Weather Permitting…

Unlike the favorable conditions found in southern latitudes, Pacific Northwest weather has its own set of unique queen-breeding restrictions: Cool, wet, coastal airflow causes unstable maritime conditions that persist well into late spring. The result is both good news and bad news…

The Bad news is: the challenge of producing predictably well-mated queens early in the season prevents us from offering spring queens.
The Good news is: by waiting for the weather to stabilize, and holding our queens until they are on capped brood prior to shipping, you can be confident of the highest possible success when introducing our chemical free, disease and pathogen resistant stock.
Because of its restricted availability, incorporating OWA stock requires a paradigm shift from the standard beekeeping model of acquiring spring packages, to a managerial plan that includes summer splits and fall re-queening.

WE OFFER BREEDER QUEENS…

GRAFTED FROM STOCK THAT MEET THESE REQUIREMENTS:
       Hygienic Behavior: Minimum of 95% removal of freeze-killed brood in 24 hours
This trait will reduce or eliminate Chalkbrood; AFB; and varroa mite levels w/o the use of chemical treatments
Varroa Mite Resistance as:
VSH trait is determined by Alcohol Wash Assay during spring brood build-up and fall peak mite infestation.
Grooming Behavior is determined by Alcohol Wash Assay during the winter broodless period
Nosema Tolerance:  Demonstrate vigor with high exposure: UNTREATED.
Our selection process is verified by in-house microscopic testing and USDA Laboratory reports.
Gentleness:
Swarming Behavior:
Not prone to swarm
Heavy pollen collectors
Excellent Honey producers;
Longevity:
Untreated  survivability

 

 

OWA BREEDER QUEEN SELECTION CRITERIA:
We graft from untreated colonies whose queens have been overwintered for a minimum of one season, and have passed our strict standards for these following traits:
Hygienic Behavior: Minimum of 95% removal of freeze-killed brood in 24 hours
This trait will reduce or eliminate Chalkbrood; AFB; and varroa mite levels w/o the use of chemical treatments
Varroa Mite Resistance:
VSH trait is determined by Alcohol Wash Assay during spring brood build-up and fall peak mite infestation.
Grooming Behavior is determined by Alcohol Wash Assay during the winter broodless period
Demonstrate vigor with high exposure: UNTREATED.
Our selection process is verified by in-house microscopic testing and USDA Laboratory reports.
Excellent Honey producers;
Heavy pollen collectors
Swarming Behavior:
Not prone to swarm
Longevity 

VSH Definition

Varroa sensitive hygiene (VSH) is a behavioral trait of honey bees (Apis mellifera) in which bees detect and remove bee pupae that are infested by the parasitic mite Varroa destructor. V. destructor is considered to be the most dangerous pest problem for honey bees worldwide. VSH activity results in significant resistance to the mites.

Development
Bees with the trait were initially bred by the USDA Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Laboratory in Baton Rouge, LA from colonies in which mite populations grew only slowly.[1]
The factor causing slow mite population growth was found to be heritable.[2] The rate of mite population growth was found to be correlated with the reproductive rates of mites,[1] resulting in naming the factor “suppressed mite reproduction” (SMR).[3] It was subsequently discovered that the factor is founded on hygienic activity of adult bees,[4][5] so SMR was renamed VSH.[6]
VSH activity results in (1) an abnormally low proportion of mites that produce offspring within the population that remains in capped brood and (2) reduction of the brood infestation rate by greater than 70%. The specifics of how hygienic bees detect mite infested brood currently are unknown.
Cross-breeding
Bees bred to have high levels of VSH tend to keep mite populations below thresholds recommended for treatment with pesticides.[7] Queens from such VSH breeding sources can be allowed to mate freely with non-VSH drones, and the resulting hybrid colonies from these outcrosses will retain lower and variable but generally still useful resistance to V. destructor while retaining desirable beekeeping traits such as honey production.[8]
VSH outcrossed to commercial Italian bees recently have been shown to perform well in migratory crop pollination.
VSH thus is a trait that can be used by breeders to mix with any type of desirable honey bee and is expanding resistance to V. destructor among diverse bee strains. VSH breeding material has been available through commercial sources since 2001.
References
  1. Harbo, J., and R. Hoopingarner. 1997. Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in the United States that express resistance to Varroa jacobsoni (Mesostigmata: Varroidae). Journal of Economic Entomology 90: 893-898.
  2. Harbo, J., and J. Harris. 1999. Heritability in honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) of characteristics associated with resistance to Varroa jacobsoni (Mesostigmata: Varroidae). Journal of Economic Entomology 92: 261-265.
  3. Harbo, J., and J. Harris. 2002. Suppressing Mite Reproduction: SMR an Update. Bee Culture 130: 46-48.
  4. Harbo, J., and J. Harris. 2005. Suppressed mite reproduction explained by the behavior of adult bees. Journal of Apicultural Research 44: 21-23.
  5. Ibrahim, A. G. Reuter and M. Spivak. 2006. Field trials of honey bee colonies bred for mechanisms of resistance against Varroa destructor. Apidologie 38: 67-76.
  6. Harris, J. 2007. 2007. Bees with Varroa Sensitive Hygiene preferentially remove mite infested pupae aged < five days post capping. Journal of Apicultural Research 46: 134-139.
  7. Ward, K., R. Danka and R. Ward. 2008. Comparative performance of two mite-resistant stocks of honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Alabama Beekeeping Operations. Journal of Economic Entomology 101: 654-659.
  8. Harbo, J., and J. Harris. 2001. Resistance to Varroa destructor (Mesostigmata: Varroidae) when mite-resistant queen honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) were free-mated with unselected drones. Journal of Economic Entomology 94: 1319-1323.

Survivor Bees Of The Olympic Peninsula

Stock Selection Criteria

We graft from untreated colonies whose queens have been overwintered for a minimum of one season, and have passed our strict standards for these following traits:
 
Hygienic Behavior

Minimum of 95% removal of freeze-killed brood in 24 hours

This trait will reduce or eliminate Chalkbrood; AFB; and varroa mite levels w/o the use of chemical treatments

Varroa Mite Resistance

VSH trait is determined by Alcohol Wash Assay during spring brood build-up and fall peak mite infestation.

Grooming Behavior is determined by Alcohol Wash Assay during the winter broodless period

Nosema Tolerance

Demonstrate vigor with high exposure: UNTREATED.

Our selection process is verified by in-house microscopic testing and USDA Laboratory reports.

Hoarding Behavior

Excellent Honey producers

Heavy pollen collectors

Gentleness

No need for gloves

Swarming Behavior

Not prone to swarm

High Degree of Longevity & Solid Brood Patterns

Russian Bee Linked To N. Ceranae Tolerance

http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_no_115=268796

Research Project: Breeding, Genetics, Stock Improvement and Management of Russian Honey Bees for Mite and Small Hive Beetle Control and Pollination
Location: Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Research
Title: Patriline variation of Nosema ceranae levels in Russian and Italian honey bees
Authors
BOURGEOIS, LANIE

