Healing Tea for Honeybees

http://www.spikenardfarm.org/pdf/HealingTeaHoneybees.pdf

For the last 15 years I have been using and teaching the value of healing teas for the honeybee colonies in support of today's weakened metabolic and immune system. In the last years we have seen how this practice has spread and is now used widely in natural and sustainable beekeeping throughout the country. The inspiration for our recipe comes from the healing herbs used in the biodynamic compost preparations. These herbs are well known in human herbalist tradition. From the six herbs used for ameliorating and furthering basic metabolic processes in the compost––flowers of chamomile, yarrow, dandelion, valerian, leaves/stems of stinging nettle, and oak bark––we took 4 of them and selected a few others that add to the desired positive effects. In my years of gardening I have learned to understand and love all these herbs; they have been my dear companions.
~ Gunther Hauk

For General Strengthening
Quantity is for two treatments - you need two 1-quart jars
In a ceramic or stainless steel pot (not aluminum) bring 3 cups of good water (well or spring is best) to a boil, take off stove and add:

• 1/2 tsp. each of: chamomile, yarrow, stinging nettle, peppermint, (dandelion flowers, if available)
• 1/4 tsp. each of: sage, hyssop, thyme, lemon balm, echinacea
• 1 pinch of rue

Let steep for 10 minutes. Strain through a cloth or fine colander; add another 3 cups of cold water and let cool down until it is lukewarm.

Add 1 cup (1/2 lb.) of good honey. Stir well.

This quantity is good for two treatments or two hives. If you have only one hive, keep the second jar in refrigerator until used, but warm up to room temperature before you give it to the bees. This treat can be given early spring until late summer every one or two months.

For building up nucs, splits, swarms or packages
Quantity is for two treatments - you need two 1-quart jars
Same recipe as above, but this time, add 4 cups (2 lbs.) of good honey.
Feed as often as the colony takes up the tea (for about 2 weeks), longer in inclement weather, shorter if they have enough forage to gather in nature.
Observation is very important: if the tea sits for days and is not taken by the bees, then either they don't need it or the tea has turned sour. This happens quickly in warm weather.

For fall feeding
This is only needed if the colony was not able to build up enough stores for the winter!
At this time you want to have a heavy syrup so that the bees don't have to work so much evaporating the water content of the tea; the feeding at this
point has to go quick.

If you have one colony you can probably afford a recipe with honey only, (see above), but if you have too many hives to feed, for example after a bad summer (severe drought or too much rain), then you may have to add some sugar. Sugar is not good for the bees, but the question is always "do I want to let them starve to death or do I want to help them survive the winter". If you are experienced enough you may want to combine 2 hives; out of 2 weak you make one strong. You will have to decide at this point. Adding the healing tea to the sugar is helpful for digestion.

Organic sugar is good, preferably white, because the brown sugar or succanat contains too many organic compounds, which are hard for the bees to digest.

You will have to choose the quantity you need to prepare depending on the number of hives to be treated.

Here is how you do it:
• fill a container with the desired quantity of sugar; for example, 5 lbs. of sugar will give you about 2 1/2 quarts of syrup.

• make a mark on the container (in your mind or with a piece of tape outside) and add the hot tea exactly to this level.

• stir vigorously
• let cool to lukewarm temperature
• add 5 to 10% of good honey, it adds complex sugars to the simple ones
• add a pinch of good salt (not iodized!), this aids the digestion of the sugar

Note: At this point of time we consider the Honeybee to be in a life-threatening situation. Like the patient in the emergency room, she needs care, attention and love. Enjoy preparing the tea and treating your bees.
If you don't have all the above-mentioned herbs, don't worry; the first three are the most important. You can also purchase the ready mixture on our webpage.

High-fructose Corn Syrup May be Tied to Worldwide Collapse of Bee Colonies

Bob Yirka writes:

Researchers find high-fructose corn syrup may be tied to worldwide collapse of bee colonies. 

A team of entomologists from the University of Illinois has found a possible link between the practice of feeding commercial honeybees high-fructose corn syrup and the collapse of honeybee colonies around the world. The team outlines their research and findings in a paper they've had published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Since approximately 2006, groups that manage commercial honeybee colonies have been reporting what has become known as colony collapse disorder—whole colonies of bees simply died, of no apparent cause. As time has passed, the disorder has been reported at sites all across the world, even as scientists have been racing to find the cause, and a possible cure. To date, most evidence has implicated pesticides used to kill other insects such as mites. In this new effort, the researchers have found evidence to suggest the real culprit might be high-fructose corn syrup, which beekeepers have been feeding bees as their natural staple, honey, has been taken away from them.

Commercial honeybee enterprises began feeding bees high-fructose corn syrup back in the 70's after research was conducted that indicated that doing so was safe. Since that time, new pesticides have been developed and put into use and over time it appears the bees' immunity response to such compounds may have become compromised.

The researchers aren't suggesting that high-fructose corn syrup is itself toxic to bees, instead, they say their findings indicate that by eating the replacement food instead of honey, the bees are not being exposed to other chemicals that help the bees fight off toxins, such as those found in pesticides.

Specifically, they found that when bees are exposed to the enzyme p-coumaric, their immune system appears stronger—it turns on detoxification genes. P-coumaric is found in pollen walls, not nectar, and makes its way into honey inadvertently via sticking to the legs of bees as they visit flowers. Similarly, the team discovered other compounds found in poplar sap that appear to do much the same thing. It all together adds up to a diet that helps bees fight off toxins, the researchers report. Taking away the honey to sell it, and feeding the bees high-fructose corn syrup instead, they claim, compromises their immune systems, making them more vulnerable to the toxins that are meant to kill other bugs.

Abstract 
As a managed pollinator, the honey bee Apis mellifera is critical to the American agricultural enterprise. Recent colony losses have thus raised concerns; possible explanations for bee decline include nutritional deficiencies and exposures to pesticides and pathogens. We determined that constituents found in honey, including p-coumaric acid, pinocembrin, and pinobanksin 5-methyl ether, specifically induce detoxification genes. These inducers are primarily found not in nectar but in pollen in the case of p-coumaric acid (a monomer of sporopollenin, the principal constituent of pollen cell walls) and propolis, a resinous material gathered and processed by bees to line wax cells. RNA-seq analysis (massively parallel RNA sequencing) revealed that p-coumaric acid specifically up-regulates all classes of detoxification genes as well as select antimicrobial peptide genes. This up-regulation has functional significance in that that adding p-coumaric acid to a diet of sucrose increases midgut metabolism of coumaphos, a widely used in-hive acaricide, by ∼60%. As a major component of pollen grains, p-coumaric acid is ubiquitous in the natural diet of honey bees and may function as a nutraceutical regulating immune and detoxification processes. The widespread apicultural use of honey substitutes, including high-fructose corn syrup, may thus compromise the ability of honey bees to cope with pesticides and pathogens and contribute to colony losses.