Why can't we find propolis and honeybee hives anymore
imagine yourself being replaced in a workspace because you enjoy natural herbs
do you know where the ginger tea is new company rule sir
no more ginger tea no more green tea or even coffee why because the new boss
gets angry with the smell of it what do I have to do with that? now go back to work!
in the last century, a similar situation happened in the beekeeping world the Langstroth hives with
movable frames popularized beekeeping around the world but at the same time it started a silent
behavior among beekeepers with very serious consequences to manage honeybees beekeepers
are constantly looking for ways to make beekeeping easier not a problem with that the problem starts
when the needs of the beekeepers become more important than the needs of the honeybees
this is the entrance of a managed honey bee hive most beekeepers keep bees in langstroth
hives like this one and this is the entrance of a honeybee hive in nature where the bees
prefer to live in three holes like this one far away from the ground do you see the difference
here's the two side by side for comparison please take your time try to find out the differences
here both houses are made of wood like this one right here but in nature for some reason
bees produce something extra this shiny material that you saw in the video before
this is called propolis and it's a combination of many different resins from many different
plant sources that honeybees collect to help to build their nests and also the natural compounds
inside those resins help the bees to fight pests and diseases this is the ginger tea of honey bees
actually this is a terrible comparison because the benefit of ginger tea to humans
is not even close what propolis can do for honey bees humans take advantage of the properties of
propolis for thousands of years even though the science is not there yet backing that up
the word propolis comes from the greek pro that means in front of or in favor of and the other
word polis which means city and apparently it comes from the general idea of the protective
properties of propolis to the honeybee hives as a barrier against maladies a number of studies
suggest that propolis have a strong antimicrobial anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory properties
and this research field has inspired me to pursue some experiments by myself that i for sure are
going to bring you guys all along this new journey today the use of propolis extract sprays is very
common in japan in china in south america and in europe but it's not very common in north america
mama liked to make her own and she taught me how to do it by myself and i still use it today
when my throat starts to to feel a little funny if you want to test it out for the first time
a novo male is a brand that i would recommend no it's not a sponsored video nova mail facilities
are very close to my farm in brazil i know them well and also they sell on amazon here
united states with good reviews link in the description but what about the honey bees
is properties any good to honey bees dr esther bastos working at dr marla spivak's laboratory
in minnesota was able to show in laboratory conditions that a variety of propolis extracts can
inhibit the replication of american fault brood a devastating bacterial disease of the honeybees
in another study dr renata borba working in the same laboratory could show that honeybee colonies
with propolis enveloped inside the hive perform better against american fault brute when compared
with honeybee heights without propolis envelope and in the same study dr borba was able to show
the larval food produced in hives with propolis had more antibacterial power compared with food
coming from hives without propolis basically the benefit of propolis can be summarized like this
in the individual level it relax the investment of individual bees and immunity
it increases detoxification and antioxidant levels individual bees and increases the lifespan
and all of that has a significant impact on the colony level better immunity and detoxification
lead to a reduction of microbial load decrease of disease and increase productivity population
size and survival there are plenty of other scientific articles showing the benefit of
propolis to honeybees and i'm going to cover many of them in future videos so if properties is so
good for honey bees why we see less and less propolis in honey bee hives in north america
well because propolis make beekeeping harder and therefore it is not very welcome among
beekeepers it slows them down stickies everywhere make everything messier and because of that along
the ears beekeepers start to select genetic stalks of honeybees that produce less and less propolis
intentionally and sometimes unintentionally just like the boss shutting down the tea and
coffee for his own benefit and not taking in consideration the necessities of the employees
the beekeepers shutting down properly they're not thinking about the honeybees they're thinking
about themselves i remember my first hive assessment when i was around seven years old
back in brazil before i come to united states and become a honeybee researcher at the usda
back in 2006. dad asked me to go to the apiary and assess one hive
so I was supposed first to go and develop the self-control to work with Africanized bees
and then after that open a hive and bring some information back home I was completely
embarrassed coming back home with emptied hand with no information at all because I could not
open the hive by myself I didn't have the strength to open a hive of Africanized bees back in brazil
and why because Africanized bees produce much more propolis than European honey bees in North
America they seal everything together and make things much harder to work with the honeybees
the exact opposite happened when I arrived in the united states in 2007 to become a
honeybee researcher at USDA working with my first hive I wasn't expecting it to be that
easy to open a hive and I put so much energy there the lead almost flew away
and everybody was looking at me and thinking what the heck is wrong with that guy
after working with the bees that day I could immediately sympathize and understand why
people united states and north America would prefer to work with these bees
they are gentle they are easy to handle no many properties sticking everything together
no more uncountable stings all over my body comparing with Africanized bees
yeah, I enjoyed that bee very much however I have to say that after 15 years of researching
honey bees I still advocating for gentle bees but b is producing fewer properties I changed my mind
completely so to fulfill my curiosity and the curiosity of my followers on youtube
and supporters on Patreon was to invite dr mike Simone from the honeybee research lab
in baton rouge USDA for a live stream with me in my youtube channel so we're gonna be talking
about propolis and the benefits of propolis to honeybee health and his latest research on the
topic the live stream is scheduled for August 18 at 7 00 pm eastern time and it's gonna be
live on youtube Facebook and LinkedIn it is free to everybody and you can register to the event
using the link in the description or going to inside the hype.tv slash live streams the secret
of beekeeping in my opinion is balance the human design to select bees that produce less propolis
is a benefit only to the beekeeper and not for the honeybees do you think this is good beekeeping
I would love to know your thoughts if you like this video please click in the
videos at the screen right now to watch more of my content I'm very happy you're
here thanks for watching inside the hivee.tv the show about bees see you guys next week
you