The Master Plan to a Sustainable Honey Bee Future

Introduction: Develop your own breeding stock!

    This page is a culmanation of information gathered over years of observation and many losses, each of which held another peice of the puzzle. To truly understand how to reverse a problem you must first see what is causing the problem. With regards to the honey bee we had to determine a laundry list of problems which meant watching colonies die. Here are my experiences and how I will deal with them. In one way you the reader should consider yourself lucky that I was in the worst case scenario. I have local bees that cannot survive the first fall if not treated for mites while I was reading that the typical colony does not make it through it's second winter if left untreated! This article is a combination of many I have written in the past the difference is that it wraps everything I have learned into a neat 'Master Plan". As always I hope this helps you in one way or another!

“Regression Explained”

First off there are some confusing terms that have to be explained:

Small cell: 4.9 mm cells mass stamped on a sheet of artificial wax placed in a hive to guide the bees as to what cell size to build.

Natural Cell: Simply put no artificial foundation is added the bees are free to construct a nest as they see fit.

Regression: The method of forcing a colony to build a smaller cell size. This word falls into two categories forced regression and natural regression that why it is confusing.

Forced Regression:  This method involves using artificial wax foundation sheets imprinted with a 4.9 mm cell size they are put on every frame of the hive. This is a fast way and usually involves culling and reinstallation of sheets of foundation several times before the desired environment is reached.

Natural Regression: This method uses no artificial foundation instead the bees are allowed to build the nest however they wish it to be. Bees that were raised on artificial foundation usually build cells somewhere between what is natural 4,9 mm or smaller and 5.5 mm. The bees are allowed to continue the season the way they wish. In the spring the colony is shaken into a new hive and the old nest is harvested. The difference between the two regressions is that the bees are free to decide what cell sizes are needed and where they are located as in the wild. No artificial foundation is added

First off let’s clarify what is meant by regression. Regression is a term coined by Dee and Ed Lusby Langstroth hive users. These beekeepers use artificial foundation sized at 4.9 mm cells, this means if you measure the width of 10 brood cells (cell wall to call wall across the middle) it will be 4.9 cm divide by 10 and you come up with 4.9 mm as a single cell width. The reason for the need to “regress the colonies down to 4.9 mm foundation comes from just the opposite. In the early 1900 man decided that we could enlarge the honey bees thus enlarge the honey yield per colony. Some comb measurements were taken and the 5.5 + foundation was born.

All of the above mentioned terms and methods were in response to the Varroa Mite. Everything was going fine in the honey industry until the dreaded Varroa Destructor Mite showed up in bee hives everywhere. The honey producing industry was nearly wiped out as it was late in the game that scientists realized the damage this little parasite was causing. Pesticide companies came to the rescue marketing insecticides to be used in the hive to control the pest. Then the second catastrophe hit when beekeepers realized the pesticides were not working!!! What happened? The little pest had built up a resistance to the pesticide. The chemical companies went back to the drawing board to invent a stronger pesticide.

Meanwhile back on the Lusby Farm something was being noticed, bees that were on smaller cells were surviving with the mites somehow, but how and why? Not being scientists and not really having the means or desire to investigate further they made a foundation mill and filled their hives with what they coined “Small cell foundation” a term that will come to confuse beek all over the world. Well they had success and declared small cell foundation the silver bullet. Bee equipment distributors quickly jumped on the band wagon and marketed the product and everyone jumped on it.

The Lusby’s quickly became proponents of “Organic” beekeeping Dee Lusby can be found moderating a Yahoo organic beekeepers list where if you even mention adding anything that does not naturally occur in the beehive you are quickly reprimanded and shunned from the community, OH! Wait, artificial foundation is the exception here and this is where the camps split.

The Lusby’s wallowing in the praise of their discovery followed by hundreds of beekeepers desperate for the silver bullet cure failed to follow their wonderful discovery scientifically to the end. Well one Beekeeper did Dennis Murrell decided to finish what the Lusby’s stubbornly refused to do. Dennis discovered that small cells were an integral part of the survival of the colony. He also discovered that it was not just 4.9mm cell sizes that played important roles but a variety of cell sizes determined by the colony to fit colony needs. Allowing bees to build nests free of obstructions yielded a colony that could devote maximum resources to areas needed when needed! He also noted that the smaller cells were at the core of the brood nest and that all bees allowed to manage their own colonies cleaned that core brood nest at crucial times of the year that were conducive to colony survival.

Compared to:

A colony that needs a variety of cell sizes but is forced to work with or rework artificial foundation is wasting time and resources which is causing stress on the colony. Additional stressors are exactly what the colony does not need when it must deal with mites.

In conclusion we owe Dee and Ed Lusby thanks for stumbling on the smaller cell theory and the AHB for showing them it! We also owe Dennis Murrell who had the foresight to finish the work. The bottom line is weather you choose to force Mother Nature or work with her! It is plainly clear through my bias in writing which way I intend to go!

“Definition of Sustainable”

My definition of sustainable is a colony that survives with mites without any treatments as long as there is no significant event which causes the host parasite relationship to tip in favor of the mite. By monitoring the natural daily mite fall we can see that such an event has occurred by a significant rise in the number of mites naturally falling. We can also determine that the bees have established a natural nest by measuring the cell size each spring as the old nest is shook into an empty hive. A variety of smaller cells in the 4mm range combined with the bee’s ability to coexist with the mite without treatments is an indicator that a natural nest has been established and a sustainable condition exists. At this point a program to breed from survivor stock should be implemented. 

“Natural way to a Natural Nest”

Getting back to a natural sustainable state of affairs will require some work and time. We will not undo 150 years of negative influence overnight. The good news is that we are not too late; we know this by observing bees building comb when there is no (1) foundation present. When bees are allowed to build a nest with no obstructions they always build smaller cells than the foundation they were previously on. What does this tell us? First they are not predisposed to build the cell size WE want and second they want smaller cells.

Why do the bees want smaller cells? We may never know all the reasons but we do know that smaller cell size directly impacts the bee’s ability to handle the Varroa Destructor Mite. We also now know that bees build different size cells for different purposes. We also know a natural nest is less conducive to large mite populations and can survive mites without pesticides and a nest built on foundation is conducive to large mite populations and cannot survive such an infestation!

Great now that you are convinced that a natural nest is the way to go we are going to tell you how to get there!

“The Plan”

Start with removing the foundation from the picture to allow the bees to build a nest from scratch. You must start with a clean hive, it does not matter which one you use but I will tell you Abbey Warre and TBH are much more conducive to natural nests than a Langstroth is. It is a good idea to use some sort of (2) starter strip. Yes starter strips are strips of foundation, this is an acceptable place to put them because bees typically store honey over brood, the only mistake you could make would be to put small cell starter strips there! Why because that’s not where they want small cells and will have to rework it anyway you just stressed your bees’ right from the start,

Now add bees, it does not matter where they are from and a feeder and let them build the nest the way they want. Here you will encounter the second problem bees straight off foundation seldom build a natural nest they tend to build something in between. What does this mean for you, you will need to continue to use a good mite (3) monitoring method throughout the season coupled with a good (4) IPM program consisting of all natural methods FGMO, sugar dusting and if necessary drone comb culling. A good over wintering method designed for your particular climate/region and your colonies should make it through winter. Fondant should be added to any over wintering plan as it can only help never hurt. A Warre quilt box type roof should also be incorporated into every hive design as it is the closest thing to a natural cavity roof and it is very conducive to managing moisture! Now that you have done everything in your power to set the colony up for success it is time to tuck them in for the winter!

You see the first bees flying in spring, Congratulations!  You made it through the winter.

"Spring Management for Establishing Sustainability"

Next Step: (5) The Shake down

Knowing the bees will build something between what they were just on and natural can be used to our advantage in several ways. To perform a total shake down into a new TBH you will want to smoke the bees, we want them to take as much nectar as they can with them to the new hive. Set up an empty colony next to the one your shaking down. Harvest all remaining capped honey into a clean bucket with a lid. When you get to the brood nest find the queen and cage or isolate her to prevent hurting her. Cut out the remaining sections of capped brood (keep a section of drone brood. Place the brood comb (6) upside down in the (6) rear of the hive you may push sticks in it to form braces to hold it upright. Start shaking the remaining bees into the new hive one comb at a time. Preserve the order of the combs you place back in the old hive body for future study!!!! When you are done you may hang the queen cage like a new installation or just release her. The object is to get all the old comb out and start new so the bees build a natural nest it may take several seasons.

           The advantages mentioned earlier come in the breaking of the brood cycle. Even though you add existing brood the queen has to wait for new comb to be built before she can resume laying which in turn breaks the mite’s reproductive cycle. Constantly having clean fresh wax in the colony is not only conducive to colony health it yields more wax to make other hive products from increasing your sideline income. Most important it allows the bees to control the colony making the need for chemicals a thing of the past and sustainability a reality.

“Monitoring progress”

Take all the comb back to wherever you work be sure to have the brood nest empty and in order if possible. First crush the harvested honey comb and feed the honey back to the colony via baggie feeders.

Next measure the cell sizes throughout the colony and record results. (I have a Power Point presentation on how to measure cell size.) Render all the wax and save it for future starter strips. Monitor the colony for mite drop and record your findings, remember any peak in the natural fall signifies a stressor that needs to be treated. Another good sign worth mentioning is observing larva on the landing board or bees flying away with larva, This is a good indicator of hygienic behavior. They are detecting the mite or disease infected larva and uncapping them to be disposed of outside the colony before they become contagious.

“The Goal”

By keeping good notes you should see the natural mite fall stabilize to a point where you eventually need no treatments at all. This does not mean that monitoring mites can stop any number of stressors can come along and throw the bee’s ability to manage the host parasite relationship back in favor of the mite but it should be nothing a spot treatment can’t handle.

Along with the balance of mite and bee population we hope to see a variety of cell sizes to include 4.9 and smaller, looking for a concentration of the smallest cells low on the first few brood combs nearest the entrance to confirm the existence of a core brood nest. The above process will need to be repeated season after season until the goal is reached.

“Sustainability”

We can say we have reached a sustainable state once we have bread from the survivor stock we have worked so hard to get. As we progress season after season there will be those colonies that for some reason or another just don’t make it. This is not failure this is natural selection at work and we want the survivors to breed from!

Good Luck

1. Foundation= wax sheets imprinted with a specific cell size.
2. Starter strip= small strip or bead of wax on the top bar to guide comb building.
3. Monitoring method= described in more detail in FAQ section of this site.
4. IPM integrated pest management also described in more detail on this site.
5. Shake down = method of forming a new colony from an existing one.
6. Placing comb this way prevents the queen from laying more eggs in it so it can be removed from the colony after the brood hatches out.

Works Cited

The Lusby’s writings in the POV section of www.beesource.com

Dennis Murrell’s web site http://bwrangler.com/index.html

Abbe Warre Hives : www.biobees.com

My own experiences and observations

 Updated 23 Jan 09