In the last month I have had a few requests from beekeepers, asking for an article on the effect of drought on bees and beekeepers, so here goes...

 This will not be a prescriptive article on how best to deal with the current drought, as that will vary from region to region; rather it will be about what effect the drought is having and will have on colony health, floral resources, and the human resource – the beekeepers and their families. Most of this article will not be as applicable to urban beekeepers, where well-watered gardens provide adequate food resources, but as water restrictions come into play, who knows where we will go?

First, we should acknowledge just how widespread and severe this current drought has become. In NSW, 100% of the state is now drought-declared. Many areas have received little or no rain in the past six months, and the effect of drought on farms is being made worse by the current wide-spread plague of kangaroos. In my own valley, some 50km south-east of Canberra, we have only had 88mm of rain since the end of February, about one-third of the average for the past 35 years, and the valley (approx. 800Ha) is currently supporting a kangaroo population of some 4000+. Yes, I know, they are our national symbol, but the net effect on the land is NO GROUND FLORA, grass or otherwise, and there are a lot of skinny, starving kangaroos out there who have eaten themselves out of house and home. I also know from discussions with farmers and the odd drive around south-eastern NSW, that it is the same elsewhere. The country between Bathurst and Goulburn is the driest and most barren I have ever seen it. The drier than normal change in our weather is having multiple negative effects on our bees’ world. The low rainfall has resulted in little to no germination of some annual weeds, and poor nectar secretion and/or severe die-off of some of the other more reliable bee forage. Diverse nutrition is essential in keeping our bees healthy to overcome other stressors affecting colony health. This shortage of bee food puts stress on our bees and their resilience.

What I am seeing now is trees that have become so starved for moisture that the branches are becoming brittle, and every fresh bout of strong wind causes these branches to snap. It is long past the time when these trees will be able to throw out some bud, to flower and seed for the future, so the effect of the drought, to me, looks like being even more long-term from a beekeeper’s point of view than ever before. I have only seen one very small patch of trees with bud on them in the past three months, and if they do flower, they would only be enough to support maybe ten hives. Understandably, any beekeeper who does find a patch of flora that might produce is going to keep that knowledge to him/her self, rather than run the risk of being swamped by other beekeepers dumping bees on them.

As a beginning commercial beekeeper in the mid-1980s, I saw the effect of overstocking an area with bees. I had a permit to a site in a small State forest of Mugga Ironbark, and another beekeeper had the permits for the other three sites in that forest. So, there were four loads of bees in the forest at the end of May. I did not appreciate until later why the other beekeeper moved all three of his loads out within a month – it was not until the end of winter, when I had lost 50% of my load to starvation, that I realised there were six other loads of bees on private land jammed hard up against the forest boundary adjacent to my site. The area was simply overstocked, and badly so. I have always wondered whether the other beekeepers had bees that starved as well. I would say this is the most damaging thing that anyone can do as a beekeeper in a time of drought like this – think that just because someone else has found a patch of flora, it must be OK to put a load on top of them and expect to cash in – the end result is that NO-ONE wins.

That moral lesson off my back, what can we do in times of drought?

 First, consider – what do bees need?

Bees are looking for three things:

Pollen

Fresh nectar

Water

 Pollen

Pollen is used by the bees as their source of protein, their source of the amino acids that are essential to their diet. No one species of plant can produce pollen that can supply the ten amino acids we know are needed by the bees for a healthy and well-balanced diet, so they forage on a wide variety of floral species, in order to collect all the needed amino acids. If there are no ground flora, no weeds, and no flowering trees available, their pollen availability is nil, and the queen will not lay eggs, there will be no larvae, and the colony population will, at some stage, crash. The colony can survive for a short time on stored pollen (and honey) but at some stage they need fresh pollen.

Most of the pollen is used to feed the developing larvae, and the first thing that happens when pollen is not available is that the queen shuts down egg-laying – first drone eggs, then worker eggs. Within days of such a pollen dearth, the worker bees will cannibalise the eggs, in a last-ditch effort to conserve protein supply within the hive.

This is where supplementary feeding of pollen can help. There are at least five producers/importers of pollen and or pollen substitute in Australia. Pollen supplement is very beneficial in some circumstances, but a perfect pollen supplement that work in all circumstances has yet to be developed, and will often only replace natural pollen for one or two generations of bees (i.e. three to six weeks). I have myself in the past, used pollen supplements with a high rate of success and economic benefit, but you have to do your arithmetic.

