Local Beekeepers Buzz About "The Bees' Needs" To Fight Hive Losses

Honeybee colonies around the world are collapsing, and beehives in Half Moon Bay are not immune to the phenomena known as Colony Collapse Disorder, where droves of bees are disappearing from their hives.

Half Moon Bay beekeepers Gary Butler and his wife Teri lost half of their hives this past year. According to Gary, who first started beekeeping at the age of 12, the Butlers' experience was similar to many of the other beekeepers in the area.

The couple tended more than 10 hives last year. Now they only have three. In the past, they would harvest up to 60 gallons of honey, but this year they only have 20 gallons.

Last year was particularly bad for many beekeepers with loss rates averaging about 50 percent, said Richard Baxter, president of The Beekeepers Guild of San Mateo County.

“That is a very significant loss,” he said.

Baxter started over 30 colonies of bees last spring, and said recently that he is now done to just eight colonies. “At the peak of the season I had 40 or more hives,” said  Baxter, who keeps his bees on host properties in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. “I expect to have 100 plus hives by springtime.”

Bill and Ann Snyders, second-generation beekeepers who tend multiple hives in La Honda and sell their organic Snyders Honey at farmers' markets, health food stores and gourmet food shops in the Bay Area, also experienced Colony Collapse Disorder this past year and “lost up to 40 percent of our hives,” said Ann Snyders.

Why the sudden bee deficit?

Recent scientific studies have suggested that neonicotinoid pesticides -- used on crops since the 1990s around the world -- are one of the potential causes of Colony Collapse Disorder. While the research has been inconclusive to date, some scientists believe that these types of pesticides are causing large numbers of honeybees and bumblebees to get sick and die from pathogens they would have been immune to had the bees not been exposed to this type of pesticides in the first place.

“The neonicotinoid pesticides have been linked to making the bees weaker, and more susceptible to diseases like Nosema Ceranae virus,” said Gary Butler, who is also the owner of when not in his bee suit and tending to his hives. “The bees are so critical to our food supply and pollination.”

Researchers at the University of Illinois also recently found that four species of North American bumblebees have been on the decline. The cause for this decline has been linked to the Nosema bombi fungus that has infected all four species.

The Snyders also cite Nosema Ceranae as one of the possible causes of their bee loss. “This would only be guessing since this is still being researched by top universities in the country,” said Ann Snyders.

Baxter said that he has heard Colony Collapse Disorder blamed on everything “from cell phones to pesticides, so I do my best to avoid agendas and concentrate on data and results,” he said. “There is no doubt that pesticides have an impact, and we need to be vigilant and cautious about how, when and where they are used. Natural methods of controlling pests should be our first line of defense.”

Figuring out the exact cause of the honeybee and bumblebee declines may be crucial for beekeepers and farmers.

For starters, banning hive-killing neonicotinoids pesticides like some European countries have already done is something that many local beekeepers like the Snyders and Butlers think the United States should do, too.

Indeed, there are a multitude of problems affecting bees.

“Most beekeepers agree that there is a combination of issues that are causing the collapse of our colonies,” said Baxter, who listed disease, nutrition and pesticides as factors, along with Varroa mites (Varroa Destructor) as the "biggest" issue that bees are facing.

Introduced from Europe in the 1980s, Varroa is a parasitic mite, which feeds on the bees’ hemoglobin, according to Baxter.

"Last year was particularly hard for bees due to the cool wet spring, which kept the bees from flying to bring in nectar and pollen to feed the hive," he said. "Consequently, we saw a lot of starvation.”

Gary and Teri Butler also blame Varroa mites for the decline.

The control of mites is something the Butlers deal with on a regular basis when it comes to managing their bee hives, which they keep in the backyard of Curley and Red’s on Highway 92.

But in addition to controlling the mites problem and losing the bulk of their hives from Colony Collapse Disorder, some other challenges the Butlers face in keeping their hives alive include “good, strong, productive queens and finding the proper time to service the hives,” said Gary. “They need to be checked every two to three weeks for new brood, egg laying and pollen patterns to know that the queen is still being productive.”

Despite the challenges, the Butlers are committed to their hobby and the health of their bees. Gary enjoys “watching bees work” and “the challenge of keeping them alive and the joy of the harvest,” he said.

Teri likes “knowing how all the ‘girls’ work together and the social network of the hive,” she said. “I have enjoyed picking up swarms from all over the Coastside. The bees are just looking for a new home as their current one is full, and we bring a nuc box to take them back to our hives.”

They attribute the Coast’s great mix of flowers for the great flavor of their honey. 

“Since we raise our bees in neighborhoods, they go from weeds to flowers to whatever is blooming within a three-mile radius,” Gary said. “Once the bees find a good area, they can come back to the hives and tell the other bees how to get to the best pollen and nectar." 

The best benefit for the bees and for the humans that eat the honey, Gary says, are the "natural immunities" passed on to the honey from what he says is a diverse group of local pollens.

Every three weeks the couple inspects a hive to monitor the health and productivity, looking for “brood pattern and if the queen is still in the hive,” Gary said. “We also look for nectar, pollen intake, honey amount in the supers [the physical frame of the hive itself], and mite level.”

With spring fast approaching, there’s lots of prep time getting all the boxes from last year clean and ready.

“This is a very important time,” said Gary. “We must always keep up with the needed increases of more boxes for the bees," and added that the hives are growing by 2,000 bees a day this time of the year.

"To keep them from swarming we must be very careful of meeting all their needs and show them that collecting honey is what we want them to do,” he said.

Gary’s trick to getting honey from the frames inside the hive is uncapping the frames of honey and extracting. He also gives “the bees a few frames of already drawn comb with a little honey in them so they are excited about adding more,” he said. “Right now we use a heated capping knife and a hand crank extractor. It can be a big, messy job but it is lots of fun.  We also end up with many pounds of wonderful wax that we will eventually make candles and soap with.”

Because of beekeepers like Gary and Teri Butler, who are paying more attention to bees in the environment and becoming more tuned in to their charges' plight, the problem with Colony Collapse Disorder could have the potential to dissipate.

Beekeepers  “are paying a lot of attention to mites and various methods of controlling them,” said Baxter. “We are constantly working together and sharing information on what is working. It is important to recognize that there is no panacea. There are things like the weather we simply can’t control. We have good years and we have bad years.”

If there’s one thing Gary has learned from his years of beekeeping, it’s that “we must be very much in tune with the bees' needs,” he said. “Half Moon Bay has a great honey flow for most of the year because the eucalyptus trees bloom in the winter. Our goal is to develop a strain that is a good Coastside bee, one that likes the weather, and can thrive in our cooler temperatures.  With time we hope to develop a resistance to mites and Nosema. By not treating the bees with chemicals, we let the strongest strains survive.”

The Butlers' most favorite way to eat honey is to put a dollop on top of their yogurt and granola. “Also, toasting bread with some blue cheese crumbles and melted honey,” said Teri. “It doesn't look very pretty, but it tastes great.”