Honeybees are highly independent. They can fly miles for food, defend themselves against attack, and survive the harshest of winters, despite being very vulnerable to cold. But though they are tough, there are some basic things bees need to survive and plenty of problems that can befall them.

We have looked at what bees need. These include a nearby source of water for cooling the hive and dissolving crystallized honey. They need peace from loud noises and disturbances. They need an ample source of nectar and pollen – the closer the better – and they need warm weather in the summer in which they can forage.

In the winter bees need to keep their body temperatures above 57 F. This means they need shelter and enough stored honey so that they can stay inside and keep warm for months. They use the remarkable concepts of fat bees and the winter cluster to survive.

Let’s take a look at the main threats bees face.

Some Context

Before we dive into these threats, we want to put them in an overall context.

Beekeepers around the country and the world keep bees successfully. Many first-year beekeepers are successful too. After all, all successful beekeepers have to start with their first year!

Some are very serious and can threaten your colony. Others are problematic but can be resolved. Others still resolve themselves through natural processes or through the efforts of your bees.

Some are entirely avoidable, and others are unavoidable but are curable. Some problems are never seen by some beekeepers, even experienced beekeepers, and others that virtually all will see at some point.

While the number of threats may be discouraging, as a beekeeper you have many options as to how you help your bees avoid or recover from them.  In short, our goal here is to educate, not discourage.

Disease

Disease is a major concern in beekeeping, particularly considering that some of them are under suspicion of having an association with Colony Collapse Disorder(CCD). Here is an overview of some of the main diseases and how to recognize them.

American Foulbrood

American Foulbrood is extremely contagious and a major threat to honeybee populations. It only affects worker, queen, and drone larvae less than 2 ½ days old, but that’s more than enough to wreak total havoc.

The larva eats the spore-forming bacteria, which then multiplies inside the larva until it dies. Larva turns from healthy, succulent white to a flattened brown. Eventually, the dead larva will harden to a small, black scale inside its cell. This scale is teeming with new foulbrood spores.

You can usually spot American Foulbrood from a spotty mix of capped and uncapped brood, with capped cells having punctured or sunken tops. You can also detect it by the dangling remains of decomposed pupae hanging down from the tops of their cells or by inserting a small stick into a dead brood cell. If the brood stretches back out on the stick with a gluey consistency, you probably have an outbreak of American Foulbrood.

American Foulbrood spores can stay active in beekeeping equipment for decades and are highly resistant to treatment. After an outbreak, your only real course of action is to destroy the colony and burn the equipment. The drug Terramycin can be applied monthly to prevent the appearance of the disease. If you choose to use it, check with your state to see if its use is legal.

European Foulbrood

European Foulbrood is another bacterium that can get into food and populate inside the brood. It usually appears in spring and early summer and can be picked out by a spotty pattern of capped and uncapped brood. Brood killed by European Foulbrood doesn’t take on the gluey consistency associated with American Foulbrood.

Unlike American Foulbrood, European Foulbrood is not a death sentence for the colony and will sometimes disappear with a strong nectar flow. If it turns out to be persistent, the best course of action is to requeen the colony, which gives the bees a lag time between laying to clear out the infected brood.

Chalkbrood

Chalkbrood is a fungus that enters the brood through food. It waits until the brood is sealed in its cell, then grows and takes over the larva. Larva killed by chalkbrood takes on an opaque, white appearance, hence the name.

Chalkbrood is usually found in late spring on the fringes of the frames. You’ll know you have it if you see little chalk nub bodies outside the hive entrance, where worker bees have discarded them.

There’s no real treatment, though requeening has been known to help. If the workers manage to remove all the infected brood, the colony should survive.

Sacbrood

Sacbrood is a virus that is not usually a problem since it affects only a small number of brood. The brood dies after its cell is capped and its body takes on a liquid consistency inside a tough outer skin. There’s no treatment, though requeening can help.

While colonies are rarely wiped out due to sacbrood directly, they may be weakened and vulnerable to other threats.

Nosema

Nosema forms spores inside the digestive tract of adult bees. It is, basically, bee diarrhea. It causes bees to defecate inside or down the front of the hive, which spreads the disease more.

Nosema shortens worker bees’ lifespans and their ability to make royal jelly. If it infects the queen, it can seriously interfere with laying.

Healthy, well-fed hives with young queens are less likely to get Nosema. The drug Fumagillin can be used on young or overwintering hives.

Paralysis

Paralysis comes in two forms: chronic and acute. It can result from eating pollen of certain plants and fermented stored pollen. Paralysis is easy to detect and the bees lose their hair, take on a greasy look, and tremble.

A colony can recover from paralysis naturally, but if it doesn’t, you can requeen with a different strain, as weakness to paralysis is often genetic.

Pests

On top of diseases, honeybees have plenty of enemies in nature. They are far from helpless, of course, and can fend for themselves very well, but it’s good to know what your bees are up against.

Bears

The stories are true – bears really do love honey and they’ll go to great lengths to get it, including smashing your equipment beyond repair.

If bears are a problem in your area, consider raising your hives on a bear-proof platform or surrounding them with an electric fence. If a bear has already found your hives, unfortunately, it will keep coming back for more. Once this happens, the only real course of action is to move the hives.

Mice

Mice are a problem in winter when they crawl inside a nice warm beehive to build their nests. A mouse will stay in the corner of the hive, well away from the bees, but it will chew through wax and frames to make room. The smell of its urine will put your bees off the hive in the spring.