RINDERER, THOMAS

Sylvester, H
HOLLOWAY, BETH

Submitted to: Cold Spring Harbor Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract
Publication Acceptance Date: April 8, 2011
Publication Date: May 8, 2011
Citation: Bourgeois, A.L., Rinderer, T.E., Sylvester, H.A., Holloway, B.A. 2011. Patriline variation of Nosema ceranae levels in Russian and Italian honey bees. Cold Spring Harbor Meeting. 17.
Technical Abstract: The microsporidian Nosema ceranae has invaded managed honey bee colonies throughout the world. While the presence of N. ceranae is common, infection levels are highly variable, even among bees within a single colony. The underlying mechanisms driving this variation are not well-understood. The high degree of individual variation within a colony suggests some degree of genetic resistance to N. ceranae infections may exist among managed honey bee colonies. One likely source for this variation stems from the polygamous nature of honey bee queens, producing multiple patrilines within each colony. We investigated the relationship between infection levels of N. ceranae and patriline membership by sampling individual bees from colonies from both Russian and Italian stocks. A total of 720 bees were collected from 5 Russian and 5 Italian colonies. Individual bees were tested for N. ceranae infection levels using qPCR, and were genotyped to determine patriline membership. Levels of N. ceranae varied significantly at the stock level (Russian: 3.68 x 106 ± 1.88 x 106 nosema/bee and Italian: 9.14 x 106 ± 4.62 x 106 nosema/bee; P = 0.008) and at the colony level for both Russian (P = 0.002) and Italian (P = 0.003) bees. Patriline-based variance was evident among only the Russian bees (P = 0.024). There was substantial variation in N. ceranae levels among Italian bees, ranging from 0 to 2.12 x 109 nosema/bee, however this variation was not associated with patriline membership (P = 0.742). The variance in N. ceranae infection among Russian honey bee patrilines demonstrates a genetic basis for resistance to N. ceranae infection which conforms to predictions of models that relate patriline variance and abundance to disease resistance in honey bees. This difference between Russian and Italian honey bees may derive from Italian honey bees having only a short history of exposure to N. ceranae while Russian honey bees may have had 150 years of exposure.
Last Modified: 02/05/2012

Pollen Hoarding – Well Fed Honey Bees Fight off Harmful Effects of Parasite

Bee researcher Ramesh Sagili inspects a European honey bee in a carrot seed field near Madras, Ore. Photo by Lynn Ketchum
 CORVALLIS, Ore. –Well-nourished honey bees are better at fighting off a serious microscopic parasite that weakens their immune systems and threatens the health of their colonies, according to a new study from Oregon State University.

The finding, published recently in the Journal of Insect Physiology, suggests that giving honey bees access to a greater quantity and variety of pollen—their only source of protein—could make them more resilient against parasites and other pests, and help to stem worrisome declines in bee populations.

Read more

Peninsula Daily News: 3 Generations Of Beekeepers

PENINSULA DAILY NEWS     

July 7, 2010
Three generations of beekeepers
Brandon Harvey, right, hands off a frame of bees and honey to his grandfather, Dan, while pulling honey off one hive on state Highway 112 on
Saturday.
Brandon’s father, Shane, is in the background.
Dan Harvey estimated they pulled off about 120 pounds of honey during this one trip.
The Harveys are shown working bees bare-handed but they are properly
equipped and experienced beekeepers.
photo credit: Donna Barr for the Peninsula Daily News

OWA Russian Honeybee History

History of OWA Russian Honeybees

The Olympic Wilderness Apiary has been evaluating and including USDA Primorsky Russian honey bee genetics into our breeder selection program since they first became available in 2000.   We began by incorporating early releases from Bernard Apiaries, and have progressively included the best available stock from Charlie Harper; Glenn Apiaries; Bob Brachmann; Carl Webb; Steve Coy and Austin Smith.
Russian honeybees are known for their tracheal and varroa mite resistance. Our hardy Russian hybrids also have a history of exposure and adaptation to nosema ceranae. They  maintain conservative winter clusters and require early and aggressive swarm-control management during their characteristic explosive spring-buildup when nectar and pollen become available.
More about the characteristic mechanisms of Russian honeybee resistance can be viewed here>

