Keepers hold mid-winter meet, discuss hive health, bear threat
About a dozen beekeepers gathered recently for a mid-winter check-on on the area's hives.
The Central Western Pennsylvania Bee Association held its first meeting of 2019 Wednesday in a small study area at Butler County Community College. The beekeepers traded stories on how well their bees were coping with the cold, plus the countless other maladies that face hives these days. One threat to hives sparked much conversation: honey-hungry bears.
Tim Heeter, association president, briefed the group on various beekeeping lectures and meet-ups he's recently attended, and shared stories of how his own 65 hives are managing the winter. He's now down to about 40 hives, he said. He attributes much of the loss to his own health, not allowing him to perform all his regular maintenance.
That, and an increase in bear attacks.
“We used to lose one hive a year to a bear,” Heeter said. “This year it was eight.”
Heeter operates out of Mercer County, but others present mentioned their own run-ins with furry thieves.
Terry Shanor of Butler shared his own story: He maintained a hive on one family's property, but they wanted it moved. He had taken down the power from the hive's electric fence (a common bear protection tool) overnight, in preparation to move it to another location.
Shanor said he got a call from his contact at the property asking him what to do about the bear they saw tearing into the hive.“Go out there and scream at 'em,” Shanor said. “I'm on my way.”Electric fences, the group agreed, do work to repel bears. One attendee recounted watching a bear approach a fence, touch it and sprint back to the treeline in a blur.Most of the critters that beekeepers in Butler County have to worry about aren't so large.Heeter filled the group in on research indicating progress in the fight against Varroa mites. The mites, a scourge of beekeepers, don't feed on bee hemoglobin, as previously believed. Rather, they eat bees' “fat body” tissue, which Heeter explained as being the bee equivalent to the human liver.The infection makes the host bees all the more likely to contract diseases carried by the mites.Knowing the true mite feeding habits, Heeter said, will hopefully aid beekeeping efforts to best the bugs.He also spoke at length about a beekeeper in South Dakota who built a large, atmosphere-controlled, bee-keeping facility. The facility used a high carbon dioxide environment coupled with 37 degree temperatures to simulate wintering the bees. Mites don't like the combination apparently, so the beekeeper doesn't have to treat his bees for the parasites.Most other hive-tenders in attendance said they had minimal losses so far this winter. The group discussed a few topics they'd like to focus on during meetings, such as small-hive beetles, hive fences and brewing mead.The club typically meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. It holds its meetings in Room 202 of the science building at BC3 unless scheduled otherwise.
