56 Dr. Ramesh Sagili – How to make a lot of honey this year!

Speaker 1: From the Oregon State University Extension Service, this is Pollination, a podcast that tells the stories of researchers, land managers, and concerned citizens making bold strides to improve the health of pollinators.

I'm your host, Dr. Adoni Melopoulos, assistant professor in pollinator health in the Department of Horticulture. If you're in Western Oregon and you look out your window, there's a lot of Himalayan blackberry blooming, and that is the main source of nectar and honey for Western Oregon. So this episode I thought this would be a great opportunity to bring on our associate professor in apoculture here at OSU, Dr. Ramesh Segele, to give us some tips on how to manage honey flows and also to tell us a little bit about this season in particular, how to keep your bees healthy this year. It's also National Pollinator Week, so I just want to begin the episode by reminding you we've got activities happening right around the state. We just had our opener at the Oregon Zoo on Saturday, and we've got events happening right across the state from north to south, east and west of the Cascades, and the final event is in Bend on May 24th at the High Desert Museum. So visit the Oregon Bee Project website, go to Pollinator Week, and you can catch up with one of these really cool events that are happening this week in Oregon. Hope you enjoy this episode. OK, I'm really excited to have Dr. Segele back on Pollination. Welcome to Pollination. Yeah, thanks, Anthony.

I think it's always a pleasure to be with you. Well, I'm looking outside. It's a cool day today, but it's supposed to get up into the mid-80s by the end of the week, and we're in full Blackberry flow. And so this is a time when, I guess, beekeepers are making their honey. Tell us a little bit about how somebody can get ready for this onslaught of Blackberry nectar.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and for those in the audience that are new to bees, I would say I don't know if they are aware, but Blackberry is the major source of nectar for bees in the valley, especially. So I would say close to 50% of the nectar that they bring in around the year. I think it only blooms for a month or a month and a half, max, depending on how the weather goes.

I think 50% easily is Blackberry. So, yeah, they have to be really on top of that right now, because I can say depending on the elevation, in some areas it's about 20% bloom to some areas it's almost full bloom. So I think they have to be very much ready and they should be putting their honey supers on so that they can take advantage of the Blackberry nectar flow that is going on right now.

Speaker 1: You know, I guess for a lot of our listeners, we've got, you know, a number of people who are beekeepers and people who are thinking about becoming beekeepers and then people who just like honey. So tell us a little bit about this process. How do you get the honey into the colonies, just like in a very simple process? Like what are the steps they have to take to collect the stuff?

Speaker 2: Yeah. So assuming they started bees this spring, probably they established their hive sometime in April or May, could be from a package or they would have bought a nucleus hive from a beekeeper or whatever the means are, or maybe some of them started last year and they have already an overwintered hive that is in already a good colony strength where they can really capture the honey nectar flow at this point. So for those who have new, the new, I think, yeah, if most of them should have those colonies in a decent colony growth at this point of time. So if they have probably even a single box full of bees, technically if you are holding a frame and if you have a single layer of bees on both sides. So I would imagine at this point, even the weakest colonies could be around 12 to 15 frames of bees.

OK. And so this is the right time. So what they can do is now they can start adding something called honey supers. These are the shallow supers that are basically you don't want any brood or any other pollen.

Speaker 1: It's basically a box with some frames in it. Yeah.

Speaker 2: So these are boxes of frames. These are a little smaller in dimension than the regular high bodies that they see. So they have to put in a queen excluder. Technically, if you don't want any pollen or brood unless you want some protein in your honey, then you can not put a queen excluder, but you can put a queen excluder. And then on top of those, your honey supers will go with these shorter dimensions. And then again, it depends if you had honey supers from last year, then you probably have comb built on those. So those are easy for bees to fill.

Yeah. But if you are new, this is your first year, I think again, this is an advantage you can take at this point is your bees will with the nectar flow, you they will build the comb on those frames. But I would say if you have access to some of those combs built-in combs, then I think you can check them like you can have one with the foundation.

