treatment_recommendations_(online)

Thus, learning from beekeepers in other places can be extremely valuable, as they share what treatment methods have and have not worked. On the other hand, Hawai‘i’s diverse environment makes it more challenging to identify effective treatment options, since bees, pathogens and treatments work differently in different microclimates.

Students at our beginning beekeeping course in July 2011 examine honeycomb frames for the first time. Hawaii beekeeping extension specialist, Danielle Downey, stands by (far right) to answer questions.

What does not change from place to place, is the immense impact that bees have on humans and the environment. When bee populations decline, it affects the broader agricultural industry because of the crucial pollination services that bees provide. In Hawai‘i, some of the crops dependent on honeybees include coffee, macadamia nuts, melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, citrus, avocado and guava.

There are many different perspectives on how to deal with bee diseases. Some people believe that bees should not be treated at all, and allowed to develop their own resistance over time through the process of natural selection. In Italy, honeybee colonies have been found to build a resistance to Varroa over 10-15 years, but with a population decline of about 95%! Relying on natural selection implies a long ‘return’ time for pre-Varroa population levels to come back.

For this reason, many beekeepers and farmers believe that we cannot wait for natural selection to take effect, since a sharp decline in bee populations would have immediate economic and food security repercussions. At Volcano Island Honey Co., we chose to respond proactively, by experimenting with different organic treatment options even before Varroa reached Hawai‘i Island.

State beekeeping extension specialist, Danielle Downey, helps match island beekeepers with island farmers to help overcome the recent onset of bee diseases. which threaten bee populations as well as both honey and food production.

When Varroa hit Oahu in 2007, we applied for a Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant to do preliminary tests on organic treatment options. Little did we know that shortly thereafter, the mites would arrive on Hawai‘i Island, and our precautionary research efforts would transform into a survival strategy.
As organic beekeepers, we are committed to using no toxic chemicals in our operation. Instead, we established a four step IPM (Integrated Pest Management) method, involving the following steps:
1. Establish a threshold to identify when pest control action must be taken (i.e. 50 mites per hive per day).
2. Use prevention methods as a long-term strategy to combat diseases.
3. Monitor pest levels to identify when an infestation threshold is reached and control methods are required.
4. Implement control methods when prevention is no longer effective or available.

Control methods must be evaluated for their effectiveness and risk, starting with the least risky, most effective option first. As mentioned, because of Hawai‘i’s extreme environmental variation, treatments successful in one microclimate may not work in others — making it more challenging to find an appropriate option for different local conditions. According to Ethel Villalobos of the University of Hawai‘i’s Honeybee Project, the best approach to finding an effective treatment in Hawai‘i is looking at the big picture first, and then narrowing the options down to see what is appropriate for your local circumstances.

Organic Varroa Management & Beekeeper Education in Hawai‘i project sponsored by:

This project was funded by a grant from the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.

By far the most effective treatment was formic acid, applied using Mite Away Quick Strips (MAQS). This method works by lowering the pH level in the hive — which the bees can tolerate but the mites cannot. MAQS effectively fumigate the hive and, while temporarily uncomfortable for the bees, there appear to be no long term negative side effects. After studying formic acid treatments over two years, Villalobos reported that the bees’ reaction subsided significantly while mite mortality levels remained constant.

The single biggest lesson we have learned over the past two years, is that it’s crucial to keep our bees strong and clean. Thus, treating the bees with sugar yielded surprisingly positive results, presumably because it incentivized grooming and cleaning behavior.

Students at our beginning beekeeping course, taught in collaboration with Bee Love Apiaries, enjoyed examining their first beehive. The unique range of perspectives about if, and how, to treat for bee diseases made the course extremely valuable and timely!

