cranberry bees

This week, Tom is moving the bees to Johnston’s Cranberry Marsh to pollinate the blossoms. The bees have to be moved at night so they will re-orientate themselves with the sun in the morning. As a matter of fact, if you move a colony of bees even ten feet in the middle of the day, the bees can’t find their way back to the hive. So, it’s night work.

Last night it rained, and made for a nasty move (read: bee knuckles). It was warm, too, so many of the bees were hanging outside the boxes. Tonight is very cool, so all the bees will be inside and less stinging for Tom. We’ll only be moving about 30 of our 120 hives. In addition to the cranberry blossoms, Johnston’s Cranberry Marsh has a diversity of forage derived from wetland and boreal plant species that will provide a multitude of pollen and nectar sources for the bees.

In contrast, about a million and a half bee colonies are moved into the California almond orchards in February. More than 80% of the world’s almonds are grown there and more than half of all the beehives in the U.S. are trucked in for pollination. These huge tracts of almonds create enormous swaths of monocultures – whereby the bees have only almond pollen to feed the hives. This lack of diversity is potentially problematic for bees.

"Monoculture is the original sin of agriculture," asserts author Michael Pollan. Scientists are finding that bees fed pollen from a range of plants showed signs of having a healthier immune system than those eating pollen from a single type.

Monoculture of almonds growing in California.

Spectacular losses have been seen in the U.S. where entire colonies have been wiped out. However, the exact cause has remained elusive. A possible conclusion of the new research is that the bees need to eat a variety of proteins in order to synthesize their various chemical defences; without their varied diet, they are more open to disease.