Basic Honey Bee HusbandryContributed by Gigi Davidson, BSPharm, DICVP
Basic husbandry considerations are included here. For more in-depth information regarding honey bee diseases, pests, treatments and honey, please look under the "Digest" tab for the "Honey Bee Medicine for Veterinary Professionals" published in late 2020* (*manuscript is currently in progress and will be added once complete). NutritionThe natural diet of the honey bee is completely derived from pollen and nectar that has been processed into honey. When pollen and nectar are not available, honey bees are known to collect dust from animal feed (e.g., bird seed and livestock pellets) and juices from plant exudates and fruit (e.g. honeydew from ants and juices from over-ripe fruit). However, these substitutes are not suitable for sustaining honey bee brood, and beekeepers must offer supplemental food during times of pollen and nectar dearth.
During the first 5 or 6 days of adult life, worker bees consume large amounts of pollen to obtain the protein and amino acids required to complete their growth and development. If young adult worker bees do not consume needed proteins, their hypopharyngeal glands (used to feed brood) will not develop completely, and their royal jelly will not support the normal growth and development of worker larvae or egg production in the adult queen. The requirement for protein decreases when worker bees discontinue nursing (between 10th to 14th day of adult life) after which the chief dietary constituent becomes carbohydrates obtained from nectars and honey. Carbohydrates are primarily used for energy production but can be converted to fat and stored in the fat body. The source of carbohydrates is critical to colony health and honey bee ability to detoxify toxins. Adult bees thrive on glucose, fructose, sucrose, trehalose, maltose, and melezitose. However, they cannot use rhaminose, xylose, arabinose, galactose, mannose, lactose, raffinose, or dextrin. Honey is comprised primarily of fructose, glucose, water, and maltose with a small amount of sucrose. Constituents in honey upregulate detoxification pathways in the gut and genes associated with protein metabolism and oxidative reduction, while sucrose and high fructose corn syrup do not induce these protective effects.[i] High fructose corn syrup is also often contaminated with pesticides and glyphosate which can be converted to a toxic metabolite, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, known to cause dysentery and increased mortality in honey bees. The toxicity of pesticides to bees is intuitive, but only recently has the detrimental effect of glyphosate on the honey bee microbiome been discovered.[ii] Sucrose and high fructose corn syrup also impair the ability of Apis mellifera to detoxify aflatoxin.[iii] Ideally, honey bees should be allowed enough honey after the harvest to avoid having to feed any other sugar source. However, if supplemental feeding is absolutely necessary, organic sugar sources should be utilized to avoid exposure to pesticides and glyphosate. Water is collected by bees and used primarily as diluent for thick honey, as well as to maintain optimum humidity in the hive and temperatures in the brood area (e.g. cooling by evaporation). The amount of water required and collected by a colony is generally correlated with the outside air temperature and relative humidity, strength of colony, and the amount of brood rearing in progress. Access to clean water is critical for colony survival. [i] Johnson, R.M., Mao, W., Pollock, H.S., Niu, G., Schuler, M.A. and Berenbaum, M.R., 2012. Ecologically appropriate xenobiotics induce cytochrome P450s in Apis mellifera. PloS one, 7(2), p.e31051. [ii] Motta EVS, Raymann K, Moran NA. Glyphosate perturbs the gut microbiota of honey bees. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2018;115:10305-10310. [iii] Berenbaum MR, Johnson RM. Xenobiotic detoxification pathways in honey bees. Current Opinion in Insect Science. 2015;10:51-58. Hive TypesApis mellifera naturally live in hollowed out trees or other vacant wood cavities (e.g. within houses and other wooden structures) but have adapted well to being kept in man-made, primarily wooden, hives called hive bodies. The most commonly used is the Langstroth hive, a modular wooden rectangular box of specific dimensions. Each Langstroth box holds 8-10 rectangular frames spaced 3/8 in. apart, which allows bees to build comb evenly and for easy removal of the frames for inspection. The 3/8 in. space is known as “bee space.” It is worth noting that any gap in a hive greater than 3/8 in. will promptly be sealed with comb or propolis (“bee glue” collected from tree resins and used to seal cracks in the hive).