An additional treatment approach we’ve tried most recently, involves stock improvement — or selecting for bees with particular hygienic behavior effective against varroa, attributed to a set of ‘Varroa Sensitive Hygiene’ genetics. Known as ‘VSH’, this desired hygienic behavior is a specific trait, allowing the bees to recognize that a mite has crawled into the honeycomb cell where a bee pupa is developing, then open up the cell and clean it out by cannibalizing the pupa, thereby destroying the mite.

VSH behavior was first documented in the 1960s at Ohio State University, where researchers discovered that one gene is responsible for uncapping the cell, and a second for removing the larva. These VSH genes are present in the honeybees genome, but tend to be expressed at a low frequency. Rather than being dominant or recessive, VSH genes seem to be expressed proportionally, as a percent of the VSH present in the parent bees; with 100% VSH, one can hardly find any mites in the hive.

The theory behind this phenomenon is that Varroa probably existed millions of years ago, and was effectively combated through natural selection. Over time, Varroa disappeared, and bees no longer needed to express their Varroa resistant genes. But the genetic diversity providing the potential to combat Varroa remained hidden in the honeybee genome.

This summer, Tom and Suki Glenn of Glenn Apiaries in California visited several Hawai‘i Island beekeepers, including VIHC, to artificially inseminate queens with semen from VSH drone bees. The Glenns explained that artificial insemination is essentially an acceleration of natural selection.

This summer was the Glenns fourth visit to Hawai‘i Island in two years. Their idea is to continuously inseminate with VSH semen, to reach VHS levels of nearly 100%. Bees with a high percent of VSH genes also seem to prevent other diseases, such as foulbrood, chalkbrood, and the small hive beetle. From the Glenns experience, artificial insemination has been very successful: with VSH bees, they have not had to treat their hives since 2001.Their work is helping to diversify the gene stock now present in Hawai‘i, by introducing and selecting for new genes.

Beekeeping is still a joyful, if a more complex, activity. At our Beginning Organic Beekeeping course this summer — which we co-taught with Bee Love Apiaries — we mirrored the complexity of modern beekeeping with an amazing array and interplay of different perspectives and viewpoints about if, and how, to treat for bee diseases.


Organic Varroa Management & Beekeeper Education in Hawai‘i project sponsored by:


This project was funded by a grant from the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.

Diagnostic testing: we had to sacrifice some of our bees in the pursuit of a scientific understanding for the causes of this disease. The sampling team (from left to right): UH researcher, Didi; Volcano Island beekeeper, Daniel; UH graduate student; Volcano Island beekeeper, Arthur; UH extension agent Scott; Dr. Steven Martin in the red Haz-Mat suit; Volcano Island owner-beekeeper, Richard Spiegel.

Last week at Volcano Island Honey Co., Dr. Steven Martin of the University of Sheffield (UK) visited our farm for the second time to collect samples for his research on insect viruses. We took advantage of Dr. Martin’s visit to learn more about the latest in bee health worldwide – a subject that affects us all, since many of our favorite food crops rely on bees for pollination (including avocados, lemons, apples and broccoli). As one of the world’s foremost scientists studying honeybee viruses, we thought you might be interested in hearing what Dr. Martin had to say – especially as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has recently received much media attention.

Selecting: Volcano Island beekeeper, Arthur, looks for a good sample of bees on one of our frames, with UH extension agent (left) and Dr. Martin (right).

CCD is characterized by a sudden departure of worker bees from a hive still rich in resources and brood. The title of a recent New York Times article, “Scientists and soldiers solve a bee mystery,” was somewhat misleading, as the CCD quandary remains largely unresolved. One recently published study and the basis for the NYT article suggested that CCD might be linked to the combined presence of fungus and virus in the hive. Yet, many scholars are exploring other possible culprits – such as yet unknown viruses, GMOs, and pesticides applied to crops consumed by bees. Of particular concern to some beekeepers, neonicotinoids, or nicotine-based insecticides, are known to be harmful to bees and have already been partially banned in France.

Collecting: UH researchers scoop a small sample of bees into a plastic bag to test the viruses present in the hive.

