Hospital Yards

Common honey bee diseases and pests pose a significant challenge to beekeepers due to their ability to swiftly spread within a beekeeping operation. Transmission can occur through various means such as drifting bees, shared feeding barrels, contaminated equipment, and insufficient biosecurity measures. One effective strategy to mitigate this risk is the implementation of hospital yards. These yards involve removing sick or infected colonies from healthy apiaries and isolating them in designated areas. By establishing hospital yards at least 2-3 kilometers away from other apiaries, beekeepers can effectively contain the spread of disease. This approach not only helps streamline disease monitoring and treatment efforts but also underscores the importance of proactive management practices in beekeeping. This article explores the critical role of hospital yards in beekeeping management and offers insights into establishing and maintaining them effectively.  

Understanding the Importance of Hospital Yards 

Many honey bee diseases spread easily from colony to colony via drifting bees. Drifting is inevitable when colonies are close together as bees from an infected colony can easily enter a healthy one and spread a disease and/or pest. Beekeeping equipment can also be a vector of transmission. Often beekeepers will only sanitize equipment between yards so diseases can easily spread throughout an apiary on infected equipment such as hive tools and gloves.  

Once a disease is detected in a colony, it is important to act quickly to minimize the risk of it spreading throughout the apiary. Removing infected colonies from the yard and placing them in an isolated area (hospital yard) is an effective strategy in disease management. Implementing this measure will decrease the likelihood of disease spread, resulting in healthier and more productive colonies in the original yard. Establishing a hospital yard can also increase the efficiency of an operation’s disease management. By consolidating all diseased colonies in one location, beekeepers can save time that would otherwise be spent visiting multiple sites. Less disease expertise is needed among crew members as a dedicated crew leader with the necessary knowledge can monitor and treat the hospital yards as needed. This will make it easier to keep track of treatments applied and their effectiveness due to the higher frequency of monitoring. By using hospital yards beekeepers can be proactive in the prevention of disease outbreaks, reducing the likelihood of economic repercussions such as reduced honey production, decreased pollination services and increased hive replacement costs.    

Establishing and Managing Hospital Apiaries 

When choosing a site for a hospital yard, there are several important considerations. Firstly, the yard must be a good distance from surrounding apiaries. We recommend at least 2-3 km from

 any honey bee yard. The site must also have abundant and diverse pollen and nectar sources within foraging distance. Look for areas with a variety of flowering plants that bloom throughout the season to provide continuous nutrition. Ensure there is an adequate water source nearby as bees require water for essential activities within the hive, including cooling in the hot summer months. Choose a location with good sun exposure and natural or artificial windbreaks, such as trees, shrubs, or buildings, to provide protection from strong winds. The site should also have good drainage as moisture build up can exacerbate diseases such as chalkbrood and European Foulbrood. Lastly, the location should be easily accessible as frequent monitoring of these colonies is recommended.  

Once the location of your hospital yard has been selected, establish a protocol for identifying, moving, and monitoring diseased colonies. Upon finding a diseased colony, decide if it needs to be removed from the yard based on the pathogen and infection level. A colony with a low infection (only a few cells) contained on a single frame may not need to be moved. Rather, the infected frame could be removed and destroyed instead. On the other hand, if the colony is highly infected and you see no chance of recovery, it might be better to destroy the colony immediately. If the infection is high but the colony is strong enough to recover, the hive should be moved as soon as possible. It is best to move the hive at night or early in the morning to avoid bees being left behind and drifting to other colonies. Establish a recognizable way to later identify that colony (number colonies, flip the lid, place a rock on top, use coloured duct tape). If you are unable to come back to retrieve the hive, it is better to remove it immediately than leave it. Carry a notebook with you to write down the number of diseased colonies and the location.  

 Strategies for monitoring and maintaining the health of colonies in the hospital yard include: 

• Implementing strict biosecurity measures.
  • Regular sanitization of equipment such as sterilizing hive tools, wearing disposable gloves, or washing gloves and keeping the yard free of unused equipment, colony debris (scraped off wax and propolis) are all important measures to take. 
• Record keeping is a very important part of disease management.
  • Detailed records include information on how many colonies are diseased, their location, when each colony was diagnosed and moved into the hospital yard, intensity of infection, the type and timing of treatments administered and their effectiveness. 
• Using the appropriate treatment
  • Follow the label to ensure the treatment is targeted to the disease and appropriate for the time of year. For example, some treatments are not able to be used during the honey flow. For more information on specific miticide treatment types, see our Varroa Mite Treatments factsheet.
• Regular surveillance
  • Check your colonies often (ideally every 2 weeks) to monitor the progress of the hive, effectiveness of the treatments applied, and allow for detection of any new symptoms that may arise. 
  • Early intervention can prevent diseases from escalating and monitoring often will allow you to see if alternative measures are needed.

In summary, regular surveillance and early intervention are essential components of responsible beekeeping practices. By prioritizing these activities, beekeepers can protect colony health, minimize economic losses, and contribute to the sustainability of honey bee populations.

References

Honey Bee Health Coalition. (2019, January 1). Best management Practices for Hive Health. Retrieved from https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/HBHC_Hive_BMPs_v1.0_reduced.pdf

Borum, A. E. (2022). Biosecurity and good beekeeping practices in beekeeping. Uludağ Arıcılık Dergisi, 22(2), 246-276. https://doi.org/10.31467/uluaricilik.1175874

Rivera-Gomis, J., Bubnic, J., Ribarits, A., Moosbeckhofer, R., Alber, O., Kozmus, P., … & Formato, G. (2019). Good farming practices in apiculture. Scientific and Technical Review, 38(3), 1-27. https://dx.doi.org/10.20506/rst.38.3.3032

University of Delaware. (n.d.). Apiary location. Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium. Retrieved June 18, 2024, from https://canr.udel.edu/maarec/apiary-location/