Next Up , The Survivors Part Two Of Two

NEXT UP, THE SURVIVORS

Part two of two parts.  by M.E.A. McNeil

(Excerpted from American Bee Journal ~ April 2009 pp 355 – 356)
In 1997, Dan and Judy Harvey heard that most feral bees were wiped out by varroa
mites, and they went looking for survivors. Their Olympic Wilderness Apiary10 is located
in the temperate rain forest of the Northwestern Olympic Peninsula in WashingtonState.
They put out the word to loggers, and soon were collecting swarms. “We just assumed
they had some resistance,” he said. “We didn’t know what we were doing.” It was a steep
learning curve for them, finding out how to evaluate the bees and rear queens. They
came up with a combination of tests, which they still find effective: Erikson’s screen
wash test 11for mites, liquid nitrogen 12 for hygienic behavior and professional lab tests
 for disease. They found a lot of variability and bred from the healthiest bees. In 2000
they began adding USDA genetics, first Russian and later VHS/SMR bees, as well as
semen for tracheal mite resistance from Baton Rouge. The initial aggressiveness of the
 Russian stock was bred down. With no chemicals in the production colonies and an
overall IPM philosophy (antibiotic and organic mite control in mating nucs), handmade
chemical-free cappings wax foundation, and good grooming behavior in the bees
(evidenced by microscope observed bite marks on dead mites), Harvey said the program
worked out well. But in the spring of 2008, a freak weather pattern collided with the arrival
of the microsporidians Nosema ceranae, resulting in the loss of 90% of the carefully bred
colonies. Cold, wet weather persisted for a year, from one summer to the next, causing
pollen shortages and leaving nutritionally distressed bees going into winter and susceptible
to infection. Tests found very high levels of N.ceranae in his apiaries, but none in some feral
populations in the area. Harvey speculated that because microsporidians are common in
 he naturally damp Northwest environment, the feral bees may defend themselves well from
them – after all, he observes, they deal with bears.  J
He remarked that the fungus chalkbrood can be inhibited by probiotic yeasts and molds,
as well as by hygienic behavior. Down but not out, Harvey is breeding the nosema-free feral
 bees with the survivors of the environmental pressures of last year. He thinks that the
advantages must go both ways; the genetics help the surrounding feral bees as well.
Working with bees in trees has led Harvey to conclude that standard hive systems hold
too much moisture. He leaves a 3/8” opening across the back and front of his hive tops.
Observing how high in the tree cavity the nest is naturally built, far from potentially
infectious hive debris, he is experimenting with an added empty 6 5/8sterilized box on the
bottom board. In the spirit of natural selection surfers, the Harvey’s have stayed afloat through
the latest crisis, “greatly encouraged to find ourselves once again in a unique situation.”
Footnotes
10 http://www.wildernessbees.com
11 Erickson, Eric, American Bee Journal,
August 2000
12 http://www.beeculture.com/storycms/
index.cfm?cat=Story&recordID=290
(Excerpted from American Bee Journal ~ April 2009 pp 355 – 356)

In Defense Of “Defensiveness”

Our hardy Feral Survivor Stock genetics are present in all the queen lines we offer.

Although we do consider “gentleness” to be a desirable characteristic in our selection process, we admit that our higher priority is for disease and mite resistance.

It is our philosophy that decades of selection for gentleness and honey production, and the use of synthetic miticides, may have diminished the honeybee’s natural ability to adapt to changing stressors.

While our Wild Survivor Bees may appear at times to be more defensive than other commercially available stock, most of our customers report them to be gentle; quiet on the comb; entirely manageable; and consistently demonstrate unparalleled hardiness in their inherent ability to withstand many of the pathogens affecting honeybees today without the need of harsh chemical treatments.

When working our bees, we recommend that you follow these simple practices:

    • Place your colonies in a sunny location a minimum of 50 yards from frequent human and livestock traffic.
    • At a minimum, use head net and smoke*.  It may also be necessary to also wear a bee suit, gloves.
    • Work your bees on sunny days when the field bees are out foraging whenever possible.

