Project Overview
Information Products
Commodities
Practices
- Animal Production: genetics
- Crop Production: beekeeping, pollination, pollinator health
- Education and Training: demonstration, display, extension, farmer to farmer, networking, on-farm/ranch research, workshop
- Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity
- Pest Management: genetic resistance
- Production Systems: organic agriculture
- Sustainable Communities: analysis of personal/family life, public participation
Abstract:
Honeybees are the most important managed pollinators contributing $15 billion to the US economy. However, managed bee colonies are in a 60% annual decline in Ohio. The ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor is the most severe factor for the disease and weakness of the colonies since 1987. Promoting mite resistant bees is one of the most effective ways to mitigate bee decline. We have a collection of bee stocks from feral colonies that are mite resistant. However, the limit factor for local honeybee resources is fewer queens and nuclei available to fulfill the demand of beekeepers in the region.
Working with experienced queen producers in 2019-2022, we aim to improve the queen quality of honeybee stocks by using the queen cells. We have tested the quality and colony demographics of 48-hr queen cells from either commercial package bees (n=6), feral stocks (n=6), or Russian bees (n=7). We had difficulties using the commercial package bees to produce queen cells in 2020 probably due to the biology of these bees. In 2021, we adjusted our methods to use both queen cells and adult queens for both commercial package bees and feral stocks.
We held two workshops in 2019 for Southern and Western Ohio beekeepers. Both workshops integrated lectures and field demonstrations on queen quality, queen cells, and discussions on how to do queen rearing in a sustainable way. We distributed sixty queen cells with mite-resistant traits to twenty-seven participants, who gained hands-on experience on how to use microscopes to check on mite biting behavior. We followed all the bee yards of participants and collected mites in the fall of 2019.
We organized 4 webinars online in 2020. 1) How to make swarm traps to catch feral bees? - Hongmei Li-Byarlay; 2) What is Deformed Wing Virus really doing to your bees? - Ian Traniello (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign); 3) Honeybee queen and viruses: transmission routes and infection consequences - Esmaeil Amiri (University of North Carolina at Greensboro); 4) Stay Cool: How we can use honeybee thermoregulation to keep better bees - Chelsea Cook (Marquette University).
We organized 6 webinars online and 1 field day to distribute 50 queen cells in 2021 by working with Ohio State University, Ohio DOA, and Ohio and Kentucky Master beekeepers. They are: 6/23/2021 Caring for honey bee queens - Effects of “bee-safe” pesticides on queens; 6/9/2021 Caring for honey bee queens - Drone health and mating biology; 5/26/2021 Caring for honey bee queens - Breeding for mite resistance; 5/22/2021 Field Day for Queen quality and cells; 5/12/2021 Caring for honey bee queens - Queen quality and grooming mite biting behavior; 4/28/2021 Caring for honey bee queens - Swarm trapping a genetic resource; and 4/16/2021 Caring for honey bee queens - Important steps to certify your apiary.
We carried out field experiments of 2020 and 2021 on the egg-laying behavior/rate of queens from different bee stocks (feral, Russian, and commercial package bees). The data from the experiment showed the egg-laying rate of Russian queens is significantly higher than feral and commercial honey bees. There is a trend that the egg-laying rate of feral honey bees is higher than that of commercial honey bees.
We have increased the queen quality and genetic diversity of honey bee stocks that display mite resistance behavior by using queen cells. The outcome is to improve the quality and quantity of queen production in Ohio.
Project objectives:
Our objectives are
1) to test the possibility of 48-hr queen cells for efficient queen bee production,
2) to increase the queen quality and genetic diversity of honey bee stocks that display mite resistance behavior by using queen cells,
3) and to distribute 100 queens with mite-resistant traits to local beekeepers.
Our project will significantly improve the beekeepers’ understanding of the biology of queen bees, and help to transfer and distribute favorable genetics to more bee farmers. The outcome is to improve the quality and quantity of queen production in the region.
We have addressed all the objectives we have proposed. For objective 1, we have tested 3 different strains (Russian, feral, or package bees) to test the quality of 48-hr queen cells. The data indicated that the egg-laying rate of Russian queens is significantly higher than feral and commercial honey bees. There is a trend that feral queen bees tend to lay more eggs than commercial queen bees. For objectives 2 and 3, we have worked and trained about 30 beekeepers in the region and distributed many queen cells with them across 2 field seasons. With COVID, it was difficult to schedule in-person events and follow university regulations. We have worked with the beekeepers who collected mites and responded to our requests to revisit their yards.