The next one could be your already built-in comb. So that would be a big advantage for them. The bees can really build those up. And maybe for next year, they'll have supers that already have a comb and it would be easy for them to extract honey from those.

Speaker 1: OK, so let me get you. So people, you know, they had these colonies, they, they, you know, they grew them through the spring and now they're going to put this queen excluder in, which is just say what a queen excluder is for those of them. Yeah.

Speaker 2: So queen excluders, again, they come in different, not different sizes, but I would say there are metal ones and there are plastic ones. So they have, they have these slits where the queen can't pass through because as you all know, the queens are bigger with their thorax and abdomen.

So they can't sneak past these queen excluders. So the queen is always restricted to the bottom boxes. If you have one box, she'll stay in that one box and keep laying eggs. If you have two boxes, then she is in those two boxes doing the egg-laying part. But the top boxes where the workers can get in and they can either start building the comb if you have a foundation or if you already have this beautiful comb built from last year or you borrowed some frames from your friends, then these bees will be just storing honey or nectar and then process it into honey eventually. Okay.

Speaker 1: So you have the nursery down and you have the, all the food stores are going up top. Can you tell us again, if you talked about checkerboarding? You said this problem that for a beginner, you don't have a lot of comb. And you said one of the solutions for doing this is to kind of alternate the frames. Tell us a little bit more about that. Yeah.

Speaker 2: So if you just put all plain foundation, it's again, for those who are new to bees, wax production is the most expensive job a bee can do. You can't think of any other job that takes that much energy. So, they have to eat a lot of honey or nectar, whatever the carbohydrate source is present at that point of time, or even if you're feeding, that's a carbohydrate source for them. So if you're a 10-frame beekeeper operating a 10-frame box, then you have 10 frames of those foundations, which are for basically your nectars or honey storage. So they have to meticulously build a comb in there.

So it takes a long, long time for those. So maybe if you have given empty frames, then this year, they may not be able to collect that much honey because they'll be spending a significant amount of time building the comb. So, if you have some frames that you can spare, so that checkerboarding that you mentioned, so they can, that will really help because now they can store some there in the next frame and then we can also start building the comb on that. That kind of stimulates the bees to make comb a little faster. And it's more efficient, I would say when compared to giving them all 10 frames with just a foundation, which will be a hard task for them to build.

Speaker 1: So I imagine, you know, conditions are really well, you'll fill that box fairly quickly.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I think those boxes, if you have put, you know, it depends again on which area you are located and how dense or how good your forage is around you.

But if you have a significant amount of blackberry around you, along with some weeds and other stuff, more agriculture stuff as well, which is a good source of nectar. Yeah, I think they can fill those like the super I'm talking about the honey super, the standard that people use. Maybe they can fill even in, I've seen as fast as even like 10 days. Wow.

And just fill those up. If you have a significant population, again, it depends on how strong your colony is, because it all directly depends on your foraging force and the amount of resources that are available for bees to collect. But a strong colony with about 40, 45,000 bees probably can. And if given that they have enough nectar resources around them, they can fill that one box in probably 10 days.

Speaker 1: And I guess that's the other part of it is if you've had any problems from, you know, the spring on now, if you had a swarm or something like that, that all sets you back for this moment. This moment is when you hope to have all the bees you can and having the peak colony strength right now is I guess the key part. Yeah.

Speaker 2: So that's what if you have been successful if you had no queen issues, no disease problems or anything like that, they didn't swarm. So you still have all your bee population intact that you didn't lose because of swarming.

I think, yeah, you can take good advantage of that. You can make a significant amount of honey at this point in time. But then one more point I wanted to mention is this is for honey production, right? I know we all are obsessed with honey production, especially the hobby beekeepers. I know they want to produce enough honey and then it's a pride as well.