Anyone considering feeding pollen or pollen supplement would benefit from reading Chapters 4 and 5 of Dr Doug Somerville’s book, Fat Bees, Skinny Bees, available for free download from AgriFutures Australia at: https://www.agrifutures.com.au/product/fat-bees-skinny-bees-a-manual-on-honey-bee-nutrition-for-beekeepers/

 Fresh nectar

Bees use nectar to make honey, which is the bees’ source of energy. They also feed the honey to their larvae. Without stored honey, the colony will die within days. If fresh nectar is not available, the bees will not be stimulated to collect pollen, and the queen will cease egg-laying, the colony will not expand, and hygienic behaviour will not be stimulated. The bees in the hive will also be more aggressive as they seek to defend their colony.

A beekeeper can feed his bees a sugar syrup to compensate for the lack of nectar. The supplemental feed keeps the bees alive, but it is expensive and doesn’t produce honey. Not only are you feeding as an expense, but you aren’t gaining any income. The feeding of syrup, regardless of the concentration, can also have a negative effect, as it will stimulate the bees to seek out fresh pollen; this may not be desirable, especially if no pollen is available. The feeding of dry sugar, on the other hand, will provide the necessary carbohydrate, and is possibly the technique of choice if stimulating the colony is to be avoided. NOTE: ALWAYS use white sugar when feeding – syrup or dry sugar – never use raw, brown and dark brown sugar, or molasses, as these may cause dysentery in bees. Bee colonies can be kept alive for long periods by feeding white sugar.

Feeding large amounts of sugar syrup or dry sugar (at a cost) may be necessary this year to help build up colonies for pollination and honey production. It may also be necessary to feed after Spring pollination and through the hot dry Summer months to keep the bees alive. It is extremely important not to feed honey to bees unless it is from your own disease-free hives. Spores of American Foulbrood disease can be present in honey. Feeding honey from an unknown source, for example, a supermarket or even another beekeeper, may cause infection in your hives. If you feed suitable honey to your bees, it must be placed inside the hive. Never place honey in the open outside the hive as this is illegal.

 How and when to feed bees

If sugar syrup or dry sugar is fed in the open, bees from nearby managed and feral colonies will be attracted. You will end up feeding other bees as well as your own. Besides being a waste of money, feeding in the open may cause robber
bee activity in the apiary and possible interchange of bee disease pathogens.

Placement of sugar syrup or dry sugar in hives is best done towards evening to minimise any tendency for bees to rob the hives that are fed.

 Feeding honey bee colonies to prevent starvation - how best to feed sugar syrup? 

Generally, 1:1 syrup is used to supplement honey stores, stimulate colonies to rear brood and encourage drawing of comb foundation particularly in spring. A stronger syrup (2:1 – two parts sugar to one part water) is used to provide food when honey stores in the hive are low. Measuring the sugar and water by weight or volume is alright because there is no need to be 100% exact about the sugar concentration.

Heat the water in a container large enough to hold both the water and sugar. As soon as the water has begun to boil gently, remove the container from the heat source. Pour in the sugar and stir the mixture until the sugar crystals are dissolved. Never boil the mixture as the sugars may caramelise and may be partially indigestible and toxic to bees.

Always let the syrup cool to room temperature before feeding it to bees.

The cooled syrup can be given to hives using one of the following four methods, depending on your own circumstances:

Container with sealable lid; Plastic bag; Shallow tray; Frame feeder.

During the 2003-05 drought, the method that worked for me was to have a kitty litter tray inside a half depth box
(I bought 250 new boxes and cut them all in half so half the boxes did not have rebates for frames - and I later re-joined the boxes for re-use). Inside each tray was a piece of shadecloth, which allowed the bees to feed without them drowning in the syrup. I then purchased 8 x 1,000L IBCs, and had them filled at a sugar mill in Sydney, with a pre-mixed 2:1 sugar syrup. With the boxes on top of the hives, under the lid, I then used a fire pump to fill each tray, which held about 6-8L of syrup, with a petrol-type nozzle on the fire hose. In this way, my wife and I could feed 500 hives in a day, with each hive getting a decent feed. With the fodder subsidy, I received a transport subsidy for travel one way to Sydney.

 Feeding dry sugar

Medium to strong colonies can also be fed dry white table sugar placed on hive mats or in trays under the hive lid. Bees require water for liquefying the sugar crystals. They will obtain supplies from sources outside the hive and sometimes use condensation that may occur inside the hive. Some beekeepers prefer to wet the sugar with water to prevent it from solidifying. In effect, this creates a partial syrup. Weak colonies may be incapable of gathering sufficient water and feeding of dry sugar to them is not recommended. Regardless of colony size, feeding dry sugar works best during Autumn and Spring when humidity is relatively high. The hot, dry conditions of summer make it hard for bees to dissolve sugar crystals into a liquid.