Luckily for us, CCD has not reached Hawaii. Nonetheless, other bee diseases are threatening our hives, as well as many others around the state. These include the Varroa mite, responsible for spreading the viruses Dr. Martin studies. According to Dr. Martin the mites themselves are less harmful than the viruses they carry. The viruses enter the brood and adult bees at the mites puncture wound/feeding site on the bees body; these viruses proliferate exponentially and reduce the bees’ lifespan by about two thirds. On Dr. Martin’s first visit to Volcano Island Honey a year ago Varroa had not yet infested our colonies; on this return visit he intends to compare the virus levels present in newly varroa-infested colonies with the levels he found in those same colonies before they were infested with varroa.

Over the past few decades, Varroa has managed to spread across the world at an alarming rate: the first mite was found on the east coast of the U.S. in 1979 and reached Hawai’i in 2007 (the Big Island in 2008). As we understood from Dr. Martin, this epidemic is related to humans moving infested mite-resistant Asian bees into regions where non-resistant European honeybees lived, allowing the mite to crossover and infest the European honeybees. In this way, human meddling with nature has probably contributed to an environmental problem, threatening not only bees, but beekeepers and honey lovers – as well as some 30% of our entire food supply.

We are now working with Dr. Martin and researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa to fight the Varroa mite so that our bees can continue to live long healthy lives and create the very special honey we love sharing with you. Dr. Martin’s fascinating visit also renewed our commitment to holistic, organic honey production – as pure and natural as possible, for your health and that of our planet.

Richard found that he and Ross share a similar philosophy when it comes to beekeeping and the role of bees on the earth. Volcano Island Honey produces an organic, artisan honey that requires a high degree of attunement with the cycles of the bees. In order to maintain a close relationship with the bees Richard has kept the business intentionally small, managing between 130-150 hives. Most commercial beekeepers manage thousands of hives. Speaking to the organic approach in Natural Beekeeping, Ross Conrad says, “This emphasis on quality over quantity is perhaps the defining notion of the organic agricultural movement.”

A focus on quality over quantity has made Volcano Island Honey the company that it is. VIHC always leaves enough honey for the bees, so that the hive can maintain itself in the way that nature intended. Many large commercial apiaries take all of the honey from the bees and then feed the bees sugar- not their natural food! VIHC also uses “bee escapes” as a less invasive and non-violent way to vacate bees from the hive before harvesting. This is more labor intensive, but it is more gentle to the bees and does not kill bees. VIHC respects the bees as intelligent beings and teachers, instead of as a tool for making honey and money. We also make our own wax foundation, using our own beeswax to avoid beeswax from other sources that may be contaminated by toxins & chemicals.

Richard sees the bees as teachers- even after working closely with the bees for over 30 years he continues to learn lessons from the bees. Bees teach us many things about cooperative society and environmental sustainability. Beekeeping is an agricultural endeavor that has a positive environmental footprint. The bees give back and make the environment in which they live a better place. Not only do they share their incredible gifts of honey and wax, but they also help pollinate the area and increase the agricultural output of the trees and plants. Quoting Ross from Natural Beekeeping, “The honey bee inspires me to work into my daily life this lesson: That we should give something back and improve upon things, thus making the world a better place.” VIHC strives to make the world a better place through conscious management of every aspect of the business. However, even with all of this striving, it is very hard to create a positive environmental impact while running a business. The activities of the bees are an environmental plus, but the impact of the human activities of packaging and shipping are hard to avoid and hard to mitigate. “It is easy to talk about being a sustainable business, but it is very hard to live these things, try as we might,” says Richard Spiegel.

