Spring, Thinking, and Honeybees

Silver maple buds, Acer saccharinum

Honeybees (Apis mellifera ) are not native to the Americas, they have been imported from Europe around 1640 . Since then, the honeybee known by most of us is a part of our environment, and no one thinks twice about it. Until recently, beekeeping in the United States was "simple" and straight forward: get bees in form of package or catching a swarm, put them in a hive and let them be (no punt intended!).

However, in the last 20-25 years our honeybees seem to " demand" a lot of care and strategies just to stay alive. Some "older" beekeepers at my Beekeepers' Club always talk about the days when they had bees growing up and that their hives were located in a spot on their family land that was unused by farming. Never looking at them, more than twice a season! Once in the Spring to make sure they were alive (if not they were looking for a swarm on a tree) and then at harvest, in the Fall! They find beekeeping very tedious, discouraging and expansive. Many quit, or have only a couple of hives. I feel their pain, having lost colonies myself...

I was pondering one afternoon, after  having learned the faith of my hives (2/6 alive). Why? I started to think about diversity and genetics, and the lack of, in the last 250 years! Yes, that's right the queen producers ( maybe 75 or 100 producers) mostly living in warm climate to help their queens mate early, in order for us, beekeepers of temperate places to have bees in April after winter, were the biological  ancestors of the first comers. Of course those queens were and are chosen for their good temperament, fertility, and health. However the pool of genes is shrinking; drones are all related, and their population is smaller.  No new "blood" has been added to the general population of honeybees. In addition, the Varroa mites made its entrance to our world, weakening our honeybee population further.

I was thinking that to improve genetic diversity around my location , I should try to get a different type of bee. Even though the Italian bees are the most common, and loved in the US, others exist. But for some strange reasons are not well "promoted".

After ample reflection, I decided to purchase a 3 pound package of Russian honeybees that I will place by itself on a beautiful land restored with native plants. They will come by mail!
I also ordered 4 packages of MN Hygienic bees developed by Dr. Marla Spivak at the University of Minnesota.  For those, we will drive to Stillwater, MN  to pick them up. We will then have 5 packages to hive in April!