Could the Addition of Bleach to Sugar Syrup for the Prevention of Black Mold be Remunerative for Beekeepers in the Northeast U.S.?

Commodities

• Animals: bees
• Animal Products: honey

Practices

• Crop Production: beekeeping

Beekeepers feed their honey bee
colonies sugar syrup to provide carbohydrate nutrition when the
colonies are newly formed and when there are no natural sources
of nutrition available to the bees.  The practice of
supplemental feeding is becoming increasingly more common in the
beekeeping industry because of pests and diseases, climate
change, and pollinator habitat loss.  The most typical ratio
of sugar syrup fed for the purpose of colony growth is 1 part
sugar to 1 part water (1:1) by weight.  However, this ratio
of sugar to water is conducive to microbial growth, and black
mold can and will propagate inside of the sugar syrup feeding
containers.  We propose to investigate whether or not this
black mold is detrimental to the health of the colony, and
whether or not the addition of bleach (sodium hypochlorite) to
sugar syrup, with the purpose of preventing black mold growth,
will result in improved colony health and ultimately increase the
remunerative value of beekeeping operations.

With this project we will
evaluate the effects on colony performance of feeding sugar syrup
with bleach, sugar syrup without bleach, and no supplemental
sugar syrup at all.  We will compare:

1. Colony population growth:
   compare total number of frames of brood between experimental
   groups
2. Colony weight gain: compare
   weight gain between experimental groups
3. Rate of consumption: compare
   consumption rates of sugar syrup between experimental
   groups
4. Brood pattern: compare brood
   patterns between experimental groups
5. Microbial growth: compare
   presence of black mold in feeder jars between experimental
   groups
6. Remunitive advantage: calculate
   and compare cost of bleach with colony performance
7. Nosema levels:  compare
   levels of Nosema
   ceranae between
   experimental groups
8. Winter Survival:  compare
   winter survival rates of colonies between experimental
   groups