*SIDE NOTE: We usually work our bees without gloves, in half-suits.  Instead of using a smoker, we prefer the convenience of a pint-sized trigger sprayer filled with a mixture of approximately 16 oz of H2O  to one ounce of liquid smoke (available in grocery stores), plus a few drops of lemon grass essential oil.  A light misting when cracking open the colony lid; and an occasional spritz on our hands is very effective.  It hangs easily on a pocket and  we discovered by experience that it is much safer than keeping a smoker going… but that’s a story for another time 🙂

 

Danish Report Verifies Nosema Tolerance Possible

J Invertebr Pathol. 2012 Mar;109(3):297-302. Epub 2012 Jan 20.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22285444

 Survival and immune response of drones of a Nosemosis tolerant honey bee strain towards N. ceranae infections.
Source
Institut für Biology/Zoologie, Molekulare Ökologie, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, 06099 Halle, Germany. qiang.huang@zoologie.uni-halle.de
Abstract
Honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera) have been selected for low level of Nosema in Denmark over decades and Nosema is now rarely found in bee colonies from these breeding lines. We compared the immune response of a selected and an unselected honey bee lineage, taking advantage of the haploid males to study its potential impact on the tolerance toward Nosema ceranae, a novel introduced microsporidian pathogen. After artificial infections of the N. ceranae spores, the lineage selected for Nosema tolerance showed a higher N. ceranae spore load, a lower mortality and an up-regulated immune response. The differences in the response of the innate immune system between the selected and unselected lineage were strongest at day six post infection. In particular genes of the Toll pathway were up-regulated in the selected strain, probably is the main immune pathway involved in N. ceranae infection response. After decades of selective breeding for Nosema tolerance in the Danish strain, it appears these bees are tolerant to N. ceranae infections.
Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PMID:
22285444
[PubMed – in process]

Bees Do It

Will the Olympic Peninsula’s hardy honeybees save the world from colony collapse?

The last time we checked with Seattle mayor-turned-beekeeper Wes Uhlman, his two hives on Queen Anne Hill were doing fine. It was three years ago, and all across farm country a mysterious syndrome called colony collapse disorder was making bees abandon their doomed hives, threatening an agricultural catastrophe. But CCD hadn’t slammed Uhlman or his fellow local backyard beekeepers as severely as others. That made him suspect that Big Ag pesticides—not a big factor on Queen Anne—were the cause.

That was then. Now bees are suffering even here. This spring, one of Uhlman’s two hives was kaput and the other ailing.

Salvation could come from the Olympic Peninsula. There, at the Olympic Wilderness Apiary—just west of the town of Joyce—Dan and Judy Harvey produce queen bees for other keepers. For years the Harveys have employed herbal supplements, good nutrition, and selective breeding, minus conventional chemical treatments, to produce bees resistant to varroa mites, a parasite widely blamed for colony collapse. But in 2007 a fungus called Nosema ceranae started ravaging the Harveys’ hives. They lost 80 to 90 percent of their bees in 2008, and the same again in 2009.

But they noticed that wild colonies in the deep woods were faring better. These colonies—descended from bees that loggers and farmers ordered from Sears Roebuck in the 1920s and ’30s—had evolved to thrive in the soggy, fungus-ridden Olympic climate. The Harveys collected wild queens and bred them with their own varroa-resistant lines. Even when fungal infestations appeared, they skipped standard antibiotics; instead they drenched the little buzzers in oak bark extract and essential oils and fed them lavishly through the winter. Bingo. “This year we only lost about 20 percent,” says Dan.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is now studying the Olympic bees at its Baton Rouge bee lab. It suspects varroa mites and Nosema fungus may act together to cause colony collapse. If the Harveys have indeed developed a Nosema-tolerant stock, it could be a lifesaver for hives worldwide. In the bee world, good breeding, clean living, and healthy eating still count for something. —ERIC SCIGLIANO

26 / SEATTLEMET.COM / JULY 2010

Bee Tree

http://www.forksforum.com/news/article.exm/2013-10-24_clallam_bay_buzzes_over_downed_bee_tree

