Protecting Our Beehives

Key Threats to Bees and Comvita’s Commitment to Bee Welfare

Honeybees are incredibly intelligent and resilient creatures. However, because they are an introduced species in many parts of the world, including New Zealand and Australia, they are vulnerable to certain pests and diseases that have followed them. As beekeepers, it's essential to monitor and manage two key threats to maintain the health and vitality of our hives: the varroa mite and American Foulbrood (AFB). In this article, we’ll dive into these two concerns and share how Comvita cares for and manages our hives to ensure they not only survive but thrive.

Varroa Destructor: A Tiny Parasite with a Big Impact

The varroa mite (Varroa destructor) is the number one concern for beekeepers worldwide. Despite its small size, this tiny parasite has the power to devastate hives quickly. To put its size into perspective, imagine a mite the size of a sesame seed compared to a honeybee, which would be like a dinner plate on a human. The varroa mite targets honeybees exclusively, piercing their exoskeletons to feed on their blood. It also vectors diseases and viruses, suppressing the bee's immune system and hindering hive development, which leaves the colony vulnerable to other pests and diseases. If left untreated, this ultimately leads to colony death.

European honeybees (Apis mellifera) have not always had to deal with the varroa mite; the mite originally evolved alongside its cousin the Asian honeybee (Apis cerana) and unfortunately found its way around the globe from about 1980. Varroa arrived to New Zealand’s shores in the year 2000 and finally made it to Australia in 2022 where it is still in the early stages of containment but unfortunately poses an ongoing threat.

In New Zealand, varroa was the determined cause of over 50% of all winter hive losses during the 2023 season. In the US, the 2023-2024 beekeeping season saw a staggering 55.1% of colonies lost, with the varroa mite reported to be responsible for a large portion of these losses.

The primary challenge with varroa mites is that they are closely related to bees, making them difficult to target without harming the bees themselves. Beekeepers must apply miticides 2-3 times a year to keep the mites under control, but these treatments have varying effectiveness and side effects. Furthermore, mites are developing resistance to many treatments, decreasing their efficacy over time. Mite populations often spike in autumn when bee populations are naturally declining in preparation for winter, leaving the bees even less able to defend against the invader.

Remarkably, just one mite is enough to infest an entire hive. The female mite enters a brood cell, lays 2-5 eggs, and then exits, leaving behind a new generation of mites that will infest more cells. With this rapid reproduction, it’s essential for beekeepers to monitor mite levels closely and rotate treatments to avoid resistance.

At Comvita, we are committed to testing organic hive management options and breeding bees for natural mite resistance, ensuring a sustainable approach to mite control in the years to come. Meanwhile, we implement an Integrated Pest Management Plan (IPM), a proactive approach that relies on active hive monitoring and varroa testing and includes the use of a combination of synthetic and organic treatments carefully timed to eliminate the risk of residues in honey.

American Foulbrood (AFB): The Bacterial Threat

American Foulbrood (AFB) is another significant concern for beekeepers. This bacterial disease produces spores that infect developing larvae. The spores multiply rapidly, and if left unchecked, the disease can quickly spread throughout the hive and to neighbouring colonies. What makes AFB particularly dangerous is that its spores are incredibly resilient, surviving for over 50 years and remaining viable in high heat and freezing temperatures. They can persist in all parts of the hive, including the wooden ware, beeswax, propolis, honey, and the bees themselves.

First recorded in New Zealand in 1877, AFB is now found in almost every beekeeping region worldwide. Unfortunately, there is no cure for AFB, and once a colony is infected, it cannot recover. In many countries around the world, it is standard practice to apply antibiotics to control AFB which serves to “mask” the disease, but New Zealand has a nationally implemented American Foulbrood Disease elimination goal. This means that the best practice for dealing with AFB is to burn the entire hive, including the bees, to prevent the spread of the disease and work towards elimination. While this is devastating for any beekeeper, it’s necessary to protect other colonies from infection. In New Zealand, beekeepers are legally required to follow this strategy as defined by the National American Foulbrood Pest Management Plan, which includes regular inspections, reporting cases of AFB, and destroying infected hives within seven days of discovery. In turn, this means that all the honey produced in New Zealand is antibiotic free.

At Comvita, we take AFB very seriously. All our beekeepers hold a Disease Elimination Conformity Agreement (DECA), receive refresher training at the beginning of every honey season, and we conduct regular thorough inspections of our hives. This is especially important before honey is harvested and before hives are moved to prevent any risk of spreading AFB to extraction equipment or other hive locations.

Comvita’s Bee Welfare Code

At Comvita, we are deeply committed to the welfare of our bees. We understand that our partnership with these incredible creatures is crucial to the health of our ecosystem, and we are dedicated to promoting bee welfare in alignment with international best practices. The principles of animal welfare that guide us are known as the five freedoms:

1. Freedom from hunger, malnutrition, and thirst
2. Freedom from fear and distress
3. Freedom from heat stress or physical discomfort
4. Freedom from pain, injury, and disease
5. Freedom to express normal patterns of behaviour

These freedoms form the foundation of our Bee Welfare Code, which outlines the practices and guidelines we follow to ensure the well-being of our bees.

Our Operating Principles

To achieve the desired outcomes for bee welfare, we adhere to a set of operating principles:

• Ensure that our teams have the necessary training, a safe working environment, and adequate support to focus on being good beekeepers.
• Plan activities and design tasks so that our interactions with bees cause minimal disruption and adhere to the five freedoms.
• Ensure that our actions cause the least amount of disruption to the colony while maintaining optimal health outcomes and colony strength.

We also recognize that there’s always room for improvement. Our Bee Welfare Code is a living document, evolving with advances in technology, techniques, and scientific research. As we learn more and refine our approach, we aim to set an example for the beekeeping industry and ensure the long-term health of these essential creatures.

Looking Toward the Future

At Comvita, we are committed to sustainable, ethical beekeeping practices that promote the health of our hives. By staying vigilant against threats like varroa and AFB, we aim to ensure that our bees not only survive but thrive. As we look to the future of beekeeping, we will continue to invest in research, refine our methods, and explore new technologies to protect our hives and lead the industry in bee welfare. Together, we can ensure that honeybees continue to play their essential role in our ecosystems, supporting pollination and biodiversity for generations to come.

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Noelani Waters is Comvita’s Bee and Nature Advocate. She has been a beekeeper for 13 years across many areas of the apiculture industry, working as an apiary inspector, community educator, bee researcher, commercial beekeeper and queen bee breeder in her home of Hawai’i and here New Zealand since 2019. She is very passionate about sharing the importance and magic of pollinators with people of all ages to help increase advocacy and a connection to nature.