I see some beekeepers, who really boast about how much honey they produce this year. Again, yeah, management is important, but again, you have to be lucky to have enough resources and the weather. If the weather is not great and if like you saw two days, yeah, I was whining that we got two days of rain, that was a good time when the blackberries were in bloom. And so the bees lost the opportunity in those two days. So sometimes even a week's time is very important when things are in bloom. So so so coming back to those, I know not all beekeepers are always interested in honey production may not be their major goal, but for those some of them are interested in making more divides or more splits. So you can split a big colony into two so you can increase your numbers.

If that's your goal, I think this is a good time for that as well. Just not for honey production. But if you don't care about honey production at this time and you want to have more colonies by the end of fall, then this is a time when you can select some strong colonies and divide them. So when I divide, means I'm not cutting the hive into two, but I'm trying to.

Not the chainsaw. So, you know, some people, some like when I teach my bee biology, some students, they're first time hearing those terms. So I have to tell them that dividing a colony is not cutting it in half. But you're you're taking some frames or stealing some frames from the stronger colonies. And again, you have to maintain the colony demography as well. So you can't randomly pick some frames from here and there and create another colony, but you have to be meticulously selecting for the right amount of cab brood, some open brood. And then even trying to see if there are some forager bees on honey frames and stuff. So yeah, it's a skill as well.

And it's not a huge learning thing, but you can just try something and you can learn it pretty fast. So yeah, that's another advantage they can take they can increase their colony numbers by splitting or dividing their stronger colonies at the time. And one more time and one more thing I wanted to mention is this is a good time to get some quality queens as well. In March and April, I know that's the time when there is a lot of demand for queens.

Everyone is looking for Californian producers or producers in Hawaii. So they can't always meet their demand. And sometimes I see and probably some of the audience have heard about this. The queen quality has been an issue in the last seven or eight years, I would say the minimum. So I think because I'm not saying the queen producers are not doing a good job.

They're trying their best. But when there is a lot of demand, sometimes they may start raising queens or rearing or grafting a little earlier than they are supposed to. And the weather is all very critical when you are looking for your queens to mate with the drones. So if the mating weather wasn't great, then you are getting queens probably who are not as well-mated as you would like to be.

So June is the right time. Now they have enough queens and the mating is not at all a problem, especially in California, given the weather, how beautiful these are in California from me on. So I think that's an advantage so they can get new queens for their splits. And even if they want to requeen at this point, that's a that's a good point as well to do that. OK.

Speaker 1: All right. And I guess it's and also just these are the best times. This is probably the best time of the year to make a queen.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think so. Yeah, June, and especially even those who are in Oregon, I think I know Oregon is not a great place to raise queens. But I think the window is between June and July, I think from June, July, and August, I think it's it's a good time to raise their queens here in Oregon as well.

Speaker 1: Oh, you know, and that's just a good reminder. You have that really great extension publication out on making nukes and sort of the timing of making nukes of different types of the year. We'll link that in the show notes. It's a really great publication if you haven't seen it. Yeah.

Speaker 2: Yeah. I think you can put a link for your audience if they want to. So yeah, it's a good publication. We collaborated with the beekeeper as well, who really knows bees. And so I think, yeah, it's a good document that people can use at least for Oregon to make divides or splits from their strong colonies. Right.

Speaker 1: Back to the honey production, though, because I love honey. So there you got this box and it's filling up now for people, do they know when to add new boxes and when to take the boxes away? How does that all work?

Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question, actually. And it's very important as well. So we talked about putting honey supers on top when the nectar flow starts. But then we can't add like six or seven boxes at one time.

That's not that's not an efficient way because the bees have to fill each of those boxes. So usually again, there is no real as far as I know, there is no published document that really says how it exactly has to be nine frames full. And then you add the 10th one. But I would say anywhere between maybe 60 to 70 percent of the box gets filled, then I think that's a good time to put another super on top. OK. And then before they extract, I know for those beekeepers who are new to this, they have to see that you can't extract honey before they are at least 80 percent capped.

