28 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 484 



BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE MONTANA STATE APIARIST 

 1951 and 1952 



During recent years the Montana beekeeping industry has 

 been undergoing a gradual change. Many small scale and amateur 

 beekeepers are selling out to larger commercial beekeepers with 

 a few inexperienced replacements entering the industry. Small 

 scale operators typically lack the interest necessary for proper 

 disease and swarm control and many appreciate the opportunity 

 to sell their operation to a commercial beekeeper. During the bi- 

 ennium, inspection efforts of the Assistant State Apiarist have 

 been concentrated on locating and destroying or cleaning out 

 disease in the smaller apiaries. Such an inspection program was 

 carried out because it appears that many of these smaller apiaries 

 act as infection centers for large areas. 



The registration of bee locations in accordance with the state 

 law is necessary so that inspection of all apiaries can be accom- 

 plished. Many previously unregistered locations have been found 

 during the biennium and legal registration was accomplished. 



The number of colonies inspected annually is limited by the 

 available personnel. Consequently this report does not show a true 

 picture of the disease problem of Montana's beekeeping industry. 

 Many of the larger and presumably disease free or nearly disease 

 free apiaries have not been inspected or have only been spot 

 checked. If these larger apiaries could have been included in the 

 inspections, the percentage of infected colonies would have been 

 considerably less. The disease problem in Montana is unique in 

 that much of the disease is harbored in and around rimrocks, old 

 buildings, and trees which were previously inhabited by diseased 

 bees. Under these conditions it is doubtful if the disease can ever 

 be entirely eliminated, particularly in certain areas. The problem 

 is therefore one of control rather than elimination. 



Several western Montana beekeepers have experienced severe 

 damage to yards located in outlying areas due to the activities of 

 bears. There is a need for a cooperative program with government 

 trappers and the issuance of permits for beekeepers to destroy 

 such bears. 



The results of honey bee pollination programs in California, 

 Utah, and Nebraska have caused considerable interest on the part 

 of farmers in Montana. Conditions in the aforementioned areas 

 are widely different from the conditions existing in Montana's 

 alfalfa and clover seed growing areas. Extensive experimentation 

 in Alberta and Saskatchewan under conditions more similar to 

 Montana's indicates that honey bees are of little value for alfalfa 

 and red clover pollinization and that certain species of wild bees are 



