The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees is pleased to announce the topic for its 2022 4-H Essay Contest:
Transportation: Minimizing Stress on Bees While Getting Them Where They Need to Be Each year, approximately 1.5 million honey bee colonies make the trip to California to pollinate almonds, mostly via large trucks. The movement of these colonies, along with another half million colonies based in California, constitute the largest insect migration event in the world (albeit assisted migration). Many beekeepers often need to move colonies to various apiary locations, or for local pollination, etc. What are the major stresses on bees during local and long-distance* transportation? In your essay, please give specific examples for how those stresses can be minimized when moving colonies within an apiary, during short-distance movement among local apiaries, and during long-distance movement across state lines.
Writers are encouraged to include photos and interviews with commercial beekeepers, citing state laws for the transport of bees. *Long-distance bee moving is any move that cannot be accomplished in one night, and therefore the load must be netted so that the bees don't fly off the truck during the day. Any other beehive movement can be considered local even though it may be a 250-mile trip or longer.
Additional information on eligibility, essay requirements, and deadlines is available on our website here.
Please send Adam Davis any state entries at afd7@cornell.edu by April 8, 2022.
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