Project Overview
Commodities
- Animals: bees
- Animal Products: honey
Practices
- Animal Production: probiotics
Proposal summary:
We are losing 40% of our honey bee colonies over the winter. We want to study if Super DFM will improve the survival rate. One beekeeper has used it over the past two years with great success. It is a specialized probiotic formula for honey bees which promotes optimal bee got health. It is all natural and completely safe probiotic supplement. We have the participants just sprinkle it on the top of the brood frames four to five times throughout the 2021 season. It is safe to use all year round even during honey flows. This proposal should be seen as building on past work and not a repeat of same methodologies.
Project objectives from proposal:
The primary objectives of this study are to determine if the use of the probiotic Super DFM will significally improve the strength of the honey bee health and improve their winter survival rate. Making bees stronger will help them fight off diseases themselves and avoid the use of other chemicals that us beekeepers are now using. Also having stronger bees will allow beekeepers to do less feeding of sugar supplements because the bees will be able to bring in more nectar and pollen. Using 100 hives will give us a good sample size.