Clallam Bay buzzes over downed bee tree
Published on Thu, Oct 24, 2013
By Donna Barr, West End North Correspondent
When Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Pursley flashed his lights and pulled over behind a backhoe truck parked on the verge on Frontier Street in Clallam Bay, Thursday, Oct. 17, he thought he was only going to warn about a road blockage issue.
Instead, he found himself dealing with two people facing off over the same downed bee tree.
Dan Harvey, who had begun the careful rescue of the bees on Wednesday, found that Rafael Ojeda had undone his work and chain-sawed the nest tree open, roughly pulling out the combs and dumping them into a manufactured hive body.
Harvey, who raises queen bees bred from the Olympic Peninsula strain of feral bee in his bee yard at Olympic Wilderness Apiary, was alerted on Tuesday, Oct. 15, about the nest by Lyle Sage, who had clearcut the roadside maple grove, and discovered the bees inside a hollow hemlock.
“I took him a gallon of honey,” said Harvey. “He was just tickled pink.”
Harvey was eager to find these bees, especially their queen, for addition to the gene base of his own strains of the singular local bee.
On Wednesday, Harvey had found the remainder of the hemlock log was too big to move without heavy equipment.
The bee cavity was full of rotted mulch, but Harvey knew that 80 percent of feral bee trees locate their entrance above their brood nest.
He didn’t have to dig far into the top end of the log before he could see the comb. He sprayed the area with liquid smoke to quiet the bees, as well as the nest entrance, located in the badly healed branch cavity that had let in the original rot.
Harvey was assisted by Gus Gustafson, who has split bee trees in the past. Gustafson sawed through both ends of the log under Harvey’s guidance, first carefully poking with the chainsaw, probing for honey, to make sure he wasn’t punching into the nest cavity.
Once the chainsaw came out dry, the saw whipped off the bottom of the log.
The resulting raw hive might have been small enough to roll, but was still too big to lift into Harvey’s truck. Gustafson wondered if they should just saw slats off the thick outer wood around the cavity, to lighten the load.
(This correspondent said she’d just thought of that, but was afraid it was too dumb to mention.)
“No, this is what we call field expediency!” grinned Harvey, adding he’d rather not, because it wouldn’t look good in his bee yard.
To protect the bees and their attractive honey from bears and raccoons, Harvey nailed a small square of plywood over the top, and screened off the base and nest entrance. Knowing the bees, already stressed by the felling of their tree, couldn’t last many days trapped inside their nest, he quickly left to borrow a backhoe.
He couldn’t return until the next Thursday morning, when Pursley found the two men exchanging words.
Ojeda said that someone, whose name he does not know, told him about the tree and warned him that residents would come spray and kill the bees if they discovered them. Ojeda arrived, probably soon after Harvey had left. He tore off the plywood and screens, saying he’d taken the latter with him.
Thursday, Harvey discovered the condition of the nest.
Harvey shook his head, saying the bees were badly weakened and probably couldn’t survive the winter, even if he added his own bees to them.
Ojeda claimed the queen was in the hive box, but Harvey couldn’t find her.
In the end, Harvey took Ojeda’s box, to transport what remained of the colony to his bee yard. He hoped the queen was in the box and not hiding in what remained of the shattered nest.
Pursley said before calling in the incident, “That’s the first time I’ve ever had a bee call, that’s for sure.”
On Friday, Harvey found the queen, so he has a chance to broaden the genetic base of his stock and contribute to the health of all the feral survivor bees. It’s one more step in maintaining a non-native domestic animal that actually contributes to the health of the wild and has become a special part of the local environment.
The wild bees of the peninsula are descended from domestic Caucasian strains brought to the area by homesteaders in the 19th century.
Locally nicknamed “pioneer bees,” and designated by Harvey as “survivor bees,” they are different in appearance from other, more-recently imported domestic bees, carrying a wisp of fluff on their abdomens that makes them appear gray, earning them their other nickname, “gray bees.” They have evolved to survive the wet winters and short summers of the peninsula.
However, they aren’t immune to European foul-brood, a disease that turns the larvae in the combs into so much protein goo. Harvey said he’d brought home feral populations before and the young collapsed under the disease attack.
Hives also are attacked and weakened by the Varroa mite, that have been theorized as being one of several causes of colony-collapse disorder threatening domestic bees.
Harvey has been working with university programs to breed foul-brood-resistant Russian and Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VHS) strains into the local bees. The added strains are both known for their very hygienic brood-comb behavior, keeping the cells so clean the infection and mites have less chance to start or spread.
Resistant drones (males) have been introduced into the wild during the swarming season to improve the wild-living strains.
When Harvey took the bees home with him, that doesn’t mean it was the end of feral bees in the area. Pointing to a rounded wax stub at the exposed top of the nest, said, “There’s a queen cup, so they’ve swarmed out before.”
The colony had fed a larvae with royal jelly, making her into a queen in a larger, cone-like cell.
When she matured and mated, the younger generation of bees would have followed her into the surrounding woods. Perhaps the flowered bush will still hum with bees next summer.
Given opportunity, the bees can colonize a building very quickly.
Dona Lynn Olson, of Olson’s Resort, was aware of the local strain’s existence.
Several years ago she displayed an entire disused shed full of the bees on her property in Sekiu. The only problem they might cause would result from honey stored in the space between the ceiling and the roof; busy bees could have pumped 3,500 gallons into that space in a fast blackberry-blossom summer.
Before it was all over, Jane Hielman, of the Sunsets West Co-Op added a bee story of her own.
She’d been on a plane that had to land in Darwin, Australia, because someone on board a two-story 747 had smoked their beehive and it had set off the carbon dioxide fire-represent system in the plane.
Harvey and the correspondent, by this time having had too much fun on the bee project, wondered how one transported bees in the pressurized body of a commercial flight. Did they have to buy the bees a seat? Did they all sit in row “B”?

