Part of our responsibilities as stewards of animals is to always make sure that they are well cared for, kept healthy and safe. Just recently over 50 horses died due to tainted grain. The feed maker sells to Cows, sheep, goats and horse owners. The supplement, Monesin, was added to the grain. While harmless to cows, it is deadly to horses, even in a small trace amounts. Usually after doing a run of grain, the manufacturers will run flour or something else through the machines to clean out the toxin before running horse feed. In this particular case, it wasn’t cleaned properly. The grain that went through the machine was intended for horses, and it killed them.
The next question you’re going to ask is, what does this have to do with bees? In the winter, (especially on this blizzardy day) bee farmers supplement their hives with honey. Store bought honey, “organic” honey, honey from neighboring farms and the like. But like our tainted grain, getting honey from other sources may also contain bacteria, and this bacteria can kill your bees.
Since the USDA has classified Bees as livestock, making them fall under the purview of Veterinarians, Bee farmers should insure their bees. In the case of the horses, the farm owner is the only one who can sue the manufacturer. Horses are considered chattel and therefore the owners are ineligible to join a class action suit against grain producers. Meaning, that if their horses are Grand Prix Jumpers, hunters, race horses, even down to a child’s pony; the owners have no recourse against the manufacturer. These horses cost a lot of money, especially if they were earning money, without insurance, the owners are left horseless and broke. If the Bee owners purchase tainted honey causing their hives to contract American Foul Brood, they are left broke and Bee-less.
American Foul Brood is caused by spores in filler honey. These spores can not be killed by regular pasteurization, or heating methods, and well meaning people, set out this honey, where our Bee friends collect it to feed the hive. Since the hives can NOT be opened during the winter, there is no way that the Bee farmers will find out that their hives are sick. They can not call a veterinarian to treat the hives, or to stop the inevitable death of their hives. According to studies, AFB is more common than originally thought. The decline of wild and managed honey bee colonies have been linked to the introduction of pests, diseases, exposure to pesticides, and stress, (yes bees can get stressed).
So I suppose the biggest question is, what does this have to do with poisoned horses, sick hives and the deaths of colonies? Money. Bees are considered livestock, responsible for the pollination of over 100 different commercially grown crops. Recently, in Sioux City, Iowa, over 500,000 bees died due to vandals knocking over 50 hives. The damaged hives lost the farmer anywhere between $50,000.00 to $60,000.00 dollars. If the Bees die due to outside factors, sickness, vandalism whatever, the Bee farmers lose a considerable amount of money. Without insuring the livestock, the farmer has no way to recoup the funds spent on building hives, herds or replacing crops.
The American Bee Keeping Federation offers several types of policies covering the usual, homeowners, Farm, livestock, and automobile. The Bee farmer should investigate insuring their hives to protect their interests. Small Bee farmers obviously may not be able to afford the insurance, but protecting yourselves and your Bees is part of our jobs as stewards of our furry friends.
It is sad to think that the joy of farming comes down to money. If your hives get sick, and over 50% of them die, there goes more than 50% of your profits. Where does the local farmer get the money to replace the bees that they’ve lost? Insurance, unfortunately. It is one of those things that cover the “What If”.
So, Bee-Aware of the What ifs in life, it may save your Bees in the long run.
Bee Proactive 