Is Wintering Locally Adapted Queen Bees in Bulk in Climate Controlled Storage a Viable Climate Change Adaptation for Northeast Beekeepers?

View the project report

Commodities

• Animals: bees

Practices

• Animal Production: animal protection and health
• Crop Production: beekeeping, pollinator health
• Education and Training: farmer to farmer, networking, on-farm/ranch research

Beekeepers in the northeast
region face significant hive losses, up to 50%, due to
overwintering challenges.  These losses not only lead to a
decrease in localized winter-hardy genetic diversity, but also
increase reliance on imported honeybees and queens from outside
the region, exacerbating pest and viral
pressures.  

This proposed project aims to
evaluate the efficacy of climate-controlled storage on
over-winter survival of honey bee queens in the Northeast, a
region where such research is currently lacking.  Previous
studies, mainly in Canada and western United States, have shown
promising results for queen survival under controlled temperature
and humidity conditions. 

Queens will specifically be
assessed through the process of “queen-banking.”  The queen
banking process requires combining a number of queens together in
one “bank hive” and providing them brood/food to maintain their
necessary health characteristics.  Queens stored in bank
colonies will be compared to queens established in nucleus
colonies (small hives), both overwintered in a climate controlled
environment, to determine which is most efficient and
economically viable for Northeast beekeepers.  

We will disseminate our findings to beekeepers in the
Northeast with the goal of assessing how climate controlled
technology could help supply the market with localized genetic
stock and make Northeast beekeeping more sustainable.

Our research aims to establish
whether long-term cold storage is a viable option in our
region.  Increased understanding of queen banking could lead
to substantial shifts in regional food system viability. 
The results could help improve the survivability of honey bees in
the Northeast region.

This study will evaluate the
efficacy of overwintering honey bee queens indoors in climate
controlled storage when comparing queen banks to nucleus
hives.  Utilizing recommended temperature, humidity and
queen banking techniques,
we will overwinter 100 queens in queen banks and 40 nucleus
colonies in a climate controlled modular storage
facility. 

Our objectives:

• Assess the percent survival of
  queens banked overwinter in bulk indoors for 4
  months.  
• Compare survival of 5 indoor
  queen banks with 20 queens per bank to queen survival of 40
  nucleus colonies with a laying queen. 
• Analyze the sperm viability and
  morphology of queens overwintered in bulk in an indoor climate
  controlled environment utilizing laboratory
  testing.  
• Evaluate the performance of
  queens overwintered in queen banks and nucleus colonies in a
  climate controlled environment by comparing open & capped
  brood, population density, and brood disease prevalence when
  introduced to hives.
• Utilize a cost benefit analysis
  to evaluate the economic viability of indoor temperature
  controlled storage of honey bee queens when comparing queen
  banks to nucleus colonies.
• Disseminate results to 500
  beekeepers in the Northeast with the goal of assessing
  how climate controlled
  technology could supply the market with localized honey bee
  genetic stock, making Northeast beekeeping more
  sustainable.