County bee inspector reports no major bacterial disease; warns of mite threat to hives

Volunteer county bee inspector Blaine Nay presented the annual bee-inspection report, describing the county program’s work to monitor bee health and assist beekeepers with pest and disease control.

Nay said he inspected 25 apiaries and 73 hives in 2024 and did not find the serious spore-forming bacterial diseases the state’s Bee Inspection Act was enacted to prevent. He told commissioners that the act dates from 1892 and remains in force to combat long-lived, highly contagious spore-forming diseases.

The inspector said his greatest current concern is varroa mite infestation. Nay described the standard diagnostic method the county uses — collecting a half-cup of bees and shaking them with powdered sugar through hardware cloth to count mites — and said counts above roughly six mites per half-cup (about a 2 percent infestation) are cause for treatment. He reported seeing individual hives with counts as high as roughly 20 mites in the sampled half-cup, a level he said often leads to colony collapse if not addressed.

Nay also recounted a case in which an afflicted Washington County beekeeper destroyed and buried 23 hives after a confirmed American foulbrood diagnosis; he explained that burning and burying infected colonies is the only way to remove long-lived spores from the environment.

Why it matters: honey bees are key pollinators for many crops and trees; the inspector said loss of European honey bees would require hand pollination for many fruits and nuts, and that keeping mite levels low across the county helps prevent collapsing colonies and wider spread of pests and viruses.

Ending: Nay said he will continue volunteer inspections and encouraged beekeepers to monitor mites and contact the county inspector for assistance.