So I would say they have to see that as well. But very carefully, you can extract honey from a frame that is only half-capped. So when I say capping means they will because there is a moisture content that bees are looking for as well.

So they know that the honey honey will ferment if in a moisture content, which is less than around 18 percent or less is the time when bees will cap the honey. So so yeah, so so look for honey frames that are at least I would say most of them should be 100 percent capped. But if you are looking in a box or the honey super and there are a couple of frames that are only 80 percent, I think you're still OK. But but don't extract honey from frames that are only half-capped or something like that, because the moisture content could be really high. And it depends on when you are extracting as well. I would say if you're extracting in July or removing your honey frames in July, we have seen the moisture content is a lot less when compared to extracting in June. I know some beekeepers are interested in varietal honey and they want to extract it in June for some reason.

So they have to be a little more careful about the moisture content of the honey because if you're not careful, then the honey could ferment and that could create more problems down the line.

Speaker 1: OK, so you're going to be adding supers as the box below gets full. And then I guess there'll come a time. In July, when the honey starts to slow down you take the supers off. Yeah.

Speaker 2: So mostly I would say in Oregon, July is the time again, depending on the year. But I would say to just give you an average. Most of the years we have seen by July, most of the nectar flow is gone. But at least the Blackberry will be gone by July. So that's the time right time to take your honey supers off and either store them in your storage and then extract whenever it's convenient or you can start extracting immediately as well. How do we get the bees off the frames?

Yeah. So that's another big exercise and it could be intimidating for a new beekeeper. So there are there are ways. I mean, if you are on a small scale, I would still say maybe just your smoker can do the job. But there are some commercial operations or even bigger, bigger operations with 50, 60 hives where they have produced enough honey. Then there is a way you can put there are products people sell with beego and there are some really nasty smelling stuff that can drive the bees down. So so you put that on top and then allow the bees to all go down. So now your honey supers are devoid of bees. So you'll not see many bees. So you can gently smoke and remove those top boxes and store those wherever you have a place.

Speaker 1: OK, something I've seen people use before is those that work really nicely. Are those which columns? the boards are the one-way valves.

Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I don't have much experience with those, but BScapes.

Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so there are options I think for them to drive the bees down and then, yeah.

Speaker 1: I was really, and when someone told me how BScapes work, I was always amazed that there was like, the idea is that the bees always make their way back to the brood nest. Yeah, I mean. It's crazy. They all would walk back down and can't get back up again.

Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so yeah, I think the audience can explore different options with the BScapes, and I think there is a lot of information, I guess, good information from university websites and other places where they can explore some of those.

Speaker 1: Okay, great, so thanks so much. We're gonna come back after a break. We now have, I think you're all set up, all the listeners who have bees are set up to make a really great honey crop if the weather stays good.

Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, yeah, no. I wish the weather stays like this, and this is the prime time. I know Jiu-Jitsu is usually the Blackberry time, and I mean, if the weather is at least consistent, I would say if it doesn't get too warm, then I think the bees will have this consistent supply for at least another couple of weeks. But I'm just worried if the temperatures go suddenly to 90 degrees at this point, then maybe everything may be gone even in 10 days.

So that's always a trick, but again, if the beekeepers are ready with what they are supposed to do with the honey supers on, I think the bees will do a great job if even in a week's time, they can create, they can generate a lot of honey as well.

Speaker 1: Well, fingers crossed, and we'll take a break and we'll come back and talk about how all those strong colonies that we started this year, how they might turn into a problem. Okay, that sounds good. Okay, so we're back. And one thing that, when I was talking in your office, we were thinking about this show, one thing you mentioned is, you know, this has been a really good year in some ways for colonies.

It came out of, in Oregon, we've had some colonies come out of winter that were really strong and they've been growing, and this seems like a really, really good year for colonies. But you mentioned there could be a kind of, there might be some concern around mites. Can you explain what that concern is?

Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I'm glad, I know, unfortunately, some beekeepers probably didn't have that great success, but looking at our surveys and talking to other beekeepers, my sense is this year was in general a very good year for many beekeepers. And the overwintering success was pretty good, so they haven't lost as many colonies as they were losing in the past years. And so, yeah, but that's a great thing. So the bees have been pretty strong, even our research hives, I would say, in the last nine or 10 years have been here. They look the strongest I have seen in the past few years. So, so there.

Speaker 1: And this was my first winter in Oregon, so I think, wow, this is awesome. Yeah, right? You were fooled by that.

Speaker 2: Now, usually in general, yeah, I mean, again, it's about management and, you know, weather plays a significant role sometimes. I mean, how much freezing weather you have, and that could lead to some starvation as well. So, yeah, this year was a great year for many beekeepers. And so, so that comes along with that comes some risks as well. So, what I have seen is at least we have sampled some hives recently, some of our research hives, and some beekeepers as well. So I am seeing a consistent increase in mite populations at this point. So everyone should expect that mites are growing.

You don't have zero populations of mites in your hives. You have significant populations at this point. So, this was an early year. So probably many beekeepers noticed that the queen started laying probably in January a little bit. And then by February, there was significant brood in some colonies. So that consistent increase in brood. So, the mites always take advantage of early brood rearing. So this was an early year in terms of brood rearing. So you should expect the mites to also be taken advantage of because mites are diuretic on the bees most of the time in winter. But they're just waiting for that opportunistic time when they want to see some brood.

So as soon as the brood arrives, the queen lays an egg and once the eggs hatch and they are about five or five and a half days old, that's the time when they're trying to enter these cells. So, so I, so we are thinking that this year has been a good year for mites as well at this point. So, I think this is the right time to monitor for mites.

And each year is different, but as I said, this has been an early year. So the mite populations are also increasing in the colonies simultaneously with the bee populations. So, I would caution beekeepers that they should not ignore mites at this point. And probably most of them know mites are still the number one problem for colony declines in the United States and everywhere in the world. So, yeah, it's a problem that we shouldn't take lightly and I can't emphasize how important it is to beekeepers that mites are taken care of as much as possible.

So, this time of the year, I think June is the right month. You don't have to treat at this point, but I would really encourage you to monitor your mite levels. And there are different ways from alcohol wash to sticky boards to your sugar dusting and our sugar shake type methods where you can really monitor your mite populations and then be prepared for doing something in July when most of your honey supers are off. So most of the mites sites are not supposed to be used when you have honey supers on. So you have to wait until then and do so. But again, June is the time you should also start thinking about mites. You know, the honey flow we talked about in the past segment, that's important, but then comes with the mites because your colony survival is very much dependent on how good you have in terms of mite control.

Speaker 1: Well, we will link, we've got a really good video here at OSU demonstrating the ways of sampling for borrowers. So we're gonna link that on the show notes. And I guess, you know, the other thing that you mentioned is you can monitor now and you don't have, I don't think there's anything you can treat a colony with when you have honey supers on, but at least you can get ready, you know, as soon as that honey flow stops, you can strip off your supers and get your treatments on right away. Kind of you're prepared for it. I guess you can get, order your supplies in, and...

Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's a great point. I know sometimes we are in a rush, but we try to figure out what miticide I'm gonna use this year. So I think this is the time as your bees are bringing in a lot of nectar to get the honey for you. You should also start thinking about what miteside is more appropriate for you because there are several options. From formic acid to AP guard to AP water, these are all products that work. And again, some of them are temperature sensitive. So they have to be careful what is ideal for the area where you live and what temperatures can get in July when they're treating.

Speaker 1: Oh, because the issue is in summer that too hot for some of these treatments.

