We all know that bees are an integral part of our ecosystem. They do more than just make honey; they pollinate 70% of the crops we eat, an estimated $15 billion worth of crops every year in the United States alone. With the changing climate and an unpredictable future ahead of us, it is more important than ever that we protect our pollinators to avoid a national hunger crisis and an ecological disaster [1,2]. The movement to help restore honeybees has taken off locally and across the globe, with many towns and campuses across the country working to be certified by Bee City USA as pollinator friendly. The University of Virginia is one such campus, since our gardeners follow practices such as minimizing the use of pesticides and growing a wide variety of native plants [3].
There are several practices at the local level that can be followed to help protect the honeybee population. One such instance is when bees create a hive in residential or commercial structures, such as inside a house or a school building. While one’s first instinct may be to contact an insect exterminator, they should actually reach out to a professional honeybee relocator. Tom Knapp is one such honeybee relocator based in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Since 2010, Knapp has owned his own business, Knapp’s Bees.
In an interview, Knapp says that the relationship with the exterminators in town is cooperative, and that they often refer clients to each other: “I give my business cards to the exterminators in town, and they give me their business cards... If they go to do an extermination and they’re honeybees, they will give my card to that person and say, I can't kill these, but this person can help you out. So we're both helping each other.”
Bee relocation is a solution for all parties. Early on, some researchers were worried that hive relocation might cause stress to the honeybees due to the change in environment. However, studies have shown that hive relocation does not have any effect on foraging behavior, a main indicator of stress levels. Stress levels impact foraging—the honeybee’s search for pollen and nectar—because foraging is energetically costly, and therefore honeybees will change their behavior to optimize their energy when stressed [4,5]. When relocating bees, not only are the bees left unharmed, but honey and wax from the hives can also be collected and sold by the beekeeper. The community benefits in so many ways from this practice: economically, ecologically, and socially.
How does relocation work? First, the bee remover does a consultation at the site to see the location of the hive and the number of bees. Knapp says he uses a thermal camera to locate the bees since they incubate their young at about 20 degrees hotter than room temperature. After a consultation, the bee remover opens up the structure and begins removing the bees and the honeycomb. It varies for different beekeepers, but Knapp says that the easiest removals take him about three hours, and that the most laborious jobs take about seven. The majority of the time is spent preparing the area and cleaning it post-relocation. Locations that are difficult to access—such as crawl spaces or older buildings constructed with lath and plaster—can also be a challenge and take a longer amount of time. Relocations are often done in late spring and the summer, sometimes in small confined spaces, so it can be swelteringly hot.
Despite the difficult work, Knapp is incredibly passionate about the preservation of honeybees in the community. He also involves himself greatly in local outreach and education, saying, “I consider myself not just a beekeeper, but a bee advocate.” In Harrisonburg, there has been hesitation about allowing beekeeping within city limits due to fears about what will happen if someone is stung and then tries to file a lawsuit against the city. Knapp has met with City Council members to draft new policies about legalizing beekeeping, and points out that regardless of what laws are passed, the bees will not be going anywhere.
The local community plays such a big role in fostering honeybee populations, and there are so many other ways that individuals can participate. Limiting the use of pesticides is a major help in protecting pollinators. Another action one can take is growing diverse pollinator friendly plants in their backyard. Knapp also suggests visiting a local beekeeper’s association meeting to learn from local beekeepers, or reaching out to local governments about becoming a part of the Bee City USA initiative. Bee conservation is a unique issue in the field of environmentalism because anyone can participate and make a difference.
1. U.S. Department of Agriculture. (n.d.). Honey Bees. USDA. https://www.usda.gov/peoples-garden/pollinators/honey-bees
2. Save the Bees. (n.d.). Save the Bees. https://savethebees.com/
3. Kelly, M. (2022, July 1). UVA working hard to ‘bee’ pollinator friendly. UVA Today. https://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-working-hard-bee-pollinator-friendly
4. Pearce, F. C. R., Couvillon, M. J., & Ratnieks, F. L. W. (2013). Hive relocation does not adversely affect honey bee (Hymenoptera: apidae) foraging. Psyche: A Journal of Entomology, 2013, 693856. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/693856
5. Bordier, C., Klein, S., Conte, Y. L., Barron, A. B., & Alaux, C. (2018). Stress decreases pollen foraging performance in honeybees. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 221(4). https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.171470