Management by beekeepers is of utmost importance for the health and survival of honey bee colonies. Beekeeping management practices vary from low to high intervention regarding the use of chemicals, hive manipulations, and supplemental feeding of colonies. In this study, we use quantitative data from the Bee Informed Partnership’s national survey to investigate drivers of management practices among beekeepers in the United States. This is the first study to quantitatively examine these variables to objectively describe the management practices among different groups of beekeepers in the United States. We hypothesized that management practices and goals among beekeepers are different based on the beekeeper’s philosophy (as determined by their willingness to use chemicals to control pests and pathogens) and the size of the beekeeping operation. Using a multiple factor analysis, we determined that beekeepers use a continuum of management practices. However, we found that beekeepers’ willingness to use in-hive chemicals and the number of colonies in their operation are non-randomly associated with other aspects of beekeeping management practices. Specifically, the size of the beekeeping operation was associated with beekeepers’ choices of in-hive chemicals, while beekeepers’ philosophy was most strongly associated with choices of in-hive chemicals and beekeeping goals. Our results will facilitate the development of decision-making tools for beekeepers to choose management practices that are appropriate for the size of their operations and their beekeeping philosophy.

In temperate climates, honey bees rely on stored carbohydrates to sustain them throughout the winter. In nature, honey serves as the bees’ source of carbohydrates, but when managed, beekeepers often harvest honey and replace it with cheaper, artificial feed. The effects of alternative carbohydrate sources on colony survival, strength, and individual bee metabolic health are poorly understood. We assessed the impacts of carbohydrate diets (honey, sucrose syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, and invert syrup) on colony winter survival, population size, and worker bee nutritional state (i.e., fat content and gene expression of overwintered bees and emerging callow bees). We observed a nonsignificant trend for greater survival and larger adult population size among colonies overwintered on honey compared to the artificial feeds, with colonies fed high-fructose corn syrup performing particularly poorly. These trends were mirrored in individual bee physiology, with bees from colonies fed honey having significantly larger fat bodies than those from colonies fed high-fructose corn syrup. For bees fed honey or sucrose, we also observed gene expression profiles consistent with a higher nutritional state, associated with physiologically younger individuals. That is, there was significantly higher expression of vitellogenin and insulin-like peptide 2 and lower expression of insulin-like peptide 1 and juvenile hormone acid methyltransferase in the brains of bees that consumed honey or sucrose syrup relative to those that consumed invert syrup or high-fructose corn syrup. These findings further our understanding of the physiological implications of carbohydrate nutrition in honey bees and have applied implications for colony management.

Controlling populations of varroa mites is crucial for the survival of the beekeeping industry. Many treatments exist, and all are designed to kill mites on adult bees. Because the majority of mites are found under capped brood, most treatments are designed to deliver active ingredients over an extended period to control mites on adult bees, as developing bees and mites emerge. In this study, a 17-h application of 50% formic acid effectively killed mites in capped worker brood and on adult bees without harming queens or uncapped brood. Neither acetic acid nor a combined treatment of formic and acetic acids applied to the West Virginia formic acid fumigator was as effective as formic acid alone in controlling varroa mites. In addition, none of the treatments tested in late summer had an effect on the late-season prevalence of deformed wing virus. The short-term formic acid treatment killed > 60% of varroa mites in capped worker brood; thus, it is a promising tool for beekeepers, especially when such treatments are necessary during the nectar flow.

Honey bee colony management is critical to mitigating the negative effects of biotic and abiotic stressors. However, there is significant variation in the practices implemented by beekeepers, which results in varying management systems. This longitudinal study incorporated a systems approach to experimentally test the role of three representative beekeeping management systems (conventional, organic, and chemical-free) on the health and productivity of stationary honey-producing colonies over 3 years. We found that the survival rates for colonies in the conventional and organic management systems were equivalent, but around 2.8 times greater than the survival under chemical-free management. Honey production was also similar, with 102% and 119% more honey produced in conventional and organic management systems, respectively, than in the chemical-free management system. We also report significant differences in biomarkers of health including pathogen levels (DWV, IAPV,Vairimorpha apis,Vairimorpha ceranae) and gene expression (def-1,hym,nkd,vg). Our results experimentally demonstrate that beekeeping management practices are key drivers of survival and productivity of managed honey bee colonies. More importantly, we found that the organic management system—which uses organic-approved chemicals for mite control—supports healthy and productive colonies, and can be incorporated as a sustainable approach for stationary honey-producing beekeeping operations.

Annual losses of honey bee colonies are high in the United States, with losses often attributed to the effects of the ectoparasitic mite, Varroa destructor, and its associated viruses (e.g., Deformed Wing Virus, DWV). In the spring, beekeepers rely on package bees to replace lost colonies. However, these packages often come with high levels of mites and are treated with miticides upon installation. Oxalic acid (OA) is a popular miticide used in spring, but little is known about its long-term efficacy for mite control. On the other hand, natural behavior that helps with mite control is swarming, which results in a break in the production of brood in a colony. In this study, we investigated the effect of spring OA sublimation and summer swarming on colony health and productivity. We found that OA sublimation is an effective method to increase mite drop from the colony in the first three days after treatment. However, mite populations recovered quickly leading to high mite levels in the fall for colonies that did not swarm during the summer. OA applications had a marginally significant negative effect on honey yield. Mid-season swarming was correlated with lower levels of Varroa mites suggesting that implementing a brood break in the middle of the summer could play an important role in reducing mite populations for colonies originating from packages. However, the combination of OA applications to packages in the spring and summer brood break had a significant effect on reducing mite levels for colonies entering the winter. We conclude that treating packages with OA in the spring in combination with summer mite treatments are powerful tools for beekeepers to keep colonies with lower pest loads entering the winter.