March 2, 2026

COLOSS & Honey Bee Nutrition with Dr. Priya Basu (374)

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In this episode, we welcome back Dr. Priyadarshini “Priya” Basu of Washington State University to discuss two major topics shaping the future of beekeeping: the upcoming COLOSS North America meeting and the evolving science of honey bee nutrition.

COLOSS (Prevention of Colony Losses) is an international nonprofit network of more than 2,000 honey bee researchers across 113 countries. For the first time, a multi–task force North American meeting will be held June 6–12 at Washington State University in Pullman. The event will bring together researchers, beekeepers, veterinarians, inspectors, and growers to discuss nutrition, pathogens, pesticides, climate change, and landscape impacts on honey bee health. Workshops, tours, and hands-on sessions will provide practical learning opportunities for attendees at all levels.

Priya also shares updates from her lab’s nutrition research, including pollen landscape mapping across North America, micronutrient analysis, supplemental forage strategies, and how nutrition interacts with stressors like pesticides and disease. The discussion covers practical considerations for trapping and storing pollen, differences between pollen substitutes and supplements, winter feeding strategies, and how nutrition influences brood production and colony resilience.

This episode connects cutting-edge research directly to real-world beekeeping decisions — from hobbyists to commercial operations.

Websites from the episode and others we recommend:

 

Copyright © 2026 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

 

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Faraday by BeGun; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Wedding Day by Boomer; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; Red Jack Blues by Daniel Hart; Bolero de la Fontero  by Rimsky Music; Perfect Sky by Graceful Movement; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott.

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Copyright © 2026 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

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WEBVTT

00:00:01.479 --> 00:00:05.700
Hey everyone, welcome to the Beekeeping Today podcast.

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My name is Alicia McDuffie.

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I'm from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and I am the current owner of Shangri-La Bees.

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I hope you enjoy today and the speaker they have for you.

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Welcome to Beekeeping Today podcast presented by Better Bee, your source for beekeeping

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news, information, and entertainment.

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I'm Jeff Ott.

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And I'm Becky Masterman.

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Today's episode is brought to you by the bee nutrition superheroes at Global Patties.

00:00:32.700 --> 00:00:37.580
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00:00:54.840 --> 00:01:01.080
Head over to www.globalpatties.com and give your bees the nutrition they deserve.

00:01:01.780 --> 00:01:10.880
Hey, a quick shout out to Better Bee and all of our sponsors, whose support allows us to bring you this podcast each week without resorting to a fee-based subscription.

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Be sure to check out all of our content on the website.

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There, you can read up on all of our guests, read our blog on the various aspects and observations about beekeeping,

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Search for, download, and listen to over 300 past episodes, read episode transcripts, leave comments and feedback on each episode, and check on podcast specials from our sponsors.

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You can find it all at www.beekeepingtoday.com.

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Hey, Alicia McDuffie from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

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Welcome for that great opening.

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I bet it's pretty nice weather in North Carolina right now.

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What do you think?

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I'm sure it is.

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When I was in college in West Virginia, we often went down the East Coast, down to Florida,

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and I spent a time or two in Salem area, and it's a really nice area in the springtime.

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So I'm sure Alicia and her bees are enjoying the spring weather.

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It is a gorgeous state, and not humid at all, so that's cool.

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Yeah.

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You know, this has been a weird February.

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The weather has been up and down and crazy, depending on where you are.

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I keep hearing about all this snow coming across the country and barely any of it is landing in Minnesota where I am, which is so unusual.

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I'm used to a very different, I'm used to always being the recipient of these huge winter snowstorms.

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And instead, we're watching them on television.

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Happening elsewhere.

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Yes.

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So have you had a chance to get out to see your bees?

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I definitely have.

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It's been, I think, the fourth day in a row with over 50 degree temperatures.

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And so not only have I been able to just peek at them, but I've actually been able to dig

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into them, clean out bottom boards, and importantly, assess how much food they have in them.

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Because I have some colonies, a lot of my colonies, not every one of them, but most

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of my colonies that have come through the winter are huge.

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Like just, they're so, so big.

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And so I need to make sure they have enough food to continue on.

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And the good news is that they do.

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So I'm excited.

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They're strong and they're heavy.

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So two good things in winter bees.

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I'm driving people on Facebook absolutely crazy because I won't stop posting pictures of them.

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Although I can't do much now that the weather is going to cool down.

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Slow them down a little bit maybe.

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Sounds like you'll also have to be on top of them this spring.

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make sure that you're doing your splits and making sure you're not chasing swarms all spring long.

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I do not like chasing any kind of swarming behavior. So I'm pretty aggressive when I divide.

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The cool thing though, is that remember last year when I was shopping for queens? So I'm starting

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to collect some pretty good data as far as queens that have just come through the winter so far

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to date, but just extremely well. And remember I told you that I got some Kutik queens, K-U-T-I-K?

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I got those from Better Bee. I had to pay for them, but that's okay. I paid for them because

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then I can say this. It's not a sponsored ad, but these queens, the colonies are gorgeous. I was so

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impressed. So it was kind of fun to see them do well. And then I've always had good luck with

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Saskatraz. But last year I also tried Golden West, Randy Oliver's Golden West. And oh my gosh,

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These bees are just so, so pretty.

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You can tell I have a lot of excitement about these winter bees.

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Well, this is a good time of year to have excitement for the bees.

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This is the time when you start building things and building up colonies and getting set for the next season.

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So this is fun.

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That's really good.

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You've already been in your colonies like more than once.

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A little bit.

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And you've had 60 degree days.

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I've seen the pictures.

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Yeah.

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Unfortunately, on the 60-degree day, I wasn't actually able to get into the colonies, but they are flying, and that is so much fun to see.

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And I think, have you seen pollen?

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Oh, lots of pollen.

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Yeah, we've seen lots of pollen coming in.

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There's a heather plant that's out that they go to.

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And earlier in January, the hazelnut, now I think the red maple's starting to bloom too, or has been.

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So they're ramping up.

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It's fun to see.

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It's quite the season, so hopefully it'll just keep getting better and better for all those beekeepers out there.

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Yeah.

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For those waiting to hear today's Hive IQ tool question, we're going to do that with our next guest, who is Priya Basu, who is with Washington State University.

00:05:49.140 --> 00:05:50.660
And Priya's been on the show before.

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We look forward to having her back talking about the Colossus Conference.

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It's going to be in Washington State this summer.

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And then also any updates on nutrition.

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Looking forward to seeing Priya again.

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Oh, yeah, me too.

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And we'll have our HiveIQ tool question with Priya and have her help us answer it.

00:06:08.780 --> 00:06:12.360
So coming up right after this break is Priya Basu.

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For more than 45 years, Better Bee has proudly supported beekeepers by offering high-quality, innovative products, providing outstanding customer service.

00:06:25.880 --> 00:06:31.940
Many of our staff are beekeepers themselves, and sharing education to help beekeepers succeed.

00:06:33.300 --> 00:06:38.840
Based in Greenwich, New York, Better Bee serves beekeepers all across the United States.

00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:49.460
Whether you're just getting started or a seasoned pro, Better Bee has the products and experience to help you and your bees succeed.

00:06:50.740 --> 00:06:57.780
Visit BetterBe.com or call 1-800-632-3379.

00:06:59.080 --> 00:07:01.740
BetterBe, your partners in better beekeeping.

