Other than they both like honey, why viruses, of course. Many of the lessons we are hearing about the COVID19 virus are also applicable to our bees.
Humans get the Flu and Covid19. Bees get Deformed Wing Virus, Black Queen Cell virus, several bee paralysis viruses and others.
Some human viruses (various flus) have vaccines; other don’t (COVID19). No vaccines are available for any of the bee viruses and probably none will ever be developed. Propolis is thought to provide some protection.
Spread of viruses in humans can be slowed by practicing social distancing.
Spread of viruses within a hive is aided by the inherent proximity of the bees to each other. The added factor of mites spreading viruses from bee to bee can be a lethal combination. Drones tend to drift between hives and can also spread viruses. Spread of viruses between hives from drone and worker bee drifting can be greatly reduced by increased hive spacing. Beekeepers can help the bees practice social distancing by increasing the space between hives. In the wild, bees typically have about ½ mile separation! Tom Seeley recommends a separation distance of 300 feet, but anything more than the typical 6 feet separation used by most beekeepers helps slow drifting. We are all guilty of having hives spaced too closely together. Beekeepers have chosen convenience over protection.
Of biggest concern are the vast holding yards that occur in California prior to distribution of hives throughout the almond groves. The holding yards have thousands of closely packed hives. A lot of drifting of both drones and workers occurs. Any viruses soon get spread throughout the entire holding yard. Remind you of New York and COVID19?
After exchanging viruses in the holding yard cesspool, the bees first go to the almond groves to perform the pollination. Then many of these hives are broken down into packages and given a new queen. Come spring these packages are sent throughout the country. Not an ideal situation and, as a consequence, many new package hives have a multitude of viruses and simply do not make it through winter. The viral load is just too great. One could see the demise of a hive in winter as good thing in that the viruses die along with the bees and can no longer be spread.
What can a beekeeper do? First, increase the spacing between hives. Second, stop buying package bees where the bees are sourced from bees used for industrial pollination hives. This will slow the introduction of current and new viruses into your apiary. Besides, buying package bees every year is a sure way to having a money losing beekeeping operation. Third, take care of the hives that you have. Learn mite monitoring and control techniques to get your bees through winter. Fourth, raise nucs or extra hives every year to provide yourself with stock to replace your losses. By doing this you are not importing viruses every year from the pollination holding yards. The satisfaction, you realize from raising your bees and having a sustainable operation, will more than pay you back for your initial investment in nuc boxes or extra hives.
Although anecdotal I am aware of several beekeepers that through the use of mite resistant stock, use of nucs and not buying packages have been able to stop all mite treatments and still have minimal winter losees. In one case I know of a beekeeper that has been treatment free for 7 years by following these principles.
ECWBA members should remember my offer for a FREE Purdue mite biter queen to any member building or purchasing a nuc box. This is in hopes of starting you down this path.
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