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The Langstroth hive boxes come in three different sizes, with a typical overall configuration for a including 1-2 deep boxes topped with 1-2 or more honey supers. It is important that veterinarians be able to tell the difference in size and purpose of each of the boxes comprising a hive. The largest is the “deep” box which is 19 & 7/8" in length, 16 & 1/4" wide and 9 & 5/8" in height. This box serves as the primary brood chamber for a bee colony and can easily weigh 100 pounds when full of bees and honey. The frames of the deep box are the primary drug administration site where drugs are either hung as impregnated strips or distributed on the top of the frames as powder or crystals. The middle-sized box is a “medium” box, or Illinois super, which has the same dimensions as a deep box but is only 6 & 5/8” in height. It is also used as a brood chamber, but is significantly less heavy than a deep when full. The smallest box is the “shallow super” or “honey super” which is only 5 & 11/16” in height and is placed on the top of the colony for the sole purpose for bees to store honey in early spring after the nectar flow starts (usually indicated by the start of dandelion blooming). Beekeepers will check brood status and honey stores by opening each super and lifting out as many of the internal frames as needed to assess the colony’s status. Brood should all be in deeps or mediums and is not desired in honey supers. Care is taken to not chill or disturb the brood (the brood must be kept at a constant 95°F) or the queen during this process.
Ideally, hives are situated in direct sun, out of direct wind, with the front entrance situated 12-18” off the ground and facing due south to southeast. Shady locations may be necessary in hotter parts of the country, but shade tends to promote the invasion of pests such as small hive beetles. Veterinarians should recognize the impact of hive location on colony health and be able to make recommendations for relocation or temporary shading if indicated. Essential Honey Bee EquipmentVeterinarians caring for honey bee colonies will need to invest in equipment to be effective as well as to appear credible to beekeepers.
Clothing Until veterinarians become comfortable with working live bees and opening colonies for inspection, a protective veil is strongly recommended. Veils protect eyes, airways, and faces from stings. The pollinator jacket is a waist length jacket that has a protective veil attached by a zipper and has pockets for easy transport of necessary tools. Zip-on protective veils attached to pollinator jackets and full-length bee suits are considerably easier to get in and out of than veils that strap over shoulders. At the very least, it is encouraged that veterinarians wear light colored clothes when visiting apiaries as bees associate dark colors with predators (e.g., bears). Gloves are also a good investment to protect hands during inspections. However, the thick, elbow-length gloves often sold to beekeepers are too cumbersome to effectively manipulate frames for inspection, and they are often made of animal leather which bees consider to be a threat. Therefore, simple rubber dishwashing gloves or disposable nitrile gloves can offer enough protection while facilitating deft handling of hive components. Tools The smoke from burning vegetation (herbs, pine straw, cotton, etc.) causes bees to ingest honey to prepare for imminent evacuation, but at the same time somehow calms them. Smokers are a useful tool designed to slowly burn vegetation in order to create calming smoke for the bee colony. Almost all beekeepers will have a smoker, and veterinarians should insist they use it during inspections or bring their own. Veterinarians investing in smokers should practice lighting them before visiting apiaries so that they can produce a thick smoke for at least 20 minutes after lighting. A specialized tool called a “hive tool” is also a critical tool that allows the gentle prying apart of the frames and boxes that the bees have carefully glued together with propolis. Otherwise, forced entry into colonies with shaking and prying can render the bees irritable during an inspection. Finally, a tool to brush bees away from inspection sites is good to have. Synthetic bee brushes are sold in beekeeping supply stores; however, a large feather (e.g., raptor or wild turkey) is less likely to crush brushed bees and is also perceived by bees as less of a threat than synthetic brushes. |
Bee Smoker |
Hive Tool |
Protective Veil |
Pollinator jacket |
Full-length bee suit |
Protective gloves |