APIS Volume 6, Number 4, April 1988

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APIS

 · 1 year ago

In this issue

• Swarming: Controversy and Control
• National Quarantine Varroa: Historical Only
• Florida Chapter 586: Proposed Bee Rule in Law

THOUGHTS ON SWARMING

I have information that this was a banner year for most beekeepers who put their bees in citrus groves. That's good news; let's hope the circumstances hold for the gallberry. Optimal nectar flows might also account for a large number calls to county extension personnel concerning swarming bees. Many offices, it turns out, don't have a list of names to refer such calls to.

Traditionally, beekeepers have initiated contacts with fire departments, police, extension offices and other public agencies so they can be called when swarms are reported. Swarms have been considered a resource and in certain areas, competition between beekeepers interested in collecting them has prevailed. If you wish to collect swarms, I recommend getting your name on a list at the local Cooperative Extension Service. Recent flaps concerning tracheal mites, Varroa and the soon-to-come Africanized honey bees, however, suggest beekeepers might reconsider or modify the practice of indiscriminately collecting swarms.

Swarming bees are certainly appealing because in most instances they are "free." However, the other side of the coin is that they can be vectors for parasites or pathogens. Oddly enough, colonies that appear strong and prone to cast swarms are often quite vulnerable to pathogens. I still remember one of my first experiences with a large, beautiful swarm. With a toilet brush and cardboard box, I managed to collect it surrounded by a great number of ad hoc admirers at a local shopping center. Several weeks later, the colony, even though hived in new equipment on foundation, came down with American foulbrood (AFB).

In many cases, then, swarms must be considered a mixed blessing. Another less well-recognized reason also exists to eschew collecting swarms. Swarming bees are often headed by queens whose progeny are prone to swarm again next season. Many persons ensure that all swarms are requeened immediately with a queen from a non-swarming strain. Historically, before the moveable-frame hive, beekeepers inadvertently selected for swarming strains of bees. Swarming was encouraged in the days when bees were kept in skeps or other domiciles, because it was the only way to make increase. Most scientists now agree that there is enough variability in the population so that developing a strain which is less prone to swarm can be accomplished relatively easily.

All this suggests that the philosophy that any swarm is a "good" swarm should continuously be reexamined. This is especially true when it comes to Africanized honey bees. Commissioner Doyle Conner's Africanized Honey Bee Task Force has agreed in principle to the following as quoted from ENY 114, "Information on the Africanized Honey Bee":

"Officials and beekeepers should continue to keep themselves abreast of events (surrounding the Africanized honey bee) for the last half of the 1980s. As a precaution, the traditional method of hiving or maintaining wild swarms should be discouraged. Experience has shown that wild swarms probably will be associated with more aggressive bees; they should be avoided and aggressively eliminated as a matter of course. This will have two benefits; possible elimination of bees that might cause highly publicized stinging incidents and reduction of competition for colonies of managed docile European bees."

I have been taken to task a number of times because of the above statement and accused of being too radical. I can only say in my defense that I advocate this policy as "realistic" knowing what we do about the biology and dispersal of the Africanized honey bee. In addition, it is a course of action agreed to by those persons sitting on the Task Force who bring a wide variety of experience to the issue. Finally, the words "aggressively eliminated" may not always have the draconian connotation many have given it. Objectionable characteristics can easily be eliminated from most colonies by requeening from a known stock.

Swarming has and continues to be one of the beekeeper's most vexing problems. It certainly was to the great C.C. Miller who despaired of controlling it in his book, Fifty Years Among the Bees. In addition, the Rev. L.L. Langstroth in the 1860 edition of A Practical Treatise on the Hive and the Honey-Bee said: "For years, I spent much time in the vain attempt to discover some infallible indications of first swarming; until facts convinced me that there can be no such indications."

Unfortunately, very little progress has been made to effectively control swarming since. But, over the years a great deal has been learned about the dynamics involved. It is now apparent that the queen's odors or pheromones play a most important role in the swarming process. In particular one pheromone, called "queen substance," produced by the mandibular glands of the queen, has been shown to be responsible for suppressing construction of queen cells by worker bees. As a colony becomes over populated, however, there may not be enough queen substance to go around and those workers not receiving/perceiving it may begin the swarming impulse. In addition, making preparations to swarm does not necessarily mean the bees will in fact swarm. There is a body of evidence that bees may be continually producing and tearing down queen cells in the active season.

Generally speaking there is a high correlation between the crowding of a large population of bees and preparations to swarm. Knowing this, certain guidelines have been formulated which, though not infallible as Langstroth would have had them, can reduce the incidence of swarming. These include:

1. Provide room judiciously by supering, reversing hive bodies or manipulating frames. These should be done before preparations for swarming commence.
2. Provide young queens. Requeening in the fall of the year will often prevent the swarming impulse from occurring in bees the next spring.
3. Provide upward ventilation, shade and water allowing the colony to reduce its heat load and lessening its perception of being overcrowded.
4. Clip the queen's wing to prevent her from going with a swarm or cage her inside a colony. Queen cells can also be destroyed as they are seen in a colony making preparations to swarm, a time consuming, inefficient system at best.
5. Perhaps the best thing to do, however, as suggested above, is to consistently requeen colonies that swarm with a non-swarming strain. Swarms collected in the field should also be requeened in like fashion.

NATIONAL MOVEMENT QUARANTINE FOR VARROA

[Editor's Note: Included for historical purposes only. Not currently valid. See your bee inspector for more recent details]

It is now official. The APHIS national movement quarantine has been published in the Federal Register and is in effect. The comment period, however, will continue for a while. Comments should be sent (original plus three copies) specifically referring to Docket No. 87-140 to APHIS, USDA, Room 1143, South Bldg, P.O. Box 96464, Washington, DC 20090-6464. The basics of the quarantine are as follows:

The following are regulated articles: Varroa mites; all honey bees, live and dead; hives and hive equipment; shipping and storage containers (cages), and vehicles used at apiaries; combs with brood cells; pollen for bee food; and any miscellaneous article or means of conveyance that presents a risk of spreading Varroa.

Power is given the Administrator of APHIS to list as a quarantined area each state in which a Varroa mite infestation exists, or each Varroa mite-infested apiary and a specified area, approximately 100 square miles surrounding it. Less than an entire state can be listed as a quarantined area if (a) the state has adopted and is enforcing restrictions on intrastate movement of regulated articles, (b) quarantining less than the entire state will prevent interstate spread of Varroa mite. The following quarantine areas have been established: Florida, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Certificates to move interstate will be issued based on treatment of regulated articles under a compliance agreement with state department of agriculture officials. In Florida's case, this is the Chief Apiarist, Mr. Laurence Cutts (ph 904/372-3505) or one of his inspectors. Regulated articles are to be treated as follows:

• A. Queen honey bee cages
1. Place a 1" X 1/2" tab of 1% fluvalinate strip in the bottom of the empty cage.
2. Record starting date of treatment on back of cage.
3. Put the queen and attendants into cage.
4. Three days (72 hours) after putting the queen and attendants into the cage, remove the fluvalinate strip.
5. Protect queen cages from reinfestation through contact with untreated regulated articles and ship within 48 hours of the fluvalinate strip's removal.
• B. Packaged honey bees (2-3 pound packages)
1. Using a wire or staple, suspend a 2 1/2% fluvalinate strip, 5" X 1", in an empty shipping cage. Position the strip near the feeder. If the package is to include a queen cage, the queen cage must be treated in accordance with instructions above in A. 1.
2. Put honey bees into the cage.
3. Five days (120 hours) after putting the honey bees into the cage, remove the fluvalinate strip.
4. Protect the packaged honey bees from reinfestation through contact with untreated regulated articles and ship within 48 hours of the fluvalinate strip's removal.
• C. Hives
1. Remove supers.
2. Use two 10% fluvalinate strips, 10" each, per hive.
3. Put a nail through the top of each strip so that the strip can hang between frames.
4. Remove cover of hive.
5. Place 2 strips into the hive.
6. Close the hive.
7. Twenty-one days (504 hours) after their insertion into the hive, remove fluvalinate strips.
8. Protect the hive from reinfestation through contact with untreated regulated articles and ship within 48 hours of the fluvalinate strip's removal.

PROPOSED FLORIDA RULE ON HONEY BEES

With the help of the Florida State Beekeepers Association, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has drafted a proposed rule to regulate pests of honey bees and unwanted races of honey bees. Comments are presently being solicited from a wide variety of people concerning this rule.

The purpose of the rule is to establish specific guidelines developed under the authority of Chapter 586, Florida Statutes, to regulate honey bees. Requests for a public hearing on the issue or a copy of the proposed rule should be sent to Mallory E. Horne, Legal Office, Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Room 515, Mayo Bldg., Tallahassee, FL 32399-0800.

Of particular interest in the proposed rule are the following:

1. Every beekeeper in Florida having honey bees within the state will be required to register on a form, PI-176, furnished by the department. The beekeeper must agree to comply with all rules of the department, and renew registration every year.
2. All Florida apiaries will be inspected by an authorized representative of the department a minimum of one inspection per year. This will include visual inspection of no less than 20% of the hives included in the apiaries or 100 percent of the hives may be inspected upon request of either the Department or beekeeper.
3. It will continue to be prohibited to keep bees in anything besides movable frame hives.
4. All registered beekeepers will be issued an identification number which must be burned or permanently imprinted on the upper left hand corner of the hive bodies in letters at least 1/2" high. Subsequent brands will be placed underneath existing ones. Proof of transfer of ownership must be shown when more than two brands are seen on equipment.
5. Fees will be charged for special inspections or analysis services for certification and labeling of Florida-produced honey.
6. All hives found infested with American foulbrood will be destroyed by burning and all colonies in the same yard quarantined for a minimum of 30 days. Indemnity payment will be paid at the rate of 1/2 estimated value of the equipment not to exceed $30.00. Only colonies destroyed due to American foulbrood infestation will be indemnified.
7. Abandoned apiaries will be tagged for a period of 90 days. At the end of 90 days, colonies will be moved to a holding location for 6 months. After 6 months, the department shall destroy, auction or make use of said equipment.

[Editor's note: The majority of these rules passed and are currently in place. For updated information, contact Florida's Chief Bee Inspector.]

Sincerely,

Malcolm T. Sanford
Bldg 970, Box 110620
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
Phone (352) 392-1801, Ext. 143 FAX: (352)-392-0190
http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~mts/apishtm/apis.htm
INTERNET Address: MTS@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU
©1988 M.T. Sanford "All Rights Reserved