How Ozone Saved the Bees (My Brief Conversation with an Expert Beekeeper)

Sometimes I get a chance to speak with people who have the most interesting lives. Several Decembers ago, early one Friