Sanitation
- Minimize pest/pathogen transfer
- Practice good hygiene while working
- Use different equipment in different apiaries
- Clean equipment often (with 10% bleach)
- Wash protective clothing
- If reusing equipment
- Do NOT use if don’t know the history
- Do NOT use if known incidence of AFB
- Wash equipment (10% bleach; Nosema)
- Heat treatment (24hrs @ 49°C; Nosema)
- UV light (Nosema)
- Comb culling or comb scrapping (dirty/damaged comb, pesticides)
- Freezing frames (48hrs @ -20°C; wax moth)
- Gamma irradiation (pesticides, viruses, AFB)
Minimize Pesticide Exposure
- Many miticides and other ag pesticides found in pollen and wax
- Especially important when renting your bees for pollination
- Communicate with the growers
- Ask when crop is sprayed
- Preferably when pollen is not produced
- Before bloom
- At night when bees aren’t flying
- After pollination, give hives time to recover
- Provide area with plenty of “clean”, diverse forage
Provide Balanced Nutrition
- Honey bees need diversity of pollen sources
- Improves immune/detox response helps deal with pests, pathogens, even pesticides
- Place in an area with variety of floral sources
- Collaborate with growers willing to help (PAm floral seed mixes)
- Feed pollen substitute (brewer’s yeast, Megabee, etc.)
- Important in late summer, fall, and throughout the winter to build populations for pollination
- During and after pollination
- Provide a clean water source
Resistant Bee Stock
- Usually hygienic honey bee stocks
- Nurse bees can detect and remove diseased and Varroa-infested brood
- Several stocks available for purchase
- Minnesota Hygienic
- Varroa Sensitive Hygiene
- Russian Bees
- Or you can breed your own