We at Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic waded into new territory this year, starting an apiary on our grounds! No need to fear, though! The bees are extremely docile (Dr. Gates handles them regularly), and they’re housed at the back end of our parking lot, away from regular foot traffic. Curious? (We were!) Keep reading. 🙂
It’s been a process four years in the making. Two USDA accreditation cycles ago, I chose a continuing education module about honey bee health. Most of the modules deal with large/food animals and government regulations, so I was looking for something a bit more application my day to day experiences. Honey bee health was not something I had ever learned about, and I figured it would be worth my while.
It proved to be the most interesting CE I’ve pursued to date.
Because of the government’s reclassification of honey bees as livestock a number of years ago, veterinarians are now crucial to honey bee health, in particular in the diagnosis of disease & prescribing of treatment. Honey bees are crucial to our environment, pollinating the beauty around us and the crops we depend upon. We need honey bees, and we need them healthy. Because of this, the bee keeping community needs veterinarians involved in the process, and Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic is stepping up to the plate!
I’d intended to pursue more knowledge and get into bee keeping after completing that module, but a variety of life events, including Covid’s impact on our practice and delivery of veterinary medicine, things got put off for a time. After seventeen months of reading American Bee Journal and Bee Culture, and consuming countless YouTube videos from expert keepers, we installed two colonies on Wednesday afternoon, May 1.
It’s been a learning process every step of the way. Some clients and neighbors have offered helpful advice, and we’ve used our scientifically and medically trained minds to rear and care for the colonies. Watching them thrive at this early stage is rewarding, and watching them work is a peaceful respite in the midst of hectic days.
Hazards to our bees
Recently, a concerned client bought to our attention the Summit County Health Department’s plan to spray in Cuyahoga Falls for mosquito control. Naturally, we shared her concern, and began investigating the when, where, and with what questions that came to mind.
Once I was able to get someone on the phone, the folks at the health department were very helpful.
The first thing you need to do for your apiary is visit the Summit County Health Department’s website and fill out the Do Not Spray form. Step-by-step instructions are illustrated below.
The health department shares their spray schedule for our collective information and convenience.
In response to my request for information about the product used in Summit County, the nice lady emailed a MSDS and product label. Aqua Zenivex E20, active ingredient Etofenprox, is used to treat for mosquitoes. The extent to which this harms other animals is only partially addressed on the label in the Environmental Hazards section…
This pesticide is toxic to aquatic organisms, including fish and aquatic invertebrates. Runoff from treated areas or deposition into bodies of water may be hazardous to fish and other aquatic organisms. Do not apply over bodies of water (lakes, rivers, permanent streams, natural ponds, commercial fish ponds, swamps, marshes or estuaries), except when necessary to target areas where adult mosquitoes are present, and weather conditions will facilitate movement of applied material away from water in order to minimize incidental deposition into the water body. Do not contaminate bodies of water when disposing of equipment rinsate or washwaters.
… and most concerning to us…
This product is highly toxic to bees exposed to direct treatment on blooming crops or weeds. Time applications to provide the maximum possible interval between treatment and the next period of bee activity. Do not apply to blooming crops or weeds when bees are foraging the treatment area, except when applications are made to prevent or control a threat to public and/or animal health determined by a state, tribal, or local health or vector control agency on the basis of documented evidence of disease-causing agents in vector mosquitoes or the occurrence of mosquito-borne disease in animal or human populations, or if specifically approved by the state or tribe during a natural disaster recovery effort.
The Do Not Spray registry informs the county to avoid spraying within 150 feet of the given address. Given the extent to which honey bees forage, sometimes miles at a time, I was concerned our bees are only marginally protected as a result of this registry.
In answer to my questions, Sara Cochran, the Environmental Health Supervisor at the Summit County Public Health wrote to me and said,
I understand that the product says it’s harmful to bees, however we conduct our spraying at a time where bees are to be back in their hives, we don’t actively spray at a time where bees would be out foraging. In addition the product does have a fast drying time and once dry it is no longer harmful to the bees. In regards to the buffers we actually create a 200 foot buffer around the property parcel lines to give us some extra cushion when turning off the sprayer.
I asked specifically why neighborhoods are treated for mosquitoes. Is it a response to emerging disease(s), or to simply beat back a nuisance?
She responded by saying,
We base this on if we receive notification from the Ohio Department of Health that one of our traps tested positive for West Nile or if we have a high trap count of disease carrying mosquitoes.
I thanked her for her response to my questions, and I’m confident we can get answers to questions that may arise in the future.
Conclusion
If you’re a bee keeper, let us know the next time we see you! We’d love to know who’s in this with us. (And if you need a VFD, let’s talk and see how we can help you out.)
If you’re an aspiring bee keeper… go for it! We’d love to share ideas and help you out as you get started.
And for all who are interested in honey bee health, let’s work together to ensure the best for them.
