HBB

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Dr. Tracy Farone

HBB
By: Dr. Tracy Farone

In medicine and many other professions, common situations, phrases, and jargon are commonly abbreviated to make record keeping and communication between professionals, faster and easier. One abbreviation frequently found in a veterinary chart is “HBC” or “hit by car.” Unfortunately, this condition is one of the most common causes of devastating trauma for animal victims. Animal on animal trauma is also a common emergency veterinarians tackle, for example, BDLD, “big dog, little dog.” Not pretty. Both of these common causes of physical trauma are emergencies that must be addressed quickly. These traumatic injuries can be maiming or even cause death, but proper interventions can save lives.

How about honey bees? Do they face traumatic situations? Yes, one traumatic condition honey bees may face is the HBB or “hit by bear.” Bear attacks on honey bee hives combine animal on animal trauma with the effectiveness of getting hit with a truck.

Empathy
On a cool Saturday morning this past October, my husband and I discovered that one of my honey bee hives had an overnight visitor. Someone had transversed two layers of electric fencings and completely tore apart one of my hives within a four-hive bee yard. After further investigation, that someone was a young black bear.

Diagnosis, Assessment, and Immediate Intervention
In veterinary medicine, most traumatic condition causes are fairly easily diagnosed. There is often a witness that may have seen what happened. Other traumas leave tale tell signs that does not make the cause hard to conjecture. No matter the cause, traumas must be quickly assessed for the extent and severity of the trauma, the timing/duration of the trauma, and what repairs or treatment should be applied over the short term and the longer term. Like all medical emergencies, sometimes we can intervene and save a life, but sometimes the damage may be too extensive. There is an emotion of anxiety for both the animal involved and the owner of the animal that must be addressed and cared for as well. Honey bee traumatic events are no different.

HBBs are typically characterized by a colony being totally ripped apart, boxes and frames thrown about, possibly broken, or missing, smashed and consumed brood and honey, claw marks and paw prints.

Despite the dramatic scene, a HBB should be addressed and assessed as quickly as possible. If you are helping another beekeeper attempt to recover a hive or if you are doing this yourself, be aware that emotions may run high. It is ok to talk through those emotions while you are getting your veil on and lighting a smoker. Once in your bees, you should also consider that any remaining bees will be cold, confused, defensive and agitated. Approaching the situation with a steady gentle approach will be most beneficial and efficient to all. Bring a camera or cell phone with you to take several quick pictures of the raw damage.

Once in the yard of the attack, first try to put together the hive components if possible, starting from the bottom board up. If the severity of the attack is not catastrophic, the hive may be able to be put back together and recovered. If you have replacement equipment, you should bring it along and be ready to use it as needed. If you can locate the majority of bees in one box and/or identify a brood box still mostly intact, put that box on a bottom board first followed by any viable remaining resource frames/boxes and replace the top inside cover. It is highly likely your hive will get shorter! Gather and shake/brush any remaining stray bees from broken parts onto the inside cover of the hive, allowing them to reenter the colony, and then replace the outside cover. Observe the bees for signs of fanning and regathering to the restored hive. This would be a good sign that a queen is still present. Look for a queen as you put things back together, but I would prioritize getting the hive back together as soon as possible over looking over every single frame for a queen at this point. Reestablishing thermoregulation is most important to keep the remaining bees and brood at this critical time. This is akin to “stabilizing a patient.” Then reassess, as necessary. Once again, observe the behavior of the bees at the entrance. Are they entering the hive? Are they fanning? These are good signs.

If there are sparse bees left alive or only broken hive equipment to gather, the colony would be considered a total loss. If only a few frames of bees remain, check for a queen, and consider making a nuc colony or, if queenless, combining the remaining bees with another colony in accordance to the upcoming season.

Investigation
Once the colony is stabilized, you can begin a deeper investigation as to what happened.

Take more pictures. Review any game cameras in the area. Make an estimate of dead bees on the ground and broken equipment. Do an inventory of lost/broken equipment and honey. Look for foot/paw prints. Look for a path of entry. Check any fencing for damage, and closely check other nearby hives for disruption, even if the colonies did not initially seem to be involved in the attack.

Ongoing Concerns
Even if you are able to put most of your hive back together, some concerns may remain.

• What is the queen’s status?
• Are there enough bees/brood remaining to support the hive, especially considering the time of year/season?
• Are there enough stores (pollen/honey) remaining to support the hive, especially considering the time of year/season?
• Is there adequate space remaining to support the hive, especially considering the time of year/season?

Longer Term Treatment for Full Recovery
Sometimes doctors do surgery in stages to best benefit a patient. Likewise, in a day or so, if you did not find a queen during the initial recovery, go back in the hive, and do an inspection to find the queen. Be aware that since this hive recently suffered a trauma, it is likely that the organism has up regulated its recruitment for guard bees. A bit like the defensive physical reaction of inflammation and psychological impact of PTSD, one should be prepared to examine this colony carefully, gently and with the aid of a smoker. If you find the queen, great, end of recheck, close up the colony. If there is no queen to be found, this is a dead hive surviving on temporary life support. It is time to donate the remaining components of the organism to another hive or if possible, give the colony a new “heart” by re-queening.

If your colony has lost space and stores, add resources and space by adding a box of honey ideally from another strong colony in your yard/s and/or plan to add additional supplements (sugar and pollen) to this hive until it can fully recover for itself. Keep in mind that if the timing of the trauma is Fall going into the Winter season, or going into a dearth period, extra supplemental help may be needed until the next nectar flow.

Another Remedy
States may have compensation statutes for bear attacks on livestock (including honey bees) through their Game Commission. Honey bee losses, equipment losses, and honey losses may be covered and compensated to the beekeeper depending on your state’s laws or regulations. In order to be eligible for compensation, you must contact your local game warden as soon as possible after the attack and the bee yard may need to be a certain distance from your residence. The warden will visit your bee yard and conduct an investigation of their own. It is helpful if you have pictures and any broken equipment to show the warden. You will be required to fill out a report and sign a statement that your claim is true. Then the claim will be sent to the state offices for approval (or not). Some states may require that an electric fence be installed around a bee yard to deter future attacks and to be eligible for compensation. Beekeepers can do an internet search for your state’s information and/or contact your local game warden.

Prevention
Once a bear attacks a yard, a return visit is always possible. What can you do to try to prevent that from occurring? Create a potential deterring experience for the bear.

• Erect an electric fence or fences if not already present. Be sure to keep the fence on and test regularly.
• Install a game camera to document any visitors.
• Install a motion light. This may deter bears and other wildlife.
• My game commissioner recommended placing thin water bottles filled with ammonia, smeared with peanut butter around the outer perimeter of a bee yard, as a deterrent. If a bear bites into the bottle, they will be fine but will associate the area with unpleasantries. Personally, I have no idea if that could work but I thought I would share the recommendation.

From the Beeks Perspective
This case study and pics are based on my own recent experience with a HBB. I had two layers of electric fencing around my hives, and the inner circle a high-powered mesh. Yes, the fence was on. It appeared that the bear jumped the fencing… there were skid landing marks and a foot trail from the surrounding woods. He/she hit only one hive in the yard (out of 4) but knocked over every piece of that colony. Paw prints and claw marks were evident on the frames. Honey and brood were missing. One box and multiple frames were broken. Thousands of dead bees. However, one medium box was mostly intact and most of the live bees were there. So, I put that box on the bottom board, gathered up viable parts for two more mediums, brushed in any remaining bees I could find, and closed up the hive. Five boxes became three.

We were one or two days away from a planned Fall extraction. Fearing a bear return to the yard, the extraction moved up to the day of the attack. Luckily, I had three other healthy hives in the yard. During extraction, I gave one honey super from another hive to the HBB hive to help replace the space and resources it would need going into the Winter. However, my Fall honey harvest for this yard was cut in half. I did not initially find the queen but observing the bees fanning and gathering behavior indicated that she was likely still present. I inspected the HBB colony a couple of days later and found the queen. But this otherwise docile colony had up regulated its guard bees. While I did not get stung during the inspection, I had to go slow and use ample smoke. With help, this hive has a good chance to make it through the Winter. The bear/s are yet to return, and we have installed a motion light and a camera near the yard.

My experience with our local game officer was very pleasant. He visited the yard and investigated the incident. The pics and broken equipment I saved were helpful in “proving” the case. Since only one hive was hit, we both agreed that the attack was likely a juvenile bear’s shenanigans, who was likely stung and/or shocked enough to get out quickly and hopefully not want to return. I am now just awaiting a return judgment from the Commonwealth’s capital office…