Boosting honey bee appetites


New pheremone product aimed at making colonies hungrier andmore vigorous during pollination.


By Judie Steeves H


e admits that pheromones are such tiny bits of stuff that it’s hard to maintain confidence they’ll work, but entomologist John Borden is pretty happy with a new product that improves the vigour of honey bee colonies. Called SuperBoost, it’s a


pheromone produced by honey bee larvae. “It tells the worker bees 'we're hungry’ so they go out and forage for pollen and nectar,” explains Borden, who is chief scientific officer at Contech in Delta.


“When we place SuperBoost in a hive it tells the workers that there are more larvae present than there actually are and the workers forage more vigorously,” he explains. He’s been working with


pheromones all his employed life, and has already retired once, from Simon Fraser University, where he brought along several new generations of entomologists during his career.


The new product is now available, although Borden continues to test and experiment with it, to learn more about the most useful ways to employ it.


Borden and his team at Contech have just set up a further experiment to test its usefulness in overwintering hives. He plans tried leaving it in the hives over the past winter, while maintaining untreated control hives and hives where it is removed after fall feeding.


British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Spring 2011 27


“I’ll be dancing on my desk if it proves out to improve colony vigour over winter,” he commented with a grin.


Already, his


experiments have shown that with the pouch, designed in 2007 with a


polyethylene release membrane and mylar backing, bees bring back more pollen to the hive, more honey is produced, there’s more brood comb and more worker bees in a colony. Part of the beneficial effect is probably caused by improved nutrition, according to Borden.


JUDIE STEEVES


Abbotsford beekeeper Mike Campbell introduces SuperBoost to a hive.


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