Bees are truly one of the natural wonders of the world- they make honey and wax- two things that humans have found very useful for thousands of years. Humans have figured out how to make wax from petroleum (yuck! beeswax candles are superior in every way!) but not to make honey. “Honey is something so precious and special; even with our highly developed technological sciences, we humans still have not been able to duplicate the efforts of the simple honey bee and create the same substance from what amounts to nothing more than sugar and water,” says Conrad in Natural Beekeeping. VIHC believes in using the honey as close to its natural state as possible and keeps the honey raw. Just like Volcano Island Honey, Dancing Bee Gardens also produces organic, raw honey.

So who’s smarter- Man or Bee? Well…you decide!

Watch this video of Ross Conrad speaking about his discovery of beekeeping and his all-natural methods for maintaining a healthy and thriving bee population.

Richard says that some people are into horses, but if you don't know what you are doing a horse can hurt you. Bees are the same. If you don't know what you are doing you can get hurt, but if you understand what is happening, you will be fine. Richard is so friendly with the bees he captures the swarm with his bare hands. Don't try this at home!

The swarm is on the move!

The swarm settles down on a tree branch to await the return of the scouts.

Posted by Andrea Dean

The bees “draw out the comb” by adding wax on top of the foundation to create hexagonal cells, which is where they store honey and pollen as well as where the queen lays her eggs (in separate cells!)

Organic foundation is important because most beeswax foundation is contaminated from the use of toxic chemicals used by beekeepers in the hives to treat disease. The chemicals remain in the wax, which is processed into wax foundation.

Most beekeepers purchase this commercial foundation for use in their hives. Organic standards allow plastic foundation dipped in organic beeswax, but some organic beekeepers (like Volcano Island Honey Co. and Hawaiian Queen Company!) feel strongly that plastic should not be used in bee hives.

We produce raw, organic honey and have a commitment to nonviolent and non toxic methods to harvest honey, and in all aspects of production. We believe that organic wax foundation provides the basis for healthier, stronger bee hives, thereby increasing honey and queen production. Strong, healthy bees mean that trees and plants are pollinated which increases the agricultural productivity of orchard crops and maintains the health of non-native and native forest.

Making beeswax foundation in a small-scale farm setting is a lost art, there are not many people who know how to do it as the process has been industrialized in developed countries. The fact that it is not possible to purchase organic foundation means that making your own is a necessity for apiaries who do not want to use plastic foundation.

The process of making foundation is not complicated, but it does require time and patience. The only piece of specialized equipment required is an embossing mill. The embossing rollers come in both 4.9 mm and 5.1 mm sizes.

Volcano Island Honey Co. partnered with Michael Krones of Hawaiian Queen Company on the project, and we were fortunate to receive a grant from Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education to help us purchase equipment and develop and spread knowledge about the lost art of foundation making.

Posted by Andrea Dean

Source: Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture

The Aptly Named Varroa Destructor

Do you know that 1/3 of all the food you eat is pollinated by bees? The decimation of bee colonies is a threat to food production in Hawaii. In Hawaii we do not have the disappearance of bees (Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD), but we now have the devastating and aptly named varroa destructor, commonly known as the varroa mite.

The varroa mite is a parasite that attacks honey bee adults, larvae, and pupae. The varroa mite has been know to destroy up to 90% of wild hives and beekeepers can easily lose all or a majority of their managed hives. Until recently, Hawaii and Australia were the only remaining varroa free places in the world. The varroa mite was found on Oahu in 2007, unfortunately this did not result in quick and aggressive action by the private or government sector. As a result, the mite has now been found in hives on the Big Island.

The beekeeping industry in Hawaii is a $4 million per year industry, with the majority of that being on the Big Island. Hawaii’s beekeepers produce both honey and queen bees. But Hawaii’s beekeeping industry affects a much larger industry. The Kona Coast of Hawaii produces approx. 400,000 varroa free queens per year, or 20% of the nation’s needs. Each queen bee heads up a colony of about 45,000 pollinating foragers that fly and pollinate about 8,000 acres around its hive. Hawaii’s queen producers supply many of the nation’s largest beekeepers with mite-free queens whose colonies pollinate the food crops in North America.

Not Just a Honey Problem, It is a Food Problem

The varroa mite is not just a beekeeper’s problem, it is a food production problem that will affect commercial farms as well as the backyard gardener. The State Department of Agriculture estimates that Hawaii’s agricultural industry will lose $42 – $62 million from the loss of feral bees. When wild honey bees no longer pollinate crops, farmers will have to hire managed bee colonies to sustain production, if managed hives are available. Since there is a ban on importation of bees to Hawaii, if the bees die out replenishing managed hives may present an unanticipated problem. Pollinated-dependent crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers and melons will experience losses in both quality and quantity. Bees also assist in pollinating coffee, macadamia nuts, citrus, avocado, and guava. The loss of wild hives will likely mean lower production and quality in farms and private gardens and fruit trees.

Living with Varroa in Hawaii

Volcano Island Honey Company, as a certified organic apiary has been researching ways to treat the varroa mite in hives and still remain certified organic. (Just to be clear Volcano Island Honey does not have varroa in its hives.) The company has developed an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy that would use non-chemical methods such as screened bottom boards, brood cycle disruption and possibly drone brood removal first and then, if necessary, so called “soft-chemicals” such as formic acid.

Beekeepers on the U.S. mainland and other places in the world have been managing varroa for over 20 years, but Hawaii’s beekeepers have not had the varroa mite and this presents some special challenges. Managing the hives with the varroa mite is much more labor intensive and the treatments are expensive, this is not an expense that Hawaii’s beekeepers anticipated. In addition, many of the beekeepers in Hawaii just do not have experience with treating hives for varroa and will need to learn what works and what does not through experience- which could add up to expensive trial and error. To compound the challenge- many of the soft-chemical treatments such as formic acid and thymol have not been tested in European honeybee hives in a year round, tropical climate like Hawaii. Therefore, accurate information on application for Hawaii’s climate is not readily available. The University of Hawaii has ramped up its Bee Project in order to provide Hawaii’s beekeepers with localized information on application.

Are Bees the Canary in the Coalmine?

Until the disappearance of bees (Colony Collapse Disorder of CCD) began attracting national media attention, most people probably never thought about the important role that bees play in our food production. Unfortunately, the majority of our food comes from industrial food production systems and the bees that pollinate the food crops have been industrialized as well. Thousands of bee hives are trucked across the country each year to pollinate tree crops, primarily large, chemically fertilized and pesticide laden mono-cropping nut and fruit orchards.

Volcano Island Honey Company feels that the bees are the “canary in the coal mine” of the condition of our global environment. When the bees start disappearing, that is an obvious signal that our environment is out of balance. The cause of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has not yet been found, but we feel that the decimation and disappearance of bees is indicative of the many errors of our ways- from industrial agricultural practices to over consumption.

What You Can Do for Hawaii’s Bees

The effort to combat the varroa mite in Hawaii is woefully under funded. The Hawaii State Department of Agriculture, which is already handling more agricultural pests than it has time and staff for, only has about $370,000 to address the varroa problem statewide. Hawaii’s congressional delegation has secured another $469,000 for Fiscal Year 2010, but this is only a drop in the bucket.

A multi-stakeholder group comprised of beekeepers, the agricultural industry, University of Hawaii, Hawaii Department of Agriculture, USDA and others has formed to try to collectively address the varroa problem (disclosure- the writer of this article has been retained as the facilitator/coordinator of this group).
The public can make a tax deductible donation to the effort to help the bees on the Big Island. Checks should be made out to The Kohala Center, reference Varroa in the memo, and mail to:
The Kohala Center
Att: Cortney Hoffman
P.O. Box 437462
Kamuela, Hawai‘i 96743

You can also learn about beekeeping and keep a hive in your own backyard! Volcano Island Honey Company owner Richard Spiegel will be having a beginning beekeeping class in October.

Posted by Andrea Dean