Speaker 2: Yeah, for some of these treatments, like formic acid in the past, people have noticed some brood kill where those pads of formic acid are placed. Also, they have seen some queen losses as well because the bees are in disarray when you get a lot of fumes from that formic acid and they may not be attending the queen well or maybe sometimes they may ball as well, who knows.

So there are some risks associated with the high temperatures. So yeah, they should read the labels and use these compounds as directed in the label and they think they should be fine. So these are some options they have at this point, but most of them, as I said, are not supposed to be used when the honey supers are on. So as soon as the honey supers are off, they can start using these chemicals to kill mites. Excellent.

Speaker 1: Well, this is great because it's really deceptive. You have these really big colonies right now and they're making lots of honey and you assume they're healthy that they're just like, there's no problem with them, but it may be just a time bomb.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and especially that's a great point to make. I think especially I've seen with new beekeepers, I get these complaints all the time. They say, oh, my bees were beautiful. I had like huge colony even in October going into winter. However, they didn't realize that along with bees I wish they could see the mites as easily as they can see the bees, but they're hiding between the segments of these bees. Unless you monitor for those mites with those techniques that we mentioned, alcohol wash or sticky boards or sugar shake, whatever your means is, I think you will not know the exact numbers that you have.

So yeah, I think it's pretty deceptive. As you said, you may see a lot of healthy bees because unfortunately sometimes you may not see any overt symptoms of the bees with mites, but they might be already doing the damage. And especially if the mitesites are not used at the right time and the diutinous bees, we call them, it's a scientific term we use this diutinous means long-lived bees. So these are the bees that are raised, I would say in Oregon between late July or August until October, October 15th.

They still see some brood in colonies. So that's the time when they're raising these winter bees or diutinous bees and their health is critical. If your mites have not been taken care of, then the mites can have significant damage to these bees in terms of their physiology and also transmit these viruses which are pretty lethal to bees. So in October, if you haven't done a great job of treating mites, you may see a significant population of bees. You may see how I have two boxes full of bees, but unfortunately, their immune system is so compromised that they may not survive until December. So when you open your colony, at least to peak what's going on in December or January, you may have the colony dead by that time. So yeah, I can't, as I said, I can't emphasize enough how important it is to treat varroa mites. Fantastic.

Speaker 1: Well, let's take a quick break, and then we'll just come back, maybe we can get a little update on what's going on in the lab. Okay. Okay, we're back. And I thought this would be a good opportunity, just as we wrap up, just give us a little picture of what's going on in the Sigile lab this summer. What are some of the things that are brewing?

Speaker 2: Yeah, great. As you know, we have several projects, but I don't have time to go over each of them. As every year, we are crazy with too many experiments that we plan. So I would just go into a couple of those that probably are not as good as we planned. Probably are more interesting to the audience. One is a honey bee nutrition study, which again, probably I spoke about this in the last few months ago when we had a segment.

Maybe a little bit. So the whole idea here is to figure out what's the optimal concentration of sterol for bees in their diet. So pollen is the source of protein. So it has several other good things too, including sterols. So bees will get their protein and sterols from just pollen. But again, in the literature or the work that has been done in the 80s and 90s, there is no clear documentation on what's the ideal concentration of sterol, especially when beekeepers buy these protein diets from stores or if they make their own, there is sterol missing.

Sterols are important. They are important because they are the precursors of several hormones, molting hormones, and insects. And especially honey bees, it's very critical. So your larvae will not get to the next level if you don't have the right amount of hormones. These hormones again are dependent on your sterol, the very specific sterol that bees need is called 24 methylene cholesterol, which has to come from pollen. So we are trying to see if, so we ordered some 24 methylene cholesterol, which is a very expensive product, just for 15 milligrams, probably we spent thousands of dollars on it. So we have a cage experiment where we have different treatments where they are being given different concentrations of sterol and some of the diets are devoid of the sterol.

So we want to see, so we're monitoring from the egg stage to the pupil stage and to the adult to see how different concentrations are really impacting the growth of those larval stages and eventually to adulthood.