It may be preferable for a colony at starvation level to be first fed syrup before dry sugar is given. This will give the bees immediate food without the need to liquefy crystals. Bees will generally not use dry sugar when they are able to collect sufficient nectar for the colony’s needs. The sugar will remain in the hive and in some cases will be deposited by the bees outside the hive entrance. A small amount of dry sugar may be converted to liquid and stored in the cells.

 Important note

Sugar remaining in combs must not be extracted with the next honey crop. The sugar will contaminate the honey and the extracted product will not conform to the legal standards set out in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code - Standard 2.8.2 – Honey. Ideally, the amount of sugar that was given to the hive will be fully eaten by the bees at the time hives are placed on a honey flow. This is not always possible to achieve. Also, during expansion of the brood nest, sugar stored in brood nest combs may be moved by the bees to the honey super.

 Water

Bees require water for their diet, for production of larval food, to dilute honey and to maintain hive humidity. In hot weather, bees may use more than one litre per day for cooling the hive. In some parts of the world in very hot, dry conditions, a very strong colony may use up to four to five litres per day. Small droplets of water are placed on the comb surface, in open cells and in depressions in the wax on frame top bars. The water is evaporated by bees fanning their wings. Water may be held in reserve in the crops of waiting ‘reservoir’ bees until it is required.

An inadequate supply of water can cause colonies
to overheat and suffocate; there may be melt down of
combs. Even if bees don’t die, the brood may perish or not develop normally.

Bees prefer to collect water from moist sand or soil at the edge of the main body of water at creeks, rivers, dams and other similar natural sources where there is little or no risk of being drowned. 

South Australian beekeepers must provide and maintain a supply of clean water of suitable mineral content for the bees in each place where bees are kept. The water should not be more than 200 metres from any hive. Beekeepers in other states and territories should check the relevant legislation and beekeeping or apiary code of practice.

 Other impacts of drought upon bees - Heat

1. The dry vegetation is also very combustible. We are now into fire season, which is due to the drier climate combined with our strong summer winds. This is very stressful on beekeepers never knowing which area is going to burn next. These fires happen so quickly and randomly that it is difficult to reach our very combustible hives before it’s too late and they either have burnt or will burn, and fire departments can forbid entry to the area due to a safety risk.

2. Fire - make sure your sites are mown and/or scraped (e.g. with a bobcat bucket) to reduce fire risk. In 2003, I placed three loads of bees in State Forest sites on the NSW South Coast. I put one load under a power line, where the grass had been recently mown. The other two loads went onto cleared log dumps, where I used the bobcat to clean the sites back to bare dirt. When the fires came through that area, it was the load under the power line that burned (because of the grass underneath the hive pallets) – the two loads on the cleared sites did not burn, even though they were surrounded by dense forest which did burn.

3.The effect of drought can also drive extremes of heat up. When the temperature reaches 37˚C, field bees switch from foraging to water collection, in an attempt to cool the hive down. By the time the ambient (outside) temperature reaches 43˚C, all of the field force has switched to water carrying. If the temperature continues to climb, the wax in the comb softens, and if holding stored honey can collapse, smother the hive and kill many bees – whole hives can be lost. It thus becomes necessary to consider the provision of shade
and water availability as part of your stratagem to ensure colony survival.

 Upsides of drought

One should always look for rays of sunshine, even in a drought (although rays of falling rain are better-looking). There are some upsides such as: 

• During these drier times, beekeepers report catching less and smaller swarms in some areas compared to previous years.

• Price of honey inevitably goes up as honey supply dwindles. This is a good thing if you can manage to produce some honey, but is a bad thing if it induces the importation of cheap honey from overseas.

• The price for beeswax will similarly also be driven up.

 Support and subsidies for drought-affected farmers (and most states recognise beekeepers as farmers)

I would suggest that you seek assistance through either the Rural Assistance Authority or the Department of Community Services (both of which are NSW), or your State Department of Agriculture Apiary Officers. Outside NSW, try to find out if your state has a Government body similar to the RAA or DOCS. Don’t waste time approaching Centrelink, they do not understand that beekeepers are farmers, and do not have the specialist knowledge required to assist with drought-affected farmers seeking assistance. I would go so far as to say the current Federal Government cut-backs to the Centrelink budget and structure makes them extremely difficult to deal with. You may also need to seek assistance from your accountant. The bottom line is that, if you are paying tax as a beekeeper, then you are a farmer and should  therefore be eligible for drought assistance.

