.

Years later, a Basque-American told me that was incorrect. The Basque homeland held that distinction.  

Some say Sumerians, certain regions of India, and assorted indigenous tribes were first to experiment with democracy.

But it turns out that humans are novices in democratic organization, compared to a nonhuman species we share life with. Honey bees.    

A book, Honeybee Democracy, attracted attention when its author, Thomas Seeley, of Cornell University, explained how bees make the decision to swarm and relocate to a new home. The venture involves scouting the countryside, visiting potential sites that other scouts have discovered, group discussion, and dancing to disclose location. Seeley says the bees cooperate in a way that humans would do well to emulate.  

Honey bees swarm to multiply, continue the species, and extend their reach. When a hive gets crowded, or no longer feels vibrant, scouts, the most mature bees in the hive, go looking for a new home. Scouts report back their findings, then scout committees go off to check out the candidate sites.  

While scouts may prefer the locations they found, the final decision stands on what is best for the hive’s welfare—proximity to water and food, safety, and comfort. It’s a lot to process for the bee’s poppy-seed brain.

Vigorous discussion follows. After arriving at a choice, the scouts rouse the queen and most of the workers to follow them to the new location. They leave behind enough workers to tend unborn brood and a virgin queen, who will mate and hopefully repopulate the original hive.

Seeley claims human groups could benefit from following the example of bees.

First, a group should be made up of individuals who share interests and mutual respect. Bees have a singular purpose that humans may not, but humans can remind themselves that everyone has a stake in the group’s welfare.   

Second, leaders should minimize their influence on the group. In the hive, each scout has an equal say. True democracy. No leader collects the information from various groups or tells others what to do.

Third. Honeybees open themselves to diverse solutions. They investigate the widest possible choices, increasing their chances of ending up in great living quarters. Seeley advises humans to create environments where group members feel comfortable about proposing solutions.

Fourth. Spirited debate can be positive. Seeley says bees ingeniously balance interdependence and independence. They work together to sort out good options from poor ones. Looking around, we may wish we saw these principles at work more in our species, though Quakers manage to sit quietly, waiting for the Spirit to move them to consensus. They don’t require everyone to agree, but they decline to move ahead if someone actively objects to an idea.

Bees preceded us on the planet by millions of years. They have had more time to work out democratic decision-making.

Yet, even with all that time and practice behind them, bees sometimes end up in the eaves of gas stations, or under the hoods of cars, and we wonder, why?  

Gorged with food, they may just be stopping to rest on their journey. Or, maybe they sometimes get it wrong.

Like us.

bee health · bees, pollinators, beekeeping, environment · natural cures · nature

Bees and Humans Go Way Back

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Did early humans have sweet tooths? Did they apply honey to wounds on their hairy bodies?  Did they put a protective layer of wax on cave paintings?

We can only guess. But archeologists tell us that Stone Age humans knew the value of honey. An early picture in Spain, thought to be 9,000 years old, depicts people gathering honey.

Some experts say ancestors on our evolutionary tree started using honey much earlier. Anthropologists believe Neanderthals gathered and ate honey for its nutritional value.

As the human brain got larger, it required more fuel. Energy-rich honey may have answered that need. Fossils show that our ancestors started growing smaller molars, which suggests they dined on easier-to-consume food. Honey?

Nearly every language in the world has a word for honey. If not the oldest sweetener, it is one of the oldest, and was found almost everywhere. It has been used throughout history as a medicine for many ailments. Mesopotamia, one of the oldest civilizations, discovered that honey could be used as an antiseptic. The Babylonians and Sumerians mentioned honey in their writings. Egyptians and Greeks used honey cakes as a gift to their gods and even as an ingredient in embalming fluids.

Alcoholic beverages made from fermented honey have been around for 20 to 40 thousand years.

Long before Europeans brought honey bees to the Americas, Mayan beekeepers harvested honey from the log nests of stingless bees native to tropical forests. Mayans were expert beekeepers, and the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico tries to hang on to some ancient bee traditions and ceremonies.  

In India, ancient Hindu Vedic and various Buddhist scriptures mention bees and beekeeping. Ancient rock paintings from the Mesolithic period depicted honey collection from wild combs.

When the British attacked an area of India in the 1800s, a local tribe reportedly used domestic bees as a weapon against the invaders.

Writings on animal bones, dating back 3,000 years, have been found in China. Later writings, from 300 BCE during the Zhou Dynasty, mentioned honey as a dietary recommendation.  

Our dependence on bees to give us a delicious, nourishing food and useful medicine goes way back. Add to that, uses for wax and pollen. We have bees to thank for many vibrant-colored flowers. And consider the variety of fruits and vegetables bees pollinate.   

Bees have been our allies for a long time. We need to do more to protect and nourish them.  

bee health · bees, pollinators, beekeeping, environment · natural cures · nature

Bee-nign Ways to Quench Apian Thirst

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Photo by Skyler Ewing

Worker bees put in a hard day flying back and forth from flowers to hive, visiting hundreds of blooms. They can carry almost their weight in pollen and nectar, and they work from sun up to sun down. They get thirsty, and keep their compound eyes out for water.

On a hot day at the hive, bees spread water over honeycomb cells and fan them to help cool the hive. If honey in the comb becomes crystallized and too thick for bees to eat, bees dilute the honey with water to make it soft and edible again.

Anyone who feels friendly to bees can help them by offering them a water source, preferably near blooming flowers. Some precautions are necessary.

Even if a water container is shallow, it should have islands so bees can get a drink without danger of drowning. Small pieces of wood or flat rocks can be slabs where bees can sit and drink. Some people use marbles. My watering bowl has golf balls.

I also have a poultry feeder that contains enough water to last for several days. I put rocks, twigs, and stems in the trough to make bees feel at home. Some people use an upside-down terra cotta planter, and place a saucer or pie pan on top. A section of a bird feeder can be made safe for bees by adding rocks to it. Self-watering pet dishes can be modified to provide water for bees.

Lately, colorful, flower-shaped, irresistibly cute garden decorations meant to hold water for bees have appeared for sale.    

No beekeeper wants anyone feeding sugar water to their bees. The bees need to be in the flowers collecting nectar and pollen. Honey from the store should not be fed to bees, either. The honey that bees eat at home is the right one for them. In times of dearth, beekeepers may decide to supplement their bees with syrup, but they know the right mixture, and even beekeepers disagree about when and how that should occur. 

Sometimes ideas appear on the internet from well-intentioned people who want to give bees a treat. Open a watermelon and watch bees show up. Shredded apples, they say, could provide bees with nutrition and moisture. Some people ask about putting out fruit juice.  

It is unlikely any of these treats can be offered to bees without wasps turning up instantly. Dr. Albert Schweitzer, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, known for his reverence for life, asked a nurse to catch a fly and release it outside, rather than kill it. But some of us feel no such charity toward wasps, partly because wasps prey on bees.

The treats mentioned might also give bees diarrhea. And with ripe fruit comes the hazard of fermentation.    

Some tap water, if treated with chemicals, may not appeal to bees. And run-off contaminated with pesticides is deadly.    

But the good-hearted person who has good water to share, and a willingness to provide a safe way to dispense it, will be rewarded with close-up viewing of the fuzzy pollinators we depend on.