Speaker 1: I remember if people who follow the Honey Bee Lab on Facebook will remember Carolyn and Hannah for putting up these cages way back in May. It's pretty amazing.

Speaker 2: Yeah, it's amazing. So we have 20 big cages where these nucleosives have been used for this study. So yeah, maybe by the end of this fall, we may have some good insights on the requirements of this 24 methylene cholesterol, which is very critical for Honey Bee colony growth and development.

Speaker 1: So you're describing at the break, the bees, the reason for the cages is that they have to feed on what you've given them. You're really able to test these things, but they literally, don't have any flowers there. So they've got like a cat dish full of syrup.

Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's very challenging for those of the audience that have seen bees in a cage. Honey bees especially don't do very well in cages. Probably they have heard of bumble bees for greenhouse pollination in tomatoes. So I think bumble bees' foraging pattern is very different. I think it has to do something with their vision and other things, which probably we don't have a very clear understanding of at this point with Honey Bees. And I have done this stuff things for several years now and they all tend to congregate on the top of the cage, looking for the sunlight and trying to desperately get out from there, but they have no escape. Eventually, they learn to come back as well, but you have some mortality initially for a couple of days.

So it's challenging to keep bees, but again, for this kind of study where you don't want to get any outside pollen coming into the hive and impacting your study, this is the only best way you can think of doing an experiment inside a flight cage. So we are providing the sugar solution and chicken feeders. And so that's a funny thing. They have to forage from the chicken feeders for their sugar solution. And yeah, so it's going on fine until now, but yeah, we hope those hives are alive for at least eight to 12 weeks. So that's a planned study. So after that, we'll have some good data collected that will provide good insight. So the whole idea is to eventually maybe down the line in a few years, at least if we can suggest what's the ideal concentration of 24 methylene cholesterol that the Honey Bee diets, the artificial diets need to be. I think that would be a great thing for the industry. Dr.

Speaker 1: Seguili pursuing the holy grail. Yeah, hope it works. So the other thing you were talking about, I think we talked to Ellen Toppensoffer was on a previous show, this Rode Drift experiment, you're gonna be doing in a couple of months.

Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is an experiment we thought Central Oregon Madras would be a great location because there are about 15,000 colonies that commercial beekeepers bring to pollinate porous carrot seed crops. So I think we will have a good understanding of the borough mite populations. And so in this study, what basically we'll do is we'll collaborate with these commercial beekeepers and the carrot seed growers where we will monitor for mites in different densities of these colonies. So some areas might be very dense in terms of colonies where there'll be too many mites hopefully.

And then we will also compare those numbers with some isolated areas where the beekeepers do not have too many colonies in those areas. So it's basically the mite migration. Probably most of the audience knows mites can't fly, but they can migrate to other hives based on the drifting of bees. So a bee with a mite can accidentally get into another colony. And that's how these mites are spread into different hives. So we want to see whether high densities of these bees in certain crops can also result in a lot of drifting and how to manage that kind of drift.

Speaker 1: Wow, that's another question that everybody wants an answer to. Yeah. Well, we'll have you back on the show, maybe towards the end of summer, give beekeepers another heads up as to what they should be doing this time of year, but I better let you go. It sounds like you have a real busy summer ahead of you.

Speaker 2: Absolutely, yeah, no. I'll be glad to come back and provide some more insights. All right, well, good luck. Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. Show notes with information discussed in each episode can be found at pollinationpodcast.oregonstate.edu. We'd also love to hear from you and there are several ways to connect. For one, you can visit our website to post an episode-specific comment, suggest a future guest or topic, or ask a question that could be featured in a future episode. You can also email us at [email protected]. Finally, you can tweet questions or comments or join our Facebook or Instagram communities. Just look us up at OSU Pollinator Health. If you like the show, consider letting iTunes know by leaving us a review or rating.

It makes us more visible, which helps others discover pollination. See you next week.