00:07:08.020 --> 00:07:13.560
This episode of Beekeeping Today podcast is brought to you in part by Apis Tactical,

00:07:14.020 --> 00:07:16.200
a beekeeping brand focused on innovation.

00:07:17.860 --> 00:07:22.420
They use new designs, new materials, and new ideas to bring more joy to beekeeping.

00:07:23.400 --> 00:07:27.300
Apis Tactical creates a wide range of gear for beekeepers of all types.

00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:32.720
They use new designs, new materials, and new ideas to bring more joy to beekeeping.

00:07:33.520 --> 00:07:38.380
Their products are built with purpose, and they're already getting attention well beyond the U.S.,

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with beekeepers in Europe discovering them through this podcast.

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00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:52.880
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00:07:54.260 --> 00:07:54.780
Hey, everybody.

00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:55.800
Welcome back.

00:07:55.960 --> 00:08:03.360
Sitting around the great big virtual Beekeeping Today podcast table is over in Pullman, Washington,

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is Priya Basu, who's been on the show before.

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Priya, welcome to the show.

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Thank you so much for having me back.

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It's great to be here.

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And Becky's in St. Paul, as we know.

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I am still in St. Paul.

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Priya, I have to ask you a question. I'm going to interrupt right away in the beginning. So

00:08:20.980 --> 00:08:28.340
I know that you miss those beekeepers and your colleagues in Mississippi, but do you also miss

00:08:28.460 --> 00:08:35.020
the weather right now? Or how are you liking Washington weather? Well, to be fair, I actually

00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:39.340
do better in cold than in heat. And this is strange coming from somebody who's originally

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from India, from a very hot and humid part of India. But I did live in Corvallis, Oregon when

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I was a postdoc with Ramesh at Oregon State. So I'm sort of like used to the Pacific Northwest

00:08:51.720 --> 00:08:56.820
weather, but Eastern Washington is obviously a different ballgame. But I do miss my colleagues

00:08:56.890 --> 00:09:02.360
and beekeepers in Mississippi. They were amazing. I'm sure you do. And I bet they miss you too.

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Have you started your colonies yet? Have you started planning for your apiary or

00:09:07.540 --> 00:09:12.239
is it already established? It is already established because the WSU bee program

00:09:12.260 --> 00:09:18.580
already has established apiaries across that Dr. Steve Shepard had started. And then Dr. Brandon

00:09:18.700 --> 00:09:24.720
Hopkins and I, we are the two new, or rather we are the two PIs in this program. So we are the

00:09:24.740 --> 00:09:29.700
two professors in this program. So we share all of the general beekeeping resources, colonies,

00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:35.859
apiaries, and everything. What's a PI? I'm sorry. I should have like, which is why I kind of changed

00:09:35.880 --> 00:09:43.340
to professors. A PI is a principal investigator in grant funding terms. But Brandon and I,

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we are the two now sort of like faculty within the WSUB program. We are doing research extension

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teaching and all of it. So we share all of those resources, which is why this transition was very

00:09:55.760 --> 00:10:01.879
smooth last year. We could just immediately get back into our existing projects and start new

00:10:01.900 --> 00:10:08.100
ones. Well, it looks like you're getting settled in really nicely there in Pullman. Yeah. And I do

00:10:08.160 --> 00:10:16.800
like my office. Part of the podcast is a promotion by one of our great sponsors, Hive IQ, and we are

00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:21.320
running a promotion with them where a listener will send in a question, either they'll leave it

00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:27.539
as a voicemail or they send in an email. And then if we read it on the air and we answer it, and we

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We don't have to be correct in our answer, but we do provide an answer.

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We'll send them a Hive IQ tool, which is really, really nice.

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And it's co-branded with the Beekeeping Today podcast.

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So we saved the question for you to help us answer.

00:10:41.300 --> 00:10:41.940
Yes, Priya.

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This question has kind of two different levels because one's going to be very practical advice,

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but the other is really bringing in the younger generation into beekeeping.

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And you have a little bit of experience introducing the younger generation to bees, don't you?

00:11:00.640 --> 00:11:02.300
I do, to some extent, yes.

00:11:03.800 --> 00:11:08.960
I did write a children's book just trying to get the younger generation, you know, more

00:11:09.280 --> 00:11:13.440
aware about honeybees, about pollinators, but also interested in beekeeping.

00:11:13.980 --> 00:11:18.080
And I'm also working closely with Ellen Miller at the Washington State Beekeeping Association

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to start a youth beekeeping program, at least with the state of Washington.

00:11:23.540 --> 00:11:26.060
so we are also working closely with 4-H

00:11:26.700 --> 00:11:27.200
oh fantastic

00:11:27.680 --> 00:11:28.540
and what's the name of your book?

00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:30.580
Young Zoologist Honeybees

00:11:30.800 --> 00:11:33.220
it's actually a series called Young Zoologist

00:11:33.340 --> 00:11:35.320
so Macmillan Publishers

00:11:35.370 --> 00:11:37.120
their London office had reached out to me

00:11:37.150 --> 00:11:39.520
to write a part of that series on honeybees

00:11:39.690 --> 00:11:41.540
and there are other experts like me

00:11:41.680 --> 00:11:43.720
if you call me an expert I don't know

00:11:43.820 --> 00:11:46.320
but there are other scientists like me

00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:48.300
who've written about maybe the humpback whales

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or some other animal

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very nice

00:11:51.140 --> 00:11:52.259
I'll read Ryan's question

00:11:52.280 --> 00:11:54.220
and it is Ryan Flug.

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He writes, good afternoon.

00:11:56.640 --> 00:11:58.740
I have a question about new beekeepers.

00:11:59.480 --> 00:12:00.900
Mainly after attending Nabi,

00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:04.260
it was driven home how old the current beekeeper is.

00:12:04.940 --> 00:12:05.540
Wait a minute.

00:12:06.020 --> 00:12:07.080
I know, seriously.

00:12:07.210 --> 00:12:08.420
Is this like an attack?

00:12:08.860 --> 00:12:09.980
Is this an attack question?

00:12:10.460 --> 00:12:12.440
Ryan, you're sending this question

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as about forgetting a tool.

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This is not a good way to start.

00:12:16.100 --> 00:12:17.680
All right, back to the letter.

00:12:18.260 --> 00:12:19.880
My wife and I took that challenge

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and are aiming to get our daughters involved

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by letting them paint hives all the colors that can get them excited to help.

00:12:25.620 --> 00:12:30.600
So my questions are, is there any specific color we shouldn't paint?

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I assume black for heat in the summer.

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Anything else we should avoid or just let them have fun?

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And is there any certain heights that I need to be at for the hives?

00:12:41.800 --> 00:12:42.860
My daughters are short.

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I plan on having a stool, but just don't want them to be too high to start.

00:12:47.280 --> 00:12:51.860
Is eight inches enough to at least give them the most chance to help as possible?

00:12:52.530 --> 00:12:53.700
Thanks from Northern Iowa.

00:12:54.200 --> 00:12:56.000
Thanks, Ryan, for that question.

00:12:56.760 --> 00:12:57.840
Well, that's a good question.

00:12:58.300 --> 00:13:01.640
This is a good time of year for that kind of question because people are painting their hives.

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What is a good color to paint a hive?

00:13:04.280 --> 00:13:07.040
I think for me, all colors are good colors.

00:13:07.310 --> 00:13:17.040
The general recommendation usually is if you're painting your hive bodies a lighter color like white or pastel yellow or something, it helps reflect the heat.

