Scorching summer takes toll on bees and honey harvests in France
France produces 20,000 tonnes of honey each year, but successive heatwaves and persistent drought across Europe this summer are impacting bee populations as flowering plants dry out and colonies struggle to find food. Beekeeper Romain Lacotte and his family farm 1,000 hives in Haute-Corrèze, central France, an area considered one of the country's natural water towers. But even there, he tells RFI, high temperatures and lack of rain are taking their toll.
Issued on: 23/08/2026 - RFI
Bees collect water to mix with pollen as part of the honey-making process, but persistent drought and successive heatwaves are making this more challenging. © ASSOCIATED PRESS - Jacquelyn Martin
RFI: What happens to your bees in extreme heat?
Romain Lacotte: The heat affects the colony, meaning the hive and the bees inside it. The colony needs a temperature of 35C inside the hive. When it rises above that, the bees can regulate it through ventilation. Some bees will gather at the entrance of the hive and fan their wings to create an airflow. Others will place drops of water there to create humidity, which will lower the temperature inside the colony.
RFI: Can you explain the phenomenon known as “bearding”, seen in front of the hive?
RL: It's a sign that the bees are too hot inside the hive. They come outside to leave more air inside because the space between two frames is exactly the thickness of two bees. When it's cold, they can regulate the temperature by huddling together. But when it's very hot, they find it difficult to tolerate being so close together, which is why the bees leave the hive. This frees up space and allows the hive to be ventilated. When all the bees are outside, clinging to the front of the entrance, they look like a beard, hence the expression.
RFI: What happens to your bees in extreme heat?
Romain Lacotte: The heat affects the colony, meaning the hive and the bees inside it. The colony needs a temperature of 35C inside the hive. When it rises above that, the bees can regulate it through ventilation. Some bees will gather at the entrance of the hive and fan their wings to create an airflow. Others will place drops of water there to create humidity, which will lower the temperature inside the colony.
RFI: Can you explain the phenomenon known as “bearding”, seen in front of the hive?
RL: It's a sign that the bees are too hot inside the hive. They come outside to leave more air inside because the space between two frames is exactly the thickness of two bees. When it's cold, they can regulate the temperature by huddling together. But when it's very hot, they find it difficult to tolerate being so close together, which is why the bees leave the hive. This frees up space and allows the hive to be ventilated. When all the bees are outside, clinging to the front of the entrance, they look like a beard, hence the expression.
RFI: Are you able to save them when this happens?
RL: We're forced to feed them. We give them syrup – a mixture of water and sugar. But this also affects us as beekeepers, because it increases our costs.
Some beekeepers from southern France – where everything flowers very quickly and then dries out very quickly, meaning colonies starve – take hundreds or even thousands of hives to other, more favourable regions, such as ours, so that their colonies can benefit from other sources of food.
But this creates competition. We limit ourselves to apiaries – locations for our hives – of 24 hives. But beekeepers who move their colonies from one area to another can put 80 hives in the same place. This suddenly creates an overpopulation and competition for the bees from nearby hives, as well as for other pollinating insects.
Our region has suffered from this kind of practice, with some beekeepers placing hundreds of hives in one location. This affects the natural environment and us as well.
RFI: Beyond the heat, how is the drought affecting your bees?
RL: Because of the drought and the heat, all the plants flowered earlier than usual this year. Plants that normally flower in August were already in bloom in June, which is creating shortages now. Bee colonies can no longer find enough food. As the plants dry out, there's less nectar. And without nectar, the bees starve.
At first, starvation causes the bees to become less active. They stop moving around and remain in their hive. They are no longer able to fly. Normally, before leaving, a foraging bee fills up on food so it has enough energy to sustain its flight. Once it has collected nectar, it uses some of it on the way back and what remains is used by the colony to make honey. But without resources, bees are no longer able to fly.
In the second stage of starvation, they begin to cannibalise and eat their own larvae, as well as what is inside the cells – all the larval food they had originally provided so that the larvae could develop into bees. It's their last resort.
RFI: What impact have drought and heat had on your honey production this year?
RL: We’ve seen a drop of more than 40 percent in production compared with what we’ve had over the past 30 years.
In recent days, we’ve had some rain in Corrèze, which has allowed other plants to flower, such as meadowsweet and goldenrod. These provide a little food that our bees can collect. We’ll then continue to support them to make sure they have enough food to get through the winter and be ready for spring.
Last year was a good one, but two years ago it was disastrous. Before that, we had stronger periods of abundant flowering that allowed us to produce our quota of honey and make a living and pay our costs. Today, these periods of abundant flowering are very short and everything happens very quickly.
And we’re not just affected by drought and heat. There’s also deforestation. Natural woodland, which provides a lot of food for bees, is disappearing more and more. Everything is becoming more uncertain.
This article has been adapted from the original version in French by Stephanie Schüler.
No comments:
Post a Comment