Simplifying Inspections to Maximize Results
Background
Apiculture and the global bee population have seen an ever increasing variety of threats over the past 10 years. Although current bee populations in the US have recovered following several years of significant colony losses, the annual losses continue to be above a sustainable level. Significant resources are required for restoring populations, especially from commercial beekeepers. Though it is widely debated, causes of the colony losses may include, but are not limited to: pathogens, varroa mites, management practices that fail to adapt to changing conditions, irresponsible chemical use in the hive and its surrounding environment, genetically modified crops, and changes in global temperature (Ellis, 2007).
Ever since the unusual conditions of collapsing hives during the winter of 2006, beekeepers and researchers alike have been searching for answers and a better understanding of the factors affecting honey bee mortality.
The Significance
Though questions remain and unusual occurrences continue to surface, research and experience both support the notion that a measurable reduction in colony losses can be achieved through management practices that are within the control of the beekeeper. A recent study from 2014-2015 by the Bee Informed Partnership (BIP), which collects survey data and correlates for annual losses, found summer colony losses eclipsed winter losses for commercial beekeepers, which disagrees with the usual trend of loss (Steinhauer, et al., 2015).
BIP looks for correlations between management practices and colony loss and has found significant differences in losses for several common management practices, such as the use of varroa
Below is a summary of total overwintering colony losses in the United States across eleven years of conducting the winter loss survey and across six years of conducting the summer annual loss survey. (BeeInformed.org, 2017)
The Opportunity
In addition to the issue of declining bee populations, beekeepers and growers of pollinated crops struggle to know the best courses of action to optimize productivity for their bees and crops. Beekeepers and pollination dependent farmers need the knowledge to better manage their colonies and crops to optimize both the economic return by understanding the true cost of beekeeping and the best management practices to better understand the efficacy and impact of various management practices.
Simplifying Inspections to Maximize Results
"To efficiently and effectively protect and improve colony ations that are meaningful and easy to interpret for practical management decision making by apiarists, apiculturists apiologists
Rogers suggests that the three questions you need answered by the end of a quick colony inspection, are:
Rogers suggests that the three questions you need answered by the end of a quick colony inspection, are:
1. Is the colony healthy?
2. If not, why?
3. What needs to be done to fix the
2. If not, why?
3. What needs to be don
Expanding on this simple high level description which captures the basics of a healthy colony, Rogers (2017) details six major indicators or inspection items that largely describe the prese nt state o f a hive, which he coined as the "Healthy Colony Checklist".
The framework proposed by Rogers in the Healthy Colony Checklist provides the infrastructure for a standardized set of guidelines for beekeepers to follow when inspecting hives.
Using the Healthy Colony Checklist
You can now find the Healthy Colony Checklist in your Hive Tracks account. Simply login
Your inspection findings will result in a percentage score based on the answers given
Citations
Blog, May 25 2017 •. "20162017 Loss Results: Thank You to All Survey Participants!" 20162017 Loss Results: Thank You to All Survey Participants! Bee Informed Partnership, 25 May 2017. Web. 08 June
Ellis, James. (2007). Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in Honey Bees. Retrieved February 21, 2016, from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in720
Rogers, R. (2017). Healthy Colony Checklist.
Steinhaue
Wilkes, J., Cazier, J., Moody, G. "Electronic Data Collection and Sensor Integration for Data Aggregation, Best Management Practices, Data Mining and Smart Hive Development" Project Apis m Healthy Hives 2020 Grant Proposal. March 1, 2016.
