This article is the second in a three-part series devoted to bees and the effects they have on an agrarian community.
Over the past few years, various factors have jeopardized the health of bees known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), thus causing beekeepers to worry about the strength of their bees. To help prevent this condition from taking over a colony, keepers feed the bees antibiotics and other health enhancing formulas to boost the bee?s immune system.
Even though the beekeepers feed their bees antibiotics to stay healthy, bees must have honey (carbohydrates), pollen (protein) and water to survive. Without any one of these nutrients, bees will cease to exist since they are critical to the bee?s life and work ethics.
Long-time Madera beekeeper, Harvey Nickell, who retired after 50 years, shares his experience of the industry.
?When I started [beekeeping] in the 60s, there were diseases but not like there are today,” Nickell said. “For a long time the bees use to get this one disease and we called it ‘no-see-’em,’ because we wouldn’t see the bees. They got hit from dirty cells, from dirty water and the larvae would turn into chalk. And if you get the American worm you have to burn the hive to get rid of the spores in the wood so the outside of the hives would be charcoal.?
A major issue that affects the health of bees are mites, which lead to the contraction of diseases. The most frequently encountered mites are the Varroa mite and tracheal mite. The tracheal mite latches itself to the breathing tubes of bees cutting off their air supply. This mite cannot be seen unless the head of a bee is cut off and examined under a microscope.
The bees typically come in contact with the Varroa mite while gathering nectar in the fields. The mites continually bite the bees, which allow the bees to contract many viruses that can spread to the rest of the colony.
“I believe they [Varroa mite] come from the Isle of White off the coast of Britain, but came to America through Mexico,” Nickell said. “Most of the time a parasite doesn’t destroy its host, but for some reason after awhile they do after about two years or so.”
To protect the hive from mites, beekeepers use strips designed to kill the mites before they are able to lay eggs in the same cell as a drone bee. According to Nickell, the mites lay their eggs in the drone cell because they will simultaneous hatch in 24 days.
“They [beekeepers] have a way of counting the mites, the strips are paper with lines and they put that under the hive and then treat the hive. The mites will fall underneath and by how many that fall they can estimate how many are in the yard.”
Since the mites fall out of the hive, beekeepers do not treat the hive for mites while honey is producing otherwise they risk mites falling into the honey.
Another factor that affects the livelihood of bees is when the colony becomes Africanized. An Africanized colony becomes more aggressive and does not focus on producing honey. These colonies are genetically programed to reproduce, and over populate to swarm in efforts for survival by finding a new home.
In order to protect their honey supply, bees will sting when they feel threatened by predators. Bees are attracted to dark colors and hair since they remind them of predators in nature.
“Some stings hurt more than others,” Nickell said. “Some may have more poison then others, but it also depends on where they sting you. On the tip of your fingers there are a lot of nerve endings and around the face it’s sensitive so in those areas the sting hurts more.”
Unlike ordinary bee’s whose stinger has a barb on it, the queen bee does not have a barb, which allows her to sting her sister bees when they argue over who will become the next queen.
“Since there is a barb on the end of the stinger don’t pull it out because you will squeeze more poison into your body,” Nickell said. “Instead scrap the stinger on with either a credit card or rub it across your clothes.”
Although bee stings are not very pleasant to experience, there has been research that bee stings can be beneficial to individuals who experience arthritis or struggle with multiple sclerosis (MS). Even though bee stings have helped some individuals, a bee sting still can pose as a threat to those with a low immune system or have an allergy.
For the first installment of this series, read the Sept. 20 article, Bees: Angels of agriculture Part I (VIDEO).