00:13:17.160 --> 00:13:22.000
As Ryan also correctly pointed out, if you paint it black, it's going to absorb a lot of heat.

00:13:22.280 --> 00:13:35.340
A lot of folks who tend to be in the northern climate and their summers are really not as hot as the southern Gulf Coast summers, you can opt for maybe a darker color to actually try and retain that warmth in winter.

00:13:36.380 --> 00:13:40.140
But in terms of letting your children go crazy, I will say yes.

00:13:41.500 --> 00:13:52.800
Actually, from personal experience, I have been hosting a ton of hive painting outreach and education events with children, especially children with medical complexity.

00:13:53.650 --> 00:14:06.520
So even in my past job at Mississippi State University for one of our on-campus research apiaries, we had children come in from these very special groups and they could paint those hives in any way they wanted.

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We had glow-in-the-dark paints. We had glitter paints.

00:14:10.640 --> 00:14:17.160
We also had boxes that had the university colors already painted on them, empty hive boxes.

00:14:17.520 --> 00:14:18.800
So they could just go crazy.

00:14:19.100 --> 00:14:24.860
And then they could also drive by in their cars and see those hives in action for an entire year.

00:14:25.580 --> 00:14:32.880
I cannot give you a statistical significance to this, but it made no difference to the bees.

00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:36.620
Both of these hive boxes were painted as.

00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:44.000
They were all part of our research colonies, and we kept changing them out box by box between different events.

00:14:44.820 --> 00:14:48.880
So yes, having children participate in that, they will love it.

00:14:48.880 --> 00:14:49.940
My daughter loves painting.

00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:53.280
It could also help reduce drifting in an apiary.

00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:59.400
If you really do get creative, you could make it easier for the bees to figure out which home was theirs.

00:14:59.720 --> 00:15:02.480
It might not help those drones at all, but it could really help the workers.

00:15:03.580 --> 00:15:06.240
Honeybees can recognize shapes, right? Different shapes.

00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:07.060
Correct.

00:15:07.500 --> 00:15:10.980
So if you had a different distinguishing shape on the front of the...

00:15:11.420 --> 00:15:13.020
doesn't even need to be on the front of the hive.

00:15:13.520 --> 00:15:16.760
Doesn't have to be on the landing surface, but just could be in the front facing

00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:20.540
part of the hive, a very distinct shape or color that they'll recognize.

00:15:21.380 --> 00:15:22.140
As long as...

00:15:22.420 --> 00:15:25.140
I'm hoping you're not talking about coloring the inside of the hive.

00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:26.520
As long as you do...

00:15:26.580 --> 00:15:27.260
You don't want to do that.

00:15:28.160 --> 00:15:30.800
If you can't see it, then you can go crazy.

00:15:31.140 --> 00:15:32.800
Let the bees paint that with propolis.

00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:36.060
And what about heights above the ground?

00:15:36.460 --> 00:15:42.160
for the colony? I have an answer for that one. I have a very important answer as somebody who,

00:15:42.580 --> 00:15:48.880
I think, I used to be 5'3", but I think I'm 5'2". Now, honestly, the lower, the better.

00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:54.880
And one of the ways, one of the hive stands that we use is made of two by fours. So it's four

00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.860
inches off the ground and you've got a dead airspace, which Ryan is in Iowa. So that dead

00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.379
airspace could be a little bit helpful for those, for those bees over the winter. But Etienne does

00:16:04.400 --> 00:16:10.680
the same thing. He uses a dead airspace in the Yukon. And so I think that four inches is a nice

00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:16.960
little bit of height above the ground, but not too high. Because once you start getting higher

00:16:17.010 --> 00:16:22.620
than that, if you are not tall, it makes it really difficult to move those boxes once they get

00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:26.960
taller. And then you get on a rickety ladder and that's not safe. Once they get taller and they're

00:16:27.900 --> 00:16:32.579
full, that's horrible. I agree with you, Becky. And honestly, I mean, we just even sometimes use

00:16:32.600 --> 00:16:38.380
cinder blocks enough to keep the hives above the ground so that they are not snowed in completely

00:16:38.650 --> 00:16:43.340
at the entrance or we are keeping other things away from the colony from the ground, especially

00:16:43.680 --> 00:16:48.880
during if we get heavy rain, which we don't as such in Pullman, but just kind of keeping that

00:16:48.990 --> 00:16:54.080
mud and rain out as well as snow out. But we just use general cinder blocks. So it's really not that

00:16:54.460 --> 00:16:59.839
as high as you're anticipating. I don't think there's any data that supports this, but we used

00:16:59.860 --> 00:17:05.439
to put them up a little bit so that the skunks and other critters had to reach up to get inside

00:17:05.560 --> 00:17:10.060
the colony and expose their underside. So that was the rationale. So the eight inches would work for

00:17:10.140 --> 00:17:15.839
that as well. Just throwing that out there. Just throwing that out there. So eight. Okay, good,

00:17:15.980 --> 00:17:21.000
good, good. Well, thanks, Ryan, for that great question. It sounds like you and your family are

00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:26.499
going to have a great time painting those hives this year and go wild with the colors. I think

00:17:26.520 --> 00:17:32.000
handprints would go well. Oh, I've seen lots of those. That would be fun. Well, Priya, we asked

00:17:32.060 --> 00:17:37.740
you here today, you are in charge, I believe, of a big event coming up this July. A huge event.

00:17:38.220 --> 00:17:46.460
Yeah. It's not just big, it's like huge. We were anticipating it to be small, but now it's kind of

00:17:46.500 --> 00:17:54.019
like snowballed into a bigger event. First, tell us, what is Coloss? And then we can get into the

00:17:54.040 --> 00:17:59.820
details of the meeting, but what is Coloss? Coloss is actually a non-profit entirely of

00:17:59.940 --> 00:18:06.700
honeybee researchers. So we are easily over 2000 members. We are all honeybee researchers over 113

00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:12.260
countries across the world. And it's based in Switzerland. We do have an executive council

00:18:12.500 --> 00:18:17.699
actually from the United States, Dr. Jeff Williams and Dr. Selena Bruckner brought

00:18:17.720 --> 00:18:23.380
from Auburn University are members of the Executive Council. I am the North American

00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:29.040
chair of the Bee Nutrition Task Force. So we have these several task forces within COLAS

00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:36.500
where each task force is tasked with certain things. Overall, we are really a group of honeybee

00:18:36.560 --> 00:18:44.639
researchers across the world, across many different countries, just trying to improve the health of

00:18:44.660 --> 00:18:50.360
honeybee colonies and trying to figure out what's going wrong. For those who can't visualize it,

00:18:50.620 --> 00:18:57.120
C-O-L-O-S-S? Correct. What's that stand for? Prevention of colony loss. That sounds exciting.

00:18:57.600 --> 00:19:03.060
What is the event going on this summer? I'm so glad you guys asked me about it. So what we're

00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:10.059
doing is for the first time, we're actually trying to host like a multi-task force sort of like

00:19:10.080 --> 00:19:16.480
Coloss meeting in Pullman in June this year. So the meeting will be June 6th through 12th.

00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:20.780
We have like very specific agendas for each day. We have hands-on workshops

00:19:21.160 --> 00:19:26.560
for veterinarians. We have artificial insemination workshop. We also have

00:19:27.150 --> 00:19:33.100
bee facility tours. We have commercial beekeeper tours as well as grower operation tours. We are

00:19:33.220 --> 00:19:41.100
hoping to connect colleagues across US, Canada, as well as Europe. So we are calling this local

00:19:41.220 --> 00:19:46.020
Colossus North America meeting. And this is sort of like a test run. And hopefully we might be able

00:19:46.020 --> 00:19:52.060
to have a larger sort of like Colossus meeting eventually, as US is the country of hosting.