Drought assistance subsidies are available for NSW farmers for a range of things, through the Rural Assistance Authority. For beekeepers this would include transport of sugar syrup, for example if purchased from a sugar mill in Sydney. It can also include low interest loans to help with re-financing debt. https://www.raa.nsw.gov.au/ 

For NSW, transport subsidies will be back-dated for expenses incurred since January 2018. The NSW Government has waived Local Land Services rates, fixed water charges and class-one agricultural vehicle registration costs.

The Australian Taxation Office also is providing extra assistance for drought-affected taxpayers across regional, rural and metropolitan areas to manage their tax while times are tough. https://www.ato.gov.au/Newsroom/smallbusiness/General/Are-you-impacted-by-drought-/?sbnews20180821

Another Federal website worth looking at is: http://www.agriculture.gov.au/ag-farm-food/drought/assistance 

As well as http://www.agriculture.gov.au/ag-farm-food/drought/assistance/other-assistance 

 Depression

The last thing I want to cover is the mental impact of drought upon families experiencing drought. This applies to beekeepers just as much as it applies to other farmers. This is the time when we need to keep an eye on our friends and loved ones, and ensure that they are assisted if they become depressed. While we all feel sad, moody or low from time to time, some people experience these feelings intensely, for long periods of time (weeks, months or even years) and sometimes without any apparent reason. Depression is more than just a low mood – it’s a serious condition that affects your physical and mental health.

Be aware of the signs and symptoms of depression, and if you see them in someone else, offer support. 

 What causes depression?

While we don’t know exactly what causes depression, a number of things are often linked to its development. Depression usually results from a combination of recent events and other longer-term or personal factors, rather than one immediate issue or event.

 Life events

Research suggests that continuing difficulties – long-term unemployment, living in an abusive or uncaring relationship, long-term isolation or loneliness, prolonged work stress – are more likely to cause depression than recent life stresses. However, recent events (such as losing your job) or
a combination of events can ‘trigger’ depression if you’re already at risk because of previous bad experiences
or personal factors.

 Changes in the brain

Although there’s been a lot of research in this complex area, there’s still much we don’t know. Depression is not simply the result of a ‘chemical imbalance’, for example because you have too much or not enough of a particular brain chemical. It’s complicated, and there are multiple causes of major depression. Factors such as genetic vulnerability, severe life stressors, substances you may take (some medications, drugs, and alcohol), and medical conditions can affect the way your brain regulates your moods.

Most modern antidepressants have an effect on your brain’s chemical transmitters (serotonin and noradrenaline), which relay messages between brain cells – this is thought to be how medications work for more severe depression. Psychological treatment can also help you to regulate your moods.

Effective treatment can stimulate the growth of new nerve cells in circuits that regulate your mood, which is thought to play a critical part in recovering from the most severe episodes of depression.

 Remember...

Everyone’s different and it’s often a combination of factors that can contribute to developing depression. It’s important to remember that you can’t always identify the cause of depression or change difficult circumstances. The most important thing is to recognise the signs and symptoms and seek support. It’s important to remember that we all experience some of these symptoms from time to time, and it may not necessarily mean you’re depressed. Equally, not everyone who is experiencing depression will have all of these symptoms.

 Such signs can be:

Behaviour

• Not going out anymore;

• Not getting things done at work/school;

• Withdrawing from close family and friends;

• Relying on alcohol and sedatives;

• Not doing usual enjoyable; activities

• Unable to concentrate.

Feelings

• Overwhelmed;

• Guilty;

• Irritable;

• Frustrated;

• Lacking in confidence;
• Unhappy;

• Indecisive;

• Disappointed;

• Miserable;

• Sad.

Thoughts

• ‘I’m a failure’;

• ‘It’s my fault’;

• ‘Nothing good ever
    happens to me’;
• ‘I’m worthless’;

• ‘Life’s not worth living’;

• ‘People would be better
    off without me’.

Physical

• Tired all the time

• Sick and run down

• Headaches and
  muscle pains

• Churning gut
• Sleep problems

• Loss or change
   of appetite

• Significant weight loss
   or gain

If you think that you or someone you know may be experiencing depression, seek help.

There’s no one proven way that people recover from depression, and it’s different for everyone. However, there are a range of effective treatments and health professionals who can help you on the road to recovery.

There are also plenty of things you can do for yourself to recover and stay well. The important thing is finding the right treatment and the right health professional for your needs:

• Psychological treatments;

• Medical treatments;

• Other sources of support.        

*Des Cannon