Saving the bees: Fort Valley beekeepers fight climate change, invasive mite

Each day, Kathy Tumblin dons her white protective honeybee suit and enters the domain of her honeybee colonies in the back yard of her home in Detrick.

Her husband Larry, who seems less worried about the sting of a bee, wears a simple face covering while he opens the first of many apiaries, a place where honeybees are kept and cared for by the Tumblins.

As the bees awaken from a peaceful night’s sleep, they begin to swarm or dance around the couple as morning chores begin. The buzzing, which may alarm some, creates a sense of tranquility as they emerge from their slumber and greet the morning sun.

Known as Italian honeybees, a bee typically found in the valley, Kathy Tumblin said that over the years they’ve seen bees from Russia and recently had a colony called Saskatraz, originating from Canada. Every once in a while, the Tumblins purchase a different breed to introduce to their colonies.

Kathy Tumblin said the main goal of their business Chalybeate Springs Apiary is to produce enough bees to be able to sell them to other beekeepers, ensuring that local bees continue to thrive across the Shenandoah Valley.

“As well as get healthier and maintain stronger colonies,” she explained. “Bees from down south are used to the heat and may not do as well in the winter.”

The couple's interest in beekeeping started on a whim more than five years ago when Kathy Tumblin discovered a class through the Shenandoah County Beekeepers, a local club associated with the Virginia State Beekeepers Association.

“We started with two hives,” she recalled. “In our biggest year, we had up to 30 hives.”

Larry Tumblin acknowledged that despite continuous climate and weather changes, they had a successful year their third year with collecting local swarms and producing ample amounts of honey.

With success also comes defeat, which was seen a few winters ago.

“The main problem, we think, was we had an early warm-up and then it froze for weeks,” she said. “So the queens said, ‘Oh, its spring!’ and started laying eggs. And then they didn’t have enough bees when it got cold again to cover all the brood and keep everybody warm. So, they didn’t make it.”

Along with the difficulties of weather and climate change, the Tumblins and beekeepers around the county are seeing an increase in the varroa destructor, a varroa mite that attacks and feeds on honeybees. Kathy Tumblin said it’s one of the most damaging pests to honeybees in the world.

“Everyone’s having issues with Lyme and tick diseases, which are bad for us, then the varroa might just be that for the bees.”

Larry Tumblin postulated that over many hundreds of years the mite, originating from Asia, has adopted various characteristics of bees. With the migration of European honeybees to the United States, the mite drifted with it, affecting honeybees — first the Asian honeybee and in later European honeybees.

“I don’t really have a mechanism to fight the mite,” he said, adding that a lot of universities are studying its characteristics and showing promise that just as the mite adapted, honeybees are too.

“Some bees are more genetically inclined to groom,” he said. “They will groom one another, pull the mites off, and then bite the legs off of the mite, which disables them. And they fall through the hive into the bottom.”

Sacrificing a few bees for the hive allows him to determine what percentage of the whole colony might be infected.

“If it’s above a certain percentage, then we know we need to treat,” he said.

Recognizing a specific behavioral trait of honeybees known as varroa-sensitive hygiene, he noted that beekeepers are paying close attention to characteristics of future hives, especially as bee genetics adapt to the mite.

“They can smell it,” he said. “They will uncap it and either pull out the infected larvae or simply uncap it and let it be open for a few hours, then recap it, killing off the oxygen the mite needs for survival.”

“It’s that type of genetic characteristics that everyone is really working toward to produce a queen that has those genetics enough that they can fight off the mites on their own,” he said.

Learning to create his own queens, he explains the process:

“You have to take a three-day larva out of the cell, put it in this artificial queen cup, and then stick it in with the other bees. They then have to draw out a queen’s cell. That cell is then placed into other hives for them to create new queens.”

Like the bees, the Tumblins are learning to adapt and survive.

Kathy Tumblin said they strive to care for their honeybees as organically as possible.

“Our honey is pure, without any pesticides or the least amount of outside chemicals as possible.”

Holding out a frame, while her husband uses a little smoke, she points out some details.

“The smoke, well, it calms them,” she said, adding that there are different theories on its use.

“See that shining back at us?” she asked pointing at the frame. “That’s pollen.”

“They're doing their job,” her husband added.

Holding up various frames while looking for the queen, the Tumblins know the honeybees have been hard at work. Noting that the frames are heavier than they appear, Kathy Tumblin required assistance from her husband to unstick one frame from another.

Surrounded by flowering trees, the bees leave their apiary as needed and return with nectar to create a beautifully colored honey.

Halfway through the frames, the queen is spotted among the worker bees and a drone — a male bee.

“She’s clearly doing well,” Larry Tumblin said, pointing out the eggs.

Chuckling, his wife adds that male bees serve their purpose: to breathe and spread their genetics. After that, the male bee dies. In the fall, when the season comes to a close, no longer needed, the male bees are ejected from the hive. “They literally drag them out the front door and don’t allow them back in.”

“Bees are very interesting,” Larry Tumblin said, noting that this season has been plentiful but that climate plays a large role in that success.

Expecting a large yield this season, the beekeepers shared that it’s not uncommon to get upward of 50 to 80 pounds of honey per hive.

Placing the queen back in the comforts of her hive, Kathy Tumblin noted that the queen's life expectancy is anywhere between three to five years; worker bees only tend to survive a season. Bees born in the winter last longer because they can last during the colder months.

The knowledge shared between the couple is ever-growing.

“That year we had 30 hives; we were thrown into the fire a bit,” Larry Tumblin said. “There have been a lot of highs, as well as lows. We’ve had to learn under stress. And the group has been helpful.”

The couple gleans knowledge from YouTube, books as well as other beekeepers.

“The honeybee has been studied since the Egyptians,” he said. “There’s a ton of information out there for us.”

The couple recommends that anyone interested in learning about honeybees take a class first. Or even twice, which, looking back, Kathy Tumblin said she wished she had done.

“I think the more we started messing with honeybees, the more we started appreciating all the other pollinators,” she said. “The bumblebees, mason bees, and all the different bees that really do make up our ecosystem.”

Taking off her protective suit, she shows off her "save the bees" hat. Asked if she feels like she and her husband are playing a helpful role, she replied: “With Larry’s interest in making his own queens, getting our colonies large enough to sell to locals and helping with mites, I would say yes: we’re playing our part.”