00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:58.400
But we are really hoping to connect bee researchers, beekeepers, apiary inspectors,

00:19:58.740 --> 00:20:04.100
veterinarians. And honestly, anybody who's interested in learning more about honeybees,

00:20:04.780 --> 00:20:09.980
and we'll be sharing research, beekeeping anecdotes, as well as beekeeping expertise

00:20:10.370 --> 00:20:16.000
across North American Europe. So we have a lot of beekeepers and researchers across multiple

00:20:16.180 --> 00:20:21.960
countries who will be presenting, as well as they'll be hosting panel. And we are really

00:20:22.060 --> 00:20:29.120
hoping to bring everybody in and kind of bridge this gap in our understanding of, you know, each

00:20:29.280 --> 00:20:33.560
country has a different problem, even within the same country, each region could have a different

00:20:33.700 --> 00:20:39.500
problem. So what are we facing? How can we kind of come up with that? Does somebody else do something

00:20:39.620 --> 00:20:45.360
differently? So building these bridges, building these partnerships across these multiple countries.

00:20:45.620 --> 00:20:53.880
So this meeting is being supported by the Bee Nutrition Task Force, the Bee Scholars Task Force, as well as Cost Action Europe.

00:20:54.600 --> 00:21:07.760
And we also have our co-organizers across these different task forces, not just me on the U.S. side, but also a lot of my colleagues from Europe who are helping us kind of organize this meeting together.

00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:10.660
Colas, how long has that organization been around?

00:21:11.340 --> 00:21:13.180
It's been quite a while.

00:21:13.700 --> 00:21:18.420
Because many of our listeners, this might be the first time they're actually hearing any discussion.

00:21:18.600 --> 00:21:24.180
I know we've not had anybody from Colossus talk about the program in our eight years.

00:21:24.900 --> 00:21:27.520
I believe Colossus was initiated around 2008.

00:21:28.800 --> 00:21:32.800
Right when all of the really severe honeybee losses, colony losses happened.

00:21:33.360 --> 00:21:37.660
Correct. And it was a European Union cost action funded initiative.

00:21:38.740 --> 00:21:43.920
I'm thinking, Jeff, that we haven't heard about it because it hasn't been very scientist-focused.

00:21:44.210 --> 00:21:52.060
And so I was so excited to see the information that you sent out about it because it is so welcoming to beekeepers.

00:21:52.420 --> 00:21:56.160
You want beekeepers to show up and be a part of this.

00:21:57.020 --> 00:22:07.480
Absolutely. And we actually have a few beekeepers who are also going to be on the panels talking about various aspects of honeybee health, beekeeping, and just general beekeeping management practices.

00:22:08.520 --> 00:22:14.020
This is exciting for beekeepers because if you put it on your list to attend a meeting

00:22:14.460 --> 00:22:18.080
that's going to be a little bit different than some of the other bee meetings you're

00:22:18.080 --> 00:22:25.820
used to attending, this is the one to attend because you will learn so much by being a

00:22:25.820 --> 00:22:32.160
part of this and watching these presentations and interacting with the scientists and the

00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:33.820
growers and other beekeepers.

00:22:34.320 --> 00:22:38.460
So this is kind of a big deal for all of you thinking beekeepers out there.

00:22:39.520 --> 00:22:43.140
If someone wanted to find out more information, it's coloss.org, right?

00:22:43.480 --> 00:22:45.740
C-O-L-O-S-S dot org.

00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:46.340
Yes.

00:22:46.600 --> 00:22:53.180
And we also have additional information up on our WSU Bee Program website under the events

00:22:53.780 --> 00:22:53.900
section.

00:22:54.540 --> 00:23:00.280
Or somebody could also just actually reach out to either of you or me with additional

00:23:00.580 --> 00:23:00.780
questions.

00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:02.120
Thank you.

00:23:02.300 --> 00:23:06.600
We will make sure that we have a link to it because, and I think that there's a lot more

00:23:06.610 --> 00:23:07.200
to talk about.

00:23:07.410 --> 00:23:12.920
So I think we're going to have some more conversations over the next couple of months so that people

00:23:13.060 --> 00:23:16.640
can maybe learn more about what's going on as far as the planning and the events.

00:23:17.720 --> 00:23:20.480
But is it to the point where registration is open?

00:23:21.040 --> 00:23:21.220
Yes.

00:23:21.370 --> 00:23:26.100
So our registrations have been made open registration and abstract submission.

00:23:26.310 --> 00:23:28.220
We use a single link for that.

00:23:28.370 --> 00:23:31.160
So it's open since about December now.

00:23:31.540 --> 00:23:35.040
And it will stay open through the end of April, beginning of May.

00:23:35.610 --> 00:23:43.520
The name of the meeting is Nutrition, Landscape Change and Honeybee Health, a transatlantic dialogue, which is local Colossus, North America.

00:23:43.670 --> 00:23:47.960
So I'll be happy to share additional information with you, including the registration link.

00:23:48.580 --> 00:24:01.780
We have like this tentative agenda also on our website, where now it kind of shows the programs for each of those days, including the hands-on workshops and the tours that we are offering as a part of this meeting.

00:24:02.540 --> 00:24:09.340
And we should be able to update our agenda by mid-March with the specific names for speakers and panelists.

00:24:10.320 --> 00:24:14.060
Will this be at the university? Is that where all the meetings are going to be held?

00:24:15.040 --> 00:24:21.400
Yes. So the major part of the meeting will be at Washington State University in our Pullman campus.

00:24:22.070 --> 00:24:27.960
And then the two grower tours will be in and around central Washington, so around the Othello area.

00:24:28.700 --> 00:24:33.120
And what about accommodations? Are participants going to, do they get to stay in dorms, Priya?

00:24:33.710 --> 00:24:40.340
I have explored some of the dorm options as well, and I can have a better answer about it in a few days.

00:24:41.160 --> 00:24:44.320
It's also summer, so we have to kind of figure that out.

00:24:44.340 --> 00:24:48.760
But I do have two hotels on campus who are offering reduced rates,

00:24:48.900 --> 00:24:52.300
and there is another hotel outside of campus in Pullman

00:24:52.840 --> 00:24:56.400
who's also offering a reduced rate for any of the Colossal participants.

00:24:57.260 --> 00:25:00.320
Okay, those three options sound so much better than the dorms.

00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:01.660
Oh, come on, Jackie.

00:25:01.860 --> 00:25:02.400
I'm just saying.

00:25:02.780 --> 00:25:03.840
Dorm life is fun.

00:25:04.840 --> 00:25:05.320
Sure.

00:25:07.760 --> 00:25:09.640
No, but what an opportunity also.

00:25:10.060 --> 00:25:15.020
some of those meetings that are on campus, college campuses, it's really a treat for beekeepers to be

00:25:15.020 --> 00:25:22.200
able to hang out and be a part of the college campus scene. And obviously the campus is perfect

00:25:22.380 --> 00:25:29.340
for meetings where you're in a lot of different venues and rooms. Absolutely. We'll be hosting it

00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:40.020
at the Ensminger Pavilion, which is right next to the pollinator garden that we are developing. So

00:25:40.040 --> 00:25:43.420
workshops as well as do the artificial insemination workshop and all.

00:25:44.100 --> 00:25:46.720
How many participants are you expecting to be there?

00:25:47.320 --> 00:25:55.500
As many as we can, to be honest. I mean, the pavilion itself can hold easily about 150 to

00:25:55.500 --> 00:26:01.240
200 people. We already have a few generous sponsors who are sponsoring this event. So

00:26:01.240 --> 00:26:05.940
if anybody's also willing to be a sponsor for this event, we have different tiers of sponsorship.

00:26:06.180 --> 00:26:12.280
please also reach out to us. But we will also have some of our sponsors present at the event

00:26:12.500 --> 00:26:17.460
because they'll have booths, they'll have these tables that beekeepers will also get an opportunity

00:26:17.780 --> 00:26:24.340
to talk to a lot of these companies. This sounds like really a great opportunity for anybody who's

00:26:24.380 --> 00:26:30.440
interested in bees to come in and learn firsthand from the researchers about anything honeybees,

00:26:30.540 --> 00:26:37.440
but you're focusing specifically on the nutrition and landscape and what was the third item?

00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:43.680
No, no, not really. So it's, I mean, the name kind of says nutrition, landscape and honeybee health.

00:26:44.200 --> 00:26:50.620
When you look at our agenda, we have different programs for each day. So one day we are focusing

00:26:50.740 --> 00:26:56.080
on nutrition, climate change and landscape. Another day we are focusing on honeybee diseases,

00:26:56.620 --> 00:27:01.920
pathogens, pests. We have veterinarian-focused talks. We also have Tropi-Lay Labs panel

00:27:02.280 --> 00:27:08.160
that Matt Mullica from Honeybee Health Coalition is putting together. We also have a day for

00:27:08.280 --> 00:27:14.540
pesticides. We have some sessions on extension education. We have really like a whole range of

00:27:14.600 --> 00:27:20.520
topics covering honeybee health, as well as beekeeping and management practices. So we are

00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:25.480
really hoping to connect, you know, not only just beekeepers and researchers, but also apiary

00:27:25.500 --> 00:27:31.360
inspectors, growers, as well as veterinarians. Well, it sounds like a great opportunity for

00:27:31.460 --> 00:27:35.380
anybody who wants to come in there and learn. From hobbyist to commercial person, that'd be great.

00:27:35.860 --> 00:27:40.880
Absolutely. And we're hoping to really connect this audience, not only just across North America,

00:27:41.040 --> 00:27:46.500
but also Europe, US, and Canada. Priya, this sounds like it's going to be a who's who

00:27:46.700 --> 00:27:53.360
in beekeeping research. I'm really hoping. I'm really excited about that. And thank you,

00:27:53.600 --> 00:27:58.500
Jeff, for willing to join us. Well, not from the research standpoint. You don't want me to do that,

00:27:59.010 --> 00:28:05.120
but we will be there. Beekeeping Today will be there to help with any way we can and provide

00:28:05.300 --> 00:28:11.160
some recording for future episodes. It'll be a lot of fun and we'll be honored and excited to be there

00:28:11.370 --> 00:28:15.840
and participating. Thank you so much. I do appreciate this partnership. It'd be fun.

00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:19.380
Let's hear from our sponsors and we'll come back and talk about honeybee nutrition.

00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:24.140
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00:29:53.100 --> 00:29:54.240
Welcome back, everybody.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:58.640
Priya, a subject near and dear to my heart, honeybee nutrition.

00:29:59.660 --> 00:30:07.020
Can you give us an update as far as what's going on in the world of nutrition and the work that you're doing?

00:30:07.660 --> 00:30:14.640
Honeybee nutrition is extremely complex as a concept because you're kind of looking at the whole colony,

00:30:15.260 --> 00:30:17.340
But you're also looking at individual bees.

00:30:18.280 --> 00:30:19.140
Are they larvae?

00:30:19.300 --> 00:30:19.800
Are they adults?

00:30:20.320 --> 00:30:20.920
What casts?

00:30:21.280 --> 00:30:21.820
What ages?

00:30:22.080 --> 00:30:24.120
So it really kind of makes it very complex.

00:30:24.660 --> 00:30:27.580
And then you add in the landscape factor to it and what's available.

00:30:28.500 --> 00:30:31.060
Or the artificial diet part of that.

00:30:31.580 --> 00:30:35.300
So in our lab, we are really trying to tackle it from all of these angles.

00:30:35.980 --> 00:30:40.160
And I'm saying this because I usually take credit for the amazing work that my lab does

00:30:40.280 --> 00:30:40.980
and all the students.

00:30:41.980 --> 00:30:49.300
I really do have like this amazing lab and we do work as a hive, all of us. So in terms of

00:30:49.300 --> 00:30:56.400
bee nutrition alone, we are doing a whole range of projects where one, we are obviously mapping

00:30:56.620 --> 00:31:01.700
the bee nutrition landscape. So we are looking at the nutritional quality of pollen across North

00:31:01.940 --> 00:31:08.300
America. And we are kind of doing it, you know, a little at a time. We've been able to look at the

00:31:08.320 --> 00:31:14.180
macro and micronutrients in these pollen samples from about over 100 plants in the last four years

00:31:14.320 --> 00:31:22.360
now. We are also doing a pollen atlas project across North America. We started it in the

00:31:22.620 --> 00:31:28.020
southeast and we've expanded it to the northwest and beekeepers are actually our citizen scientists.

00:31:28.300 --> 00:31:34.100
I also have a few beekeepers from other regions in the U.S. who are collecting pollen for us so

00:31:34.040 --> 00:31:40.720
we are really hoping to be able to map that pollen flow for you. So which plant, what time of the

00:31:40.840 --> 00:31:45.200
year, how much in each of these locations that we are mapping, and what's the nutritional quality

00:31:45.300 --> 00:31:50.060
of that pollen. And then when we do this year after year, year after year, so we can actually

00:31:50.220 --> 00:31:54.960
tell the beekeepers what to expect if we are losing plants, gaining plants, so that bloom times

00:31:55.260 --> 00:32:02.540
are shifting. We are also doing a lot of work on different cropping systems, blueberries, canolas,

00:32:02.980 --> 00:32:08.640
apples, where we are looking at the supplemental forage practices sometimes that growers use,

00:32:09.380 --> 00:32:15.280
or just, you know, just the monocropping system itself. So with or without supplemental forage,

00:32:15.290 --> 00:32:20.040
we are looking at what the bees are bringing back in, how is it impacting their colony growth,

00:32:20.300 --> 00:32:26.240
their nutrition, their gut microbiome. We are also doing these variety testing, but from a

00:32:26.360 --> 00:32:31.879
bee nutrition perspective. So we published a paper last year on blueberries, we've done a lot of work

00:32:31.900 --> 00:32:37.240
on canola. And then we've also expanded, we're expanding it to apples this year and other crops

00:32:37.860 --> 00:32:43.900
where we are hand collecting pollen and nectar from a lot of these commercially bee pollinated

00:32:44.140 --> 00:32:49.720
crops. And we are looking at the quantity and the quality of the pollen and nectar. So we can

00:32:49.800 --> 00:32:55.340
actually start making recommendations for a beekeeper. You might strategize your supplemental

00:32:55.720 --> 00:33:00.319
feeding, or you might be, you know, as a grower, you could maybe implement a supplemental forage

00:33:00.340 --> 00:33:04.600
practice that will actually complement the crop that the bees are trying to pollinate.

00:33:05.420 --> 00:33:10.100
We are also doing a lot of work on heat and drought stress as well as soil quality

00:33:10.700 --> 00:33:16.840
on the bee forage quality and quantity itself. So how is that changing the plant and that in turn

00:33:17.020 --> 00:33:22.940
is changing what bees have access to in the landscape. But other than that, you know, I mean,

00:33:22.940 --> 00:33:27.939
as you know, in our lab, we are extremely interested in the interactions between multiple

00:33:27.960 --> 00:33:34.020
stressors. So not just bee nutrition, but also other stressors. But if we are just focusing on

00:33:34.060 --> 00:33:40.940
nutrition alone, we also look at how maybe a pesticide and poor nutrition combination or a

00:33:41.090 --> 00:33:46.260
disease and poor nutrition combination can actually impact bees. So we are doing a lot of work on that

00:33:46.430 --> 00:33:54.080
front with fungicides as well as European foul brood. Wow. That was a lot. Is that all? Yeah.

00:33:55.300 --> 00:34:04.040
Don't even say that. She had to take a breath. Maria, I've been taking notes and we're going

00:34:04.040 --> 00:34:09.260
to need you to come back already. I'm just going to say that. It's so impressive and so important

00:34:09.639 --> 00:34:16.379
because when you look at a problem, there are a lot of different approaches. And if you are

00:34:16.620 --> 00:34:21.520
taking just one approach, then you're only going to be able to see the actual problem in one light.

00:34:21.860 --> 00:34:29.879
But with what you're doing and the team that you've assembled to help you do that, I just have to say thank you because I've got a few questions.

00:34:30.070 --> 00:34:32.379
Jeff, you're going to have to hold on for a second here.

00:34:33.030 --> 00:34:41.760
I want to take a step back and I want to ask you, right now there's so much work being done really to figure out nutrition in honeybees.

00:34:42.480 --> 00:34:53.800
And we are very much behind so many other livestock industries because we've had really the luxury for so many years where we didn't have to worry about nutrition.

00:34:54.169 --> 00:34:55.840
It wasn't really on our radar.

00:34:56.850 --> 00:34:58.580
Where does that put us in the industry?

00:34:58.900 --> 00:35:02.000
Because you're still mapping it all out, correct?

00:35:03.040 --> 00:35:12.320
Are we going to catch up to these other industries as far as where we are in understanding the role of nutrition and the animal health?

00:35:12.820 --> 00:35:29.840
I think that's a great question. And I must say that, you know, kind of like taking a step back, I should also credit not just my students, but all of my collaborators, because together we actually make a really good team and we can spread across multiple regions where people can help us map a lot of different things.

00:35:30.020 --> 00:35:36.440
To be honest, I think we are on the fast track at this point of time, if you ask me. For decades,

00:35:37.300 --> 00:35:43.700
we were only focusing on just proteins and carbs for honeybees. And then there was some research

00:35:43.950 --> 00:35:50.340
done on micronutrients for a little bit. But honestly, in the last 10, 15 years, we have

00:35:50.540 --> 00:35:55.000
really shifted our perspective towards understanding. And anytime I go to a bee meeting,

00:35:55.070 --> 00:35:59.379
I keep telling people like, you really need to think about micronutrients, just as you're

00:35:59.400 --> 00:36:04.940
thinking about macronutrients because bees are exactly like how we are. We are what we eat and

00:36:05.120 --> 00:36:09.280
you're not going to just survive on steak and potatoes, right? You're also going to think about

00:36:09.330 --> 00:36:14.640
eating fruits and vegetables and other things, just like you need different nutrients from

00:36:14.780 --> 00:36:20.100
different things. So I think on one hand, where in the field of bee nutrition, we are mapping the

00:36:20.140 --> 00:36:24.780
landscape. On the other hand, we are also looking at a lot of these different diets that are

00:36:24.780 --> 00:36:32.420
available and how we can actually kind of combine both approaches. If we know what's in the landscape

00:36:32.620 --> 00:36:39.280
for a small scale hobby or a sideliner operation, there are opportunities to, if you can choose your

00:36:39.340 --> 00:36:45.200
location to overwinter as a commercial beekeeper or honestly as any scale of beekeeping, if you know

00:36:45.260 --> 00:36:48.580
what's in the landscape, you can potentially choose locations if you have the liberty.

00:36:48.780 --> 00:36:54.820
if you're on the smaller scale side you could trap for pollen and feed it back to your colonies

00:36:55.420 --> 00:37:01.260
to sort of like supplement a lot of those macro and micronutrients during the time of the year

00:37:01.400 --> 00:37:07.520
when you're anticipating a pollen dart if you know what plants have what you can plant the same

00:37:07.840 --> 00:37:13.140
list of plants that a nursery might give you or a USDA planting guideline or NRCS you know

00:37:13.440 --> 00:37:18.740
but now you choose plants with different nutrients to support all these in the habitat not just

00:37:18.760 --> 00:37:28.120
But when it actually comes to like the beekeeping production side, when you know what's there or what is absent, you can then strategize your supplemental feeding.

00:37:29.040 --> 00:37:39.140
So you can then think about maybe using a diet that gives you the best result or strategizing feeding earlier or spreading it out across the season.

00:37:39.240 --> 00:37:56.680
If you actually look at National Agricultural Statistics Service or NASS, which provides all of the statistical data for United States agriculture, they also have this annual honey report where they list out the annual income and expenditure for U.S. beekeepers.

00:37:57.240 --> 00:38:11.560
According to NAS statistics over the last four years, and you can check, it's like all available online, beekeepers are spending somewhere between $44 to $47 million annually for providing supplemental feed to their colonies.

00:38:12.160 --> 00:38:15.560
And this includes like a whole range of all types of diets.

00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:20.600
Mite management, hives and woodenware is only about a third or less.

00:38:21.200 --> 00:38:25.760
So this really tells us that we need to address this as a problem.

00:38:26.360 --> 00:38:32.500
Because for us, often, as you rightly pointed out, Becky, nutrition has always been just a management practice.

00:38:33.150 --> 00:38:43.700
But we've never really correlated that with maybe a colony being weaker, having weaker immune system, not surviving that long, being more susceptible to other stressors.

00:38:44.090 --> 00:38:46.580
We often kind of don't connect that.

00:38:47.230 --> 00:38:52.320
So I think we are definitely on the faster track now that awareness has been building over the last decade.

00:38:52.780 --> 00:38:56.480
You had mentioned trapping for pollen and feeding it back to the bees.

00:38:57.180 --> 00:39:05.040
Somewhere along the line, there was a discussion about the pollen from that time of year is important for the bees that time of year,

00:39:05.240 --> 00:39:13.700
that the spring pollen may not necessarily be the best pollen for the bees in the fall and vice versa because of the different micro, macro nutrients in that pollen.

00:39:14.060 --> 00:39:16.220
Is that how the research is leaning?

00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:17.820
Yes, yes.

00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:22.040
So my usual recommendation is to trap that spring pollen and feed it through summer.

00:39:22.660 --> 00:39:28.300
And if you go into my honeybee supplemental feeding nutrition guide, the one that we had

00:39:28.340 --> 00:39:34.100
published in 24, I actually also kind of talk about if you're thinking about a protein supplement,

00:39:34.820 --> 00:39:40.640
it could be a pollen substitute or a pollen supplement. And what are the benefits of

00:39:41.240 --> 00:39:47.380
feeding a pollen substitute in late summer, early fall to the colony, because it actually

00:39:47.400 --> 00:39:52.380
gives the queen much needed rest from egg laying. So you're feeding proteins on the fats.

00:39:53.030 --> 00:39:57.320
Wait, so if you feed a pollen or protein supplement, it's going to increase

00:39:57.710 --> 00:40:05.080
food production though, isn't it? Yes. So if you are, which is why I was saying that if you're

00:40:05.080 --> 00:40:10.420
feeding like a pollen substitute, not a pollen supplement, something that does not have pollen

00:40:10.440 --> 00:40:18.760
mixed in it. It's not as stimulatory? Yes. Okay. So if I go into my colonies, for example, in

00:40:19.200 --> 00:40:24.480
late August, and I find that they don't have a lot of stored pollen, then a pollen substitute,

00:40:26.280 --> 00:40:31.540
if I don't want them to keep laying. Correct. So I usually call them just like winter paddies

00:40:31.780 --> 00:40:36.660
that lack pollen. So things are like winter protein paddies that are lacking pollen in them.

00:40:36.980 --> 00:40:46.160
I don't think I knew there was a difference. So if you are giving, if you're putting, mixing in pollen, then you're going to most likely get a stimulatory effect with the brood production.

00:40:46.620 --> 00:40:55.200
Correct. And we have been seeing a lot of that in just like even part of like our research. So even like, for example, I can give you Mrs. B example.

00:40:55.480 --> 00:41:01.800
There is this period in the year when after that first summer, I realized there was nothing that would bloom.

00:41:02.520 --> 00:41:09.720
And even though we are anticipating brood production, there was this like little break just because there was nothing in that landscape that was supporting it.

00:41:10.060 --> 00:41:21.480
And they weren't really bringing in a lot of pollen until we had this late, kind of like late June to early July slight rain that would again get things starting to bloom.

00:41:21.720 --> 00:41:23.860
And then bees would start bringing in more pollen.

00:41:24.040 --> 00:41:35.760
So I would definitely do this. I would trap for more pollen in spring and then I would feed it during that early summer dearth when there was nothing in the landscape to just keep my production going.

00:41:36.220 --> 00:41:42.680
I know a long time ago, we used to mix in fresh pollen at the University of Minnesota Bee Lab.

00:41:43.650 --> 00:41:47.540
Actually, when I say fresh pollen, I'm actually getting to my question. We used to mix in pollen,

00:41:48.010 --> 00:41:53.080
but it was from the freezer. So we would collect in traps and then freeze it. Is that still the

00:41:53.180 --> 00:41:57.160
standard protocol? It is still the standard protocol, and that is exactly what we do.

00:41:57.430 --> 00:42:01.060
And this is actually something that I did not mention when you guys were asking me,

00:42:01.160 --> 00:42:07.140
what else do we do with pain nutrition? I do have a student who's kind of looking into a lot of

00:42:07.160 --> 00:42:12.960
these storage and other kind of processing of that pollen to see how long it stays good for.

00:42:13.540 --> 00:42:17.180
I love that because if you're following the podcast, that's one more thing

00:42:17.520 --> 00:42:21.520
I can put in my freezer that has nothing to do with human food or yours.

00:42:22.360 --> 00:42:26.659
One thing we have noticed though, just like general kind of working principle, we

00:42:26.680 --> 00:42:32.900
tend to store all of our pollen in a negative 20 or a negative 80, mostly a negative 20 in the lab.

00:42:32.960 --> 00:42:38.920
So that would be like comparable to a chest freezer or like an upright defreezer in somebody's

00:42:39.020 --> 00:42:44.340
garage. So that's what we usually use because we've seen that if you store it in a regular

00:42:44.860 --> 00:42:50.820
fridge freezer, like the freezer compartment of a regular refrigerator, if it goes through that

00:42:50.900 --> 00:42:54.700
automatic defrost cycle and all of that, the pollen starts to mold pretty fast.

00:42:55.580 --> 00:42:59.500
And that was going to be my question is how long does that pollen can freeze it and still

00:42:59.730 --> 00:43:02.360
have nutritional value for it when you put it on the bees?

00:43:03.060 --> 00:43:07.600
So far, whatever we've tested, I mean, from some of my other work, we've seen up to five

00:43:07.650 --> 00:43:08.140
to six months.

00:43:08.310 --> 00:43:10.480
I mean, we haven't really seen much of a difference.

00:43:10.710 --> 00:43:15.760
But those pollen samples have also been kept in a negative 20 kind of comparable to a chest

00:43:16.100 --> 00:43:16.160
freezer.

00:43:16.959 --> 00:43:21.720
So I have to follow up with one more pollen question as far as, well, I can't, it might

00:43:21.750 --> 00:43:22.300
be more than one.

00:43:22.560 --> 00:43:35.520
But specifically, when you're looking at, I know that the Honeybee Health Coalition Nutrition Guide talks about some northern beekeepers choose not to feed a pollen substitute where southern beekeepers will.

00:43:36.100 --> 00:43:42.520
And then in the north, my understanding of the reason I don't do it is because I want my winter bees to be winter bees.

00:43:42.820 --> 00:43:52.020
will that feeding of a pollen substitute or a pollen supplement, if you feed them one of the

00:43:52.090 --> 00:43:57.500
two different things, will that either discourage or encourage or have no effect on winter bee

00:43:57.660 --> 00:44:04.440
raising? That's actually a great question. I give a talk about winter bees and kind of nutrition to

00:44:04.650 --> 00:44:12.780
a group in Connecticut. So yes, spring pollen and spring bees, physiologically that relationship is

00:44:12.800 --> 00:44:18.220
very different than late summer pollen and diutenous bees that are being produced. Their

00:44:18.560 --> 00:44:23.760
metabolism is different. The way they process and regulate all of those nutrients within their body

00:44:23.840 --> 00:44:30.240
tissues is also very different, which is why kind of like if you're feeding a winter paddy that lacks

00:44:30.540 --> 00:44:36.620
pollen, it is still going to give them enough proteins and fats to kind of last those winter

00:44:36.640 --> 00:44:43.760
months, but not necessarily stimulate the queen to start laying eggs for root production. And these

00:44:43.980 --> 00:44:48.320
were sort of like some of the advantages that I had mentioned in the guide that if you're actually

00:44:48.460 --> 00:44:53.720
feeding them these winter paddies that lack pollen, the queen not only gets much needed rest

00:44:53.930 --> 00:44:59.600
from that constant eggnaming, but you are also going to have just the right cluster size. So not

00:44:59.670 --> 00:45:05.680
too many months to feed, but you're also kind of having that right cluster to provide the warmth

00:45:05.700 --> 00:45:09.840
to do all of that overwintering chores, whatever needs to be done within the colony.

00:45:10.490 --> 00:45:16.460
But that brood break means everybody is getting rest, breaking mites, and it's conserving the

00:45:16.540 --> 00:45:21.360
winter food within the colony. In terms of like going back to what Becky was saying about brood

00:45:21.480 --> 00:45:27.680
production, we are part of this large scale project that Auburn University is actually leading. And

00:45:28.000 --> 00:45:33.000
I've done it for about two or three years in Mississippi. And I've been doing that for about

00:45:33.020 --> 00:45:38.340
a year now in Pullman, Washington. There are many labs like us. So if you go to Auburn University

00:45:38.660 --> 00:45:44.660
website and look up winter brood monitoring project, you can see the map of brood production

00:45:45.040 --> 00:45:51.900
across the US from all of our participating labs. So you can actually see for each of us who are

00:45:51.960 --> 00:45:58.520
participating in this project, what has been the brood production in those specific areas. And we

00:45:58.540 --> 00:46:04.060
all do very standardized beekeeping practices. So none of us are going out of our way to feed

00:46:04.320 --> 00:46:10.260
pollen or anything, you know, like end of summer or early fall. That's a great resource. I've

00:46:10.540 --> 00:46:16.360
pointed people to it. It's so interesting to see. Before you wrap it up, I've got a question, Jeff.

00:46:16.720 --> 00:46:22.640
Real quick, we will provide links to all of these references. I'll try to get them all and put them

00:46:22.640 --> 00:46:27.200
in the show notes too. So listeners don't have to, well, you can listen to the show many times

00:46:27.220 --> 00:46:32.320
you want, but the links and references will be in the show notes. Go ahead, Becky.

00:46:32.480 --> 00:46:40.080
Okay. So you've mentioned it a couple of times. Supplemental forage. I haven't heard the term

00:46:40.240 --> 00:46:46.980
before, but I understand. So when you're on a monocrop, there's an opportunity to co-crop

00:46:47.440 --> 00:46:52.680
maybe supplemental forage for variety. Is that a new idea or is that something that's been around

00:46:52.700 --> 00:46:58.820
for a while. I've never heard of it before. No, not really a new idea. Okay, so one example that

00:46:58.820 --> 00:47:04.380
I can think of is obviously Project APSM Seeds for Bees that's targeted for the California orchards.

00:47:05.070 --> 00:47:10.500
Then you also have Pollinator Health Initiative and a few other groups that have these seed mixes.

00:47:11.200 --> 00:47:16.920
Xerces Society, I can give an example, at least in Washington, who partner with a lot of tree

00:47:17.030 --> 00:47:22.660
fruit growers and other orchardists, and they provide seeds as well as plants to a lot of these

00:47:22.680 --> 00:47:31.020
who want to implement the practice. So in theory, this is actually not new, but adopting it as a

00:47:31.080 --> 00:47:36.560
practice has several sort of like, you know, advantages as well as disadvantages. So that's

00:47:36.560 --> 00:47:41.260
where we come in, where on one hand, we are obviously looking at the nutritional quality

00:47:41.640 --> 00:47:47.420
of these additional forage plants in these landscapes or plants that could be a good

00:47:47.420 --> 00:47:53.640
source as supplemental forage, but we also work both with the grower and the beekeeper to have

00:47:53.860 --> 00:47:59.240
more of like an integrated pest and pollinator management approach, because some of these plants

00:47:59.360 --> 00:48:04.820
could actually host a lot of pests overwintering. Some of these plants, on the other hand, will not

00:48:04.860 --> 00:48:11.200
do that, but could be great for beneficials. So we kind of work at that holistic angle where we are

00:48:11.340 --> 00:48:16.420
obviously protecting the bees, but we are also looking after both stakeholder groups, growers

00:48:16.440 --> 00:48:22.180
and beekeepers. It also sounded like you were using supplemental forage in the context of,

00:48:22.300 --> 00:48:28.140
okay, we know you're getting this. That means you're going to need this. So it sounds like a

00:48:28.260 --> 00:48:33.200
formula that you're maybe thinking of developing or you have developed for specific crops?

00:48:34.640 --> 00:48:39.940
Yes. To some extent, we are actually exploring that right now with the blueberries. We're also

00:48:40.130 --> 00:48:45.740
going to start doing that with apples. And you're absolutely right. Because of that database that

00:48:45.760 --> 00:48:50.940
we are building, we now have a better idea of at least the plants that we test every time,

00:48:51.470 --> 00:48:55.880
what they have and what potentially they could be lacking. So these are also some of the things

00:48:56.060 --> 00:49:00.500
we're hoping to make it publicly available in sort of like an interactive website database.

00:49:01.360 --> 00:49:05.900
It's really amazing when you think about beekeeping in general and you think,

00:49:06.880 --> 00:49:12.340
I just want to keep bees. And so you can keep bees and keep them healthy if you do the right things.

00:49:12.960 --> 00:49:26.740
But there's so much more to explore in the world of bees down to what flowers are blooming at what time of year and the nutritional impact that floral source, that pollen source, is for that colony.

00:49:27.440 --> 00:49:31.180
It's quite complicated if you want to get into the weeds.

00:49:31.660 --> 00:49:32.660
No pun intended.

00:49:33.300 --> 00:49:34.400
We are still learning.

00:49:34.520 --> 00:49:35.220
And it's fascinating.

00:49:35.520 --> 00:49:36.440
We are still learning.

00:49:36.860 --> 00:49:43.720
We're so, so lucky to have you, Priya, in charge of all of this and collaborating, of course.

00:49:44.300 --> 00:49:54.280
But you gave us quite the list and you are definitely making a huge impact on the nutrition our honeybees are receiving and how we understand what that means.

00:49:54.420 --> 00:49:55.320
So thank you, Priya.

00:49:55.900 --> 00:49:56.620
Thank you so much.

00:49:56.780 --> 00:50:00.440
And I have some amazing people working with me on all of that.

00:50:00.580 --> 00:50:08.940
Well, we look forward to perhaps talking to them this June in Pullman and talking with you again before the COLAX meeting.

00:50:09.870 --> 00:50:15.420
It's been a pure delight having you back on the podcast, Priya, and wish you luck and a good spring.

00:50:16.100 --> 00:50:17.140
Talk to you soon, I'm sure.

00:50:17.560 --> 00:50:21.240
Thank you. It's been amazing to be back. Thank you so much for hosting me again.

00:50:21.730 --> 00:50:22.600
So nice to talk to you.

00:50:25.260 --> 00:50:32.140
I enjoy talking with Priya. She is always a wealth of information and makes me think so much about what we're feeding our bees and where they are.

00:50:32.840 --> 00:50:50.340
I know. I love the fact that she's doing the hard work and then she translates it and then we can take advantage of everything that they are learning. And it's just, it's very exciting. And I'm so glad she made a nice transition to Washington State. So she's closer to podcast headquarters, which is kind of exciting.

00:50:51.280 --> 00:50:57.440
It's very nice to have her as a friend of the podcast and who's willing to share what's in her head.

00:50:58.120 --> 00:51:00.460
And that meeting, that meeting sounds great.

00:51:01.400 --> 00:51:02.940
So I am looking forward to it.

00:51:03.140 --> 00:51:05.200
June's just gotten a lot brighter on the horizon.

00:51:05.820 --> 00:51:12.300
And I think our listeners, those of you sitting out there listening, will gain a lot from the people we are able to talk to.

00:51:12.960 --> 00:51:20.640
Put Colas on your beekeeping bucket list because we didn't know that it was open to everybody and now it is.

00:51:21.000 --> 00:51:22.920
So great thing to look into.

00:51:23.360 --> 00:51:24.440
June 6th and 12th.

00:51:25.180 --> 00:51:28.520
That about wraps it up for this episode of Beekeeping Today.

00:51:29.200 --> 00:51:36.040
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00:51:47.740 --> 00:51:52.420
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00:51:53.160 --> 00:52:01.680
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00:52:02.180 --> 00:52:06.020
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00:52:06.420 --> 00:52:10.320
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00:52:10.820 --> 00:52:11.720
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00:52:12.120 --> 00:52:13.000
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00:52:42.780 --> 00:52:43.000
♪♪♪