Starvation may be caused by unfavorable weather, disease, long distance transportation or depleting food reserve.
Beehive management issues resulting in colony losses are a major concern for backyard beekeepers.
Starvation may be caused by unfavorable weather, disease, long distance transportation or depleting food reserve.
Rainy days can wash out nectar and pollen from flowers and hungry bees may run out of food.
[8] Millions of bees are transported each year to California and other parts of the USA to pollinate crops such as almonds.
While on the road for two to three days, it is difficult for the truck driver or the beekeeper to check on the temperature and food level in the hives.
One study points to impaired food gland development in migratory bees resulting in improper feeding of brood.
[12] Migratory bees are usually released in a very large farm for a few weeks to pollinate a single crop.
Long term diet of one type of nectar makes the bee vulnerable to diseases.
It is important to make sure honey comes from disease-free bees, although in practice, this is impossible, as every beehive carries some disease.
Electronic monitoring systems can be an effective tool for the beekeeper to ensure bees do not starve.
The downside of existing electronic monitors is the high cost and need for processing vast amounts of data.
Reasonable pricing and improvisations to get an alert based on the hive configurations are necessary before backyard keepers can use these monitors efficiently to know when to feed.