Background & Lab Reports: OWA Feral Bees

Sample#1 (FERAL BEES)

This is our strongest breeder colony.  She is a 2009 Queen.  Entirely untreated; has never exhibited symptoms of dwindling; and has had 4 to 5 brood combs removed and added to weaker colonies throughout the 2011 season, yet remains vigorous.

This colony has been tested in the USDA Beltsville Lab 4 times with these results:

  1. March 2010   =  21.55 Nosema spores/bee (million)
  2. May 2010      =  10.45 Nosema spores/bee (million)
  3. June 2010     =    4.40 Nosema spores/bee (million)
  4. Feb  2011     =     1.30 Nosema spores/bee (million)

Sample was also submitted to Dave Wick at BVS, Inc.  Testing indicatd the presence of IAPV, CPV and Sac Brood virus.  (Dave did confirm that IAPV and black queen cell virus are associated with n.ceranae, however he was not able to confirm that CPV is).

Only 5% of our 2011 colonies showed no sign of dwindling after their 4th cool; wet; protracted winter.

Now in the 5th spring since the devastating losses from this pathogen, our untreated bees are thriving in spite of staggering nosema spore loads and associated viruses, and we have had only 10% winter loss in 2011-2012.

OWA Queens Are Not For Everyone…

Each year we selectively breed a limited number of high-quality regionally adapted honeybee queens for sale. Although customer testimonials give high performance marks to our stock from all over the continental US and Alaska, our queens are not for everyone. 

Our breeders are derived from feral lineages that have been self-sustaining in the temperate rainforests of Washington State’s isolated Olympic Peninsula since the first pioneers introduced them over 150 years ago.
While temperament is an aspect of our selection criteria, it is not our top priority.
Since we began our program in 1997, our goal is to achieve sustainable mite, disease, and pathogen-resistant stock. It is our theory that decades of selective breeding to satisfy the demand of commercial agri-beekeeping has reduced the available gene-pool’s ability to naturally defend themselves.
A century and a half of wild survival in our harsh climate, coupled with regular inclusion of the best SMR/VSH/Russians available, and our choice in 2008 to allow accelerated natural selection to the newer nosema ceranae fungus have produced vigorous hybrid genetics. Regardless of location, we believe serious beekeepers who are working toward improving survivability of their honeybee stock without the need to use chemical miticides or antibiotics will easily recognize the benefit of including our hardy survivors in their breeding program.