February 2025 – Portland Urban Beekeepers

Dead Bees Don’t Make Honey

with Theresa Martin

Theresa Martin comes to us from Williamsburg, Kentucky. She is a Cornell University Master Beekeeper, author, and founder of Little Wolf Nature Preserve. With six years of experience managing 20–25 colonies, she has achieved high survival rates and strong production by following the model of how bees survive in the wild, employing integrated pest management, and providing high support yet low intervention. Theresa serves as President of the Whitley County Beekeepers Association and sits on the Board of Directors for the Kentucky State Beekeepers Association. Previously, she worked in IT and operations management at Fidelity Investments and Procter & Gamble.

link to recording (coming shortly)

Resources

Mite Numbers Lower in Dispersed Colonies
Nolan, M.P. IV & Delaplane, K.S. (2017). Distance between honey bee Apis mellifera colonies regulates populations of Varroa destructor at a landscape scale.
Apidologie 48: 8-16.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13592-016-0443-9

Winter Management Hesbach, W. (2016, Oct 21).
https://www.beeculture.com/winter-management/

Condensing Colony Hesbach, W.
https://bluetoad.com/publication/?i=646365&article id=3579902&view=articleBrowser

Darwinian Black Box
Blacquière, T., Boot, W., Calis, J. et al. (2019).
Darwinian black box selection for resistance to settled invasive Varroa destructor parasites in honey bees. Biol Invasions 21, 2519-2528.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-019-02001-0#citeas

Varroa IMP Practices Compared
Cameron J Jack, James D Ellis, Integrated Pest Management Control of Varroa destructor (Acari: Varroidae), the Most Damaging Pest of (Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae)Colonies, Journal of Insect Science, Volume 21, Issue 5, September 2021, 6,
https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab058

BIP Best Management Practices Kulhanek, K. et al. (2021). Survey-derived best management practices for backyard beekeepers improve colony health and reduce mortality
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7810333/

The Lives of Bees – The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild by Thomas D. Seeley
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691166766/the-lives-of-bees

Bee Informed Partnership
www.beeinformed.org

Honey Bee Health Coalition
https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/

Bee Immune Systems
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/sick-bees-part-3-the-bee-immune-system/

Propolis Envelope
Cynthia R L Hodges, C. R. et al. (2019, April). Textured Hive Interiors Increase Honey Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Propolis-Hoarding Behavior, Journal of Economic Entomology,
Volume 112, Issue 2, April 2019, Pages 986-990,
https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toy363

Hive Spacing
Dynes, T.L., Berry J.A., Delaplane K.S., Brosi, B.J., & de Roode, J.C. (2019). Reduced density and visually complex apiaries reduce parasite load and promote honey production and overwintering survival in honey bees. PLoS ONE 14(5): e0216286
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0216286

Management Practices Improves Survival and Productivity
Underwood, R.M., Lawrence, B.L., Turley, N.E. et al. A longitudinal experiment demonstrates that honey bee colonies managed
organically are as healthy and productive as those managed conventionally. Sci Rep 13, 6072 (2023).
ps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32824-w

Swarming Benefits, Hive Size
Loftus JC, Smith ML, Seeley TD. (2016, Mar 11). How Honey Bee Colonies Survive in the Wild: Testing the Importance of Small Nests and Frequent Swarming.
PLoS One. 11(3):e0150362. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0150362.
PMID: 26968000; PMCID: PMC4788434.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4788434/?fbclid=IwAR2A2x-3usF2t8hgWmU5aRgg-DQd57eHm86xVA68t-B10m2v4REEpseotro

Broodminder T2SM Temperature Sensor
https://broodminder.com/products/broodminder-t2-internal-hive-monitor

Honey Better for Bees than Syrup
Bugarova V, Godocikova J, Bucekova M, Brodschneider R, Majtan J. (2021). Effects of the Carbohydrate Sources Nectar, Sucrose and Invert Sugar on Antibacterial Activity of Honey and Bee-Processed Syrups. Antibiotics. 10(8):985.
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6382/10/8/985

Swarm Cell Eggs Larger
Yu L, Shi X, He X, Zeng Z, Yan W, Wu X. (2022 May 23). High-Quality Queens Produce High-Quality Offspring Queens. Insects,
13(5):486. doi:10.3390/insects13050486. PMID: 35621820; PMCID: PMC9146148.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9146148/

February Gather & Blather!

February 2025 Presentation