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A bit of background. If you are considering keeping bees at your school, it’s smart to think about pesti-
cides. Dr. Dewey Caron states, in his book Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping, “There are over 500 pes-
ticide chemicals used in agriculture, made into well over ten thousand formulations. The vast majority
of these pesticides are considered harmless to honey bees, but about 10% can be very toxic and another
15% may cause moderate to severe damage to a colony of honey bees. Losses may be toxic showing
heavy initial loss of foragers and/or foragers and adult hive bees, severe so entire colony does not sur-

vive or chronic, lower level effects that persist over long period with other stressors often compounding
losses.

Losses from toxic poisoning are not confined to one family of pesticides or to certain crops or formula-
tions of pesticides. Larger scale, less target-specific spray programs and application when flowering
weeds are blooming present great hazards to honey bees. Applications, such as to forested areas or ap-
plying pesticides over larger areas via airplane, usually pose a greater threat to honey bees. Applica-
tions directly over or close to a beehive also are more hazardous.”

Chances are, you will be keeping bees in a more urban area, which can be a highly variable environment

for bees, toxically. Keep in mind, bees from one hive can collectively travel up to 25 square miles for
nectar and pollen. This can expose them to an array of threating substances.

How to keep your bees safe. It’s difficult to impossible to nurse bees back to health after a major pesti-
cide incident. Here are a few tips to proactively protect your bees:
 Provide clean and fresh water for them, on site. Bees need a lot of water to keep their colony func-
tioning. Making sure water is available keeps them out of toxic puddles.
 Talk to the grounds keeping staff at school. Let them know you’ll be keeping bees and that you want
to work towards being a bee-friendly campus (yay!). Download Oregon State University’s publica-
tion 591, How to Reduce Bee Poisoning from Pesticides, and work with the staff to know how to
“bee” smart about pesticide applications. Also suggest they install nectar and pollen-rich landscap-
ing (make this a classroom advocacy project!).

 Talk to your neighbors. Have the same conversation with your neighbors, asking them to limit
spraying and plant for bees. If you send your students out to do the asking, how could they say no?
 Register your hives with your state department of agriculture, so you will be kept in the loop of any
relevant pesticide actively.

When tragedy strikes. If you suspect your bees have been poisoned (telltale sign being a delta of dead
and dying bees, well in excess of normal bee death pattern, sprawled in-front of the hive), use the guide
from the Honey Bee Health Coalition on page 62 of the Resources section.

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