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Dadant & Sons Inc. helping with honey bee mystery
By Doug Endres/MVM News Network
Talking about the problems of honey bees sounds a lot like talking about the problems of people today. The two seem to be suffering from the same things: a poor diet, stress at work and increased travel for work.
These problems and more are being examined by scientists to find an explanation for Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a condition where worker bees from a bee hive or Western honey bee colony abruptly disappear. Reports of CCD also come from outside the U.S. in Europe, and a case was reported in Taiwan in 2007.
A hive or bee colony suffering from CCD is generally characterized by all of the following conditions occurring simultaneously:
n Total absence of adult bees, with few or no dead bees on site.
n Presence of capped brood in colonies. Bees normally do not abandon a hive until the capped brood have hatched.
n Presence of food stores of honey and bee pollen, which are not immediately robbed by other bees and when attacked by hive pests, the attack is noticeably delayed.
The problem hits both commercial and hobbyist bee keepers. It also has some effect on area farmers who raise soybeans. Some varieties benefit from pollination by bees.
“It depends on the variety of soybean and the kind of soil,” said Nick Dadant, vice president of Dadant & Sons, Inc.
Dadant said other farm crops like alfalfa can see help from bees, but only if it is grown for the seeds and not for hay.
Orchards benefit from bee pollination as do growers of other fruits and nuts. Commercial beekeepers load up to 500 hives on semitrailers and travel across the country to coincide with pollination times.
Dadant said one theory of CCD is stress from an increased workload and increased travel.
“Stress is a big factor,” said Dadant. “We expect more and more out of the bee. It creates higher stress levels.
“We still can't put a finger on the cause. It's not a new problem, but it is more widespread.”
While no source of the problem is known, one of the latest theories is a lack of nutrition. One of the patterns reported by a group of researchers at Penn State was that producers in a survey noted a period of “extraordinary stress” affecting their colonies prior to their die-off, most commonly involving poor nutrition and/or drought.
A survey of beekeepers early in 2007 indicated that most hobbyist beekeepers believed that starvation was the leading cause of death in their colonies. Commercial beekeepers believed that invertebrate pests were the leading cause of CCD.
Dadant & Sons, Inc. make a food supplement in partnership with Castle Dome Solutions LLC called MegaBee that increases the protein in the bee's diet.
“Bees need protein and carbohydrates just like we do,” said Dadant. “It helps with the health of the colony. It's not a new thing. We made a similar product in the late '70s and early '80s.”
The powder is usually mixed with a carbohydrate source, like corn syrup, so it becomes a paste called patties, which is then fed to the bees.
“They take it better when it is mixed with a carbohydrate,” said Dadant.
Scientists are looking at several other factors, including pathogens, radiation from cellular phones or other man-made devices, and genetically modified (GM) crops with pest control characteristics such as transgenic maize.
These problems and more are being examined by scientists to find an explanation for Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a condition where worker bees from a bee hive or Western honey bee colony abruptly disappear. Reports of CCD also come from outside the U.S. in Europe, and a case was reported in Taiwan in 2007.
A hive or bee colony suffering from CCD is generally characterized by all of the following conditions occurring simultaneously:
n Total absence of adult bees, with few or no dead bees on site.
n Presence of capped brood in colonies. Bees normally do not abandon a hive until the capped brood have hatched.
n Presence of food stores of honey and bee pollen, which are not immediately robbed by other bees and when attacked by hive pests, the attack is noticeably delayed.
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“It depends on the variety of soybean and the kind of soil,” said Nick Dadant, vice president of Dadant & Sons, Inc.
Dadant said other farm crops like alfalfa can see help from bees, but only if it is grown for the seeds and not for hay.
Orchards benefit from bee pollination as do growers of other fruits and nuts. Commercial beekeepers load up to 500 hives on semitrailers and travel across the country to coincide with pollination times.
Dadant said one theory of CCD is stress from an increased workload and increased travel.
“Stress is a big factor,” said Dadant. “We expect more and more out of the bee. It creates higher stress levels.
“We still can't put a finger on the cause. It's not a new problem, but it is more widespread.”
While no source of the problem is known, one of the latest theories is a lack of nutrition. One of the patterns reported by a group of researchers at Penn State was that producers in a survey noted a period of “extraordinary stress” affecting their colonies prior to their die-off, most commonly involving poor nutrition and/or drought.
A survey of beekeepers early in 2007 indicated that most hobbyist beekeepers believed that starvation was the leading cause of death in their colonies. Commercial beekeepers believed that invertebrate pests were the leading cause of CCD.
Dadant & Sons, Inc. make a food supplement in partnership with Castle Dome Solutions LLC called MegaBee that increases the protein in the bee's diet.
“Bees need protein and carbohydrates just like we do,” said Dadant. “It helps with the health of the colony. It's not a new thing. We made a similar product in the late '70s and early '80s.”
The powder is usually mixed with a carbohydrate source, like corn syrup, so it becomes a paste called patties, which is then fed to the bees.
“They take it better when it is mixed with a carbohydrate,” said Dadant.
Scientists are looking at several other factors, including pathogens, radiation from cellular phones or other man-made devices, and genetically modified (GM) crops with pest control characteristics such as transgenic maize.
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Editor wrote on Mar 27, 2008 5:28 AM: