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Ryan Cosyns, whose family has been farming almonds in Madera County since the early 1970s has raised bees for his own operation and outside growers for the past eight years. He says beekeepers continue to deal with a number of issues that includes working to meet rising demand for honey bees in almonds while constantly rebuilding hives to deal with overwintering hive losses of 30 percent or more.
Losses to Varroa mites and lack of native forage top the list of challenges beekeepers face, forcing them to increase inputs for mite control and supplemental feed to reduce pressures and subsequent overwintering losses to their bee populations.
“The only way we will have good hives for almonds is if we keep our mite counts down and make sure we will have a fall protein source,” said Jackie Park-Burris, a second-generation queen producer and commercial beekeeper in Palo Cedro, near Redding, Calif. Her company, Jackie Park-Burris Queens, provides 1,200 hives to almond growers and produces queens for beekeepers around the U.S. and Canada.
“Managing the Varroa mite has changed the way we bee-keep,” Park-Burris continued, noting it is her biggest and most constant challenge.
“Being a queen producer, I make absolutely sure I have my mites dead by November,” she said. “I treat, I check, and I recheck and re-treat as necessary.”
Park-Burris estimates mite management has increased the amount of time she spends with the hives by 40 percent, which translates into increased labor, fuel and other costs. Each queen she produces requires 15 drones, and mite treatments applied at the wrong time can make drones sterile, she said, leaving a constrained window for effective control.
