B.E.E. Heroes

Problem Solving

 

What has been proposed or attempted in the past to resolve the issue?

 

There has been a lot of research done on what’s killing the bees and how to stop it. Although not much action has been done to help it.

 

Beekeepers, governmental officials, and scientists from universities, industries, and the USDA have initiated a number of investigations into the possible causes of CCD. It is safe to assume that most potential causes of CCD are being investigated. Another thing we could do is talk to our state senators and try to get them to fund research on CCD, and how to fix it.

 

SymBeeotic

Swedish scientists have developed a treatment for honeybees made from the stomach bacteria of healthy bees which will boot the immunity of the sick bee. The research has been ongoing for approximately 10 years and will soon be launched in Russia.

 

Self Pollinating Crops

New varieties of self-pollinating plants have been in development for many years for almond trees and soybean plants. This includes incorporating bee DNA into the plants/trees through genetic engineering. The plan is to expand to zucchini, apples, broccoli, peppers, and more, although this solution is having trouble gaining support from vegetarian groups worried about nutrition impacts.

 

Remebee

An Isreali professor has discovered the IAPV virus in honeybees related to the bee colony decline and a treatment called Remebee, developed by Beeologics. This product is used to protect bees from disease and parasites. The product is under review by the FDA and EPA with field trials in Florida, Pennsylvania and Isreal.

 

 

What strategies have been successful-or unsuccessful?  Why?

 

Many granting agencies have realized the importance of honey bees and have distributed research funds in an effort to find the cause and a cure. Although the causes of colony collapse disorder are not yet known, it is recommended that beekeepers keep colonies strong by practicing best management practices.

 

Malnutrition

Other solutions include for humans to have self-control when it comes to genetically modified crops, though some insecticides are even more harmful. Malnutrition is another possible factor in commercial use in pollination as the bees are fed high fructose corn syrup which is low in nutrition but less expensive.

 

Formic Acid Paper

Formic acid paper strips have also been used to treat the varroa mite. Hives treated with the vapors from the acid paper were without mites for 4-5 months. However, this solution also kills the newly hatched honeybees-thus not a realistic solution.

 

Essential Oils

Some essential oils like wintergreen and thyme have been also used to treat the varroa mite successfully, though requires additional research before being sold commercially to treat bee colony collapse.

 

Bee Hive Cells

Another solution is to address the size of the cells within a bee hive. A larger size encourages more honey making from the bees but weakened the strength of the community. A beekeeper decided to make his hives the same size as killer bees' hives, who are immune to the varroa mite. It took a few generations to figure out how to get the honey out of the smaller cells. Although this was positive result, most beekeepers would not be able to upgrade all their equipment for a solution that won't work right away.