Are The Bees Actually Disappearing?

Studies suggest that bee losses had historically been around 30% year over year, however, recent losses are reported to be anywhere from 50 percent all the way up to 70 percent in some places. Scientists are attributing these losses to several factors:

Climate

Regardless of whether the planet is warming or not, there is no denying that we have all experienced an increase in extreme weather events in the past couple of decades, whether it be extreme rains, wildfire, wild temperature swings, or strong wind/tornados. These weather events can kill off nectar and pollen sources prematurely, damage hives,  and generally cause added stress to wildlife. 

Pests/Disease

Enemy #1 for honeybees is the Varroa Destructor Mite. This parasite is native to Asia but was inadvertently spread to other continents.  Asian honeybees have evolved to develop defense mechanisms and disease resistance against these small parasites, but European honeybees in both the US and Europe have not yet caught up. 

These mites were first detected in the United States in 1987, and while some stateside bees have recently shown mite resistance, it is difficult to selectively breed for this trait due to the nature of honeybee reproduction. 

Both the diseases and chemical mite treatments are stressors on the bees. While less intrusive treatments have been developed, oxalic acid and formic acid vapors are still some of the more effective treatments, and oxalic acid can be used during the honey season. Most of the passive or slow release chemical treatments will contaminate honey and render it unsellable. 

Commercial beekeeping also introduces a variable not seen in wild colonies or smaller homestead operations: Migratory beekeeping. Some commercial beekeepers move hives across the country to specific seasonal pollination sites. This allows for potential disease and parasite exchange across state lines, and moving bees can cause additional stress. This is likely contributing to greater commercial hive losses. 

Pesticide Exposure

Pesticides help keep our crop yields higher, but unfortunately these chemicals also have a negative effect on bees and other beneficial insects. 

Some Losses are Normal

Part of the honeybee's natural reproduction cycle invloves swarming. Swarming is where the original queen and approximately half the bees leave the hive to start a new colony. The bees that stay behind will create a new queen from the eggs left behind by their original queen. This leaves both sets of bees vulnerable to loss. 

The bees at the original hive location will make several queen cells from the eggs laid by the old queen. This is the first potential point of failure; no eggs, no queen. The bees cannot take any larvae already in development to make a new queen. Provided this step goes well, these virgin queens will all emerge and fight each other to the death using their stingers until one queen is left standing. This queen must then go on a mating flight without being eaten by birds or other insects. If she successfully mates and returns to the hive, it is the last time she will ever leave the hive unless she swarms the following season. 

While the original hive is working hard to create a new queen, the bees that left the hive will all band together  on a nearby tree branch, sometimes creating a cluster as big as a basketball! Scout bees will begin looking for a new home, a process that can take several days. If enough scout bees gravitate to a specific site, the swarm will move in and the worker bees will immediately begin drawing comb so the queen can resume laying eggs.  Weather events, predators, starvation, and inadequate hive sites can all weigh into whether a swarm is able to survive. 

Swarms that leave the hive have a survival rate as low as 25%. Beekeepers who are proactive can manually split their colonies into new beehive boxes and increase the odds of survivability. 

Hive Thefts and Vandalism

Hive theft is on the rise in many places, and these thefts may be reported as beekeeper losses. 

There have also been some isolated reports of deliberate vandalism or poisoning of colonies by bad actors. These individuals either perceive honeybees to be a nuisance, or they incorrectly believe that honeybees are aggressive towards native pollinators. 

• Honeybees are not native to North America, but have adapted well to our climate. Honeybees were imported to North America from Europe in the 17th century. 
• A queen honeybee can live for up to five years, while a worker bee will only live for about six weeks during the warmer months. In the winter, worker bees will live for several months. 
• Male bees are called "drones" and can live for several weeks during the summer. Their only purpose is to mate with a virgin queen. Drones do not forage or help maintain the hive. 
• Going into winter, the female worker bees will kick out any surviving drones, who will then freeze to death outside of the hive. 
• The queen bee is the only bee that lays eggs in a hive. She can lay as many as 2500 eggs in one day!
• Honeybees communicate where nectar sources are by doing a "waggle dance." Bees will watch as one bee performs a figure-8 dance in the hive. The speed and orientation of the dance communicates how far the food is and in what direction respectively. 
• One worker honeybee will only create about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
• As worker bees age, their roles in the hive change. Young bees will take care of larvae and maintain the hive, while older bees will go out and forage before dying
• Despite cartoons and animations depicting honeybee hives as round structures that hang from tree branches, this is not actually how bees make their hives. Honeybees naturally make their hives inside hollowed out tree trunks. The misconception likely comes from manmade bee "skeps" which look much like a hornet's nest or the hives depicted in cartoons. Skeps were used prior to the invention of the now popular Langstroth hive. 
• The Langstroth Hive was invented in 1851. This style hive features removable frames and is the most common hive still in use today! 
• One of the greatest threat to European honeybees is the Varroa Destructor Mite. While Asian honeybees have evolved alongside the mites, European honeybees have not developed defense mechanisms or disease resistance to these parasites. Varroa mites first arrived in Florida in the late 1980's and spread to the rest of the United States shortly thereafter.