by Dewey M. Caron, Communications and Content Specialist for the Oregon Master Beekeeper Program
OMB Journey Student Profile – Alex Alexander
One item the OMB Advisory Committee has suggested is that we advertise and tell the stories of Master Beekeeping program participants as a recruiting tool to enroll more Getting Started and Apprentice students in our program. In the February 2025 issue of Bee Culture, under a special feature section of Beekeeping Stories, I highlighted OMB student Alex Alexander (page 58). Alex, a USDA forest service employee living in Corvallis, started beekeeping in 2019 with a single Warrė hive. He added a Langstroth hive as program student (our MB program emphasizes beekeeping with movable comb hives) at the suggestion of Kelly Goodwin, his Apprentice Mentor. Alex is a frequent guest/presenter at OSU Friday in the Apiary. This past summer he was one of the students to don a bee beard. He currently is completing his Journey certification. You can read his OR MB story in the Bee Culture article.
Are recent heavy colony losses due to a virus?
Many factors can contribute to annual loss of bee colonies. Pathogen levels, varroa numbers, environmental conditions, pesticides, nutritional deficiency and bee genetics are common factors cited. When we examine deadouts, it is difficult to determine what exactly might have been the reason for loss. The heavy loss levels reported by beekeepers last year and for the current spring have been postulated as possibly due to virus or from a combination of factors; a new virus or a new DWV variant has been commonly hypothesized as the ‘most likely’ reason.
A research paper that included Oregon State postdoctoral student Nathalie Steinhauer Dominance of recombinant DWV genomes with changing viral landscapes as revealed in national US honey bee and varroa mite survey in Communications Biology https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-07333-9 demonstrates that normal PCR virus ID techniques has “limited capability” to be effective to ID new emergent viruses or recombined virus variants. RNA viruses have been shown to have high mutation rates, with new variants arising from recombination, selection or high point mutations due to error-prone RNA-polymerase replications.
The presence of Varroa has already been shown to have led to changes in DWV viruses (two major variations are A & B, with B sometimes called Varroa destructor virus -VDV). Each variant co-exists in host honey bees leading to a greater likelihood of competition among stains and possibility of higher recombination, …..”known to be responsible for generation of novel variants” Using adult bee samples collected by BeeInformed sampling (Nathalie at the time was the data specialist for BIP), this study demonstrated that Type A DWV is being replaced by a more highly virulent Type B VDV virus and “….genomes displaying some degree of recombinant are incredibly common.” Does this study forecast that a virus change could be the reason for elevated losses of US bee colonies the last two years?
Probiotics: are they of benefit?
What do you understand about the complex issue of the honey bee gut microbiome? Can we, should we, seek to supplement our bee diet with probiotics? In a series of 4 Inside the Hive.TV Youtube broadcasts by Dr. Humberto Boncristiani, independent bee pathogen researcher, makes the statement: “At the heart of this discussion lies a larger truth: honey bee health is shaped by a symphony of factors, from genetics to environmental pressures, and from microbial allies to opportunistic invaders. The journey to understanding their microbiome is not one of absolutes but of nuance, where each new study peels back another layer of complexity.”
You can access part 4 of the series and the first 3 parts of his discussion at: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQZTgMlmKgVRwVTZMTgvjXKqbbW
If you have been reading the studies, you likely realize that the probiotics on the market might be useless because they cannot establish themselves in the gut of honey bees. This argument makes sense because how can a microorganism that cannot establish itself in the bee gut contribute meaningfully to it? Or worse if they do establish but do so at the expense of replacing the normal biota how can that be of benefit? In part 4, Dr Boncristiani highlights the research by Helen Kogan, et al. (2023) of Bernard College, NY. Colonization of Honey Bee Digestive Tracts by Environmental Yeast Lachancea thermotolerans Is Naturally Occurring, Temperature Dependent, and Impacts the Microbiome of Newly Emerged Bees. Environ. Micro. https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.05194-22
This study presents compelling evidence that the environmental yeast Lachancea thermotolerans can colonize honey bee digestive tracts, but its persistence is highly dependent on a temperature range below the 90’s F optimal for brood rearing. He says this discovery “raises important questions about the broader role of non-native microorganisms in bee health…… Honey bees maintain a relatively stable core microbiome that plays essential roles in digestion, immune function, and overall health….. newly emerged bees (but not older-aged workers) exposed to L. thermotolerans exhibited microbiome shifts, particularly in levels of the bacterium Gilliamella apicola, challenging the old narrative that non-native organisms cannot alter the well-established gut microbiome.”
The role antibiotic treatment for potential AFB and Nosema control are an unknown. Antibiotics, widely used for AFB by larger-scale beekeepers are known to be highly disruptive of the honey bee gut microbiome (just as antibiotics we use are disruptive of our microbiome).
For the American Beekeeping Federation Quarterly (Vol 83(1), Spring 2025) I reviewed honey bee probiotics. I cited a review of the pros and cons of supplementing the bee diet by Argentinean/Canadian authors. Certainly neither paper is the end-all for why we should or don’t need to supplement colonies with probiotics but it might help you make a more informed decision on what you might do to help maintain healthy bees.
Follow up on bee bearding
Stan Taylor, a 95 year old beekeeper from Australia, shared a series of letters to the editor exchanges on bee beards in the March 2025 American Bee Journal. This was a follow up for an article on bee bearding I published in the November 2024 ABJ. Stan questioned my assertion that bearding was foragers exiting hives under hot, humid conditions. Stan in Western Australia, has not observed bearding of populous colonies, despite extremely elevated summer temperatures, where he keeps his bees. It is a dry heat, with lower humidity. Stan uses a spacer rim and doesn’t use queen excluders.
I agreed with Mr. Taylor that his use of spacer rims, his not using queen excluders and the dry, non-humid conditions might well be the factors that favor his colonies to not need to beard, despite the high summer temperatures. All beekeeping is local. I am interested in hearing of your experiences with bee bearding and what you consider the conditions that might lead to your bees bearding in western Oregon.
NOTE: Bee bearding and washboarding are two common reasons we might see bees outside on the sides of the hive boxes during the summer. Washboarding is an entirely different behavior from bearding, and like bearding, we don’t understand why some colonies might washboard (or beard) outside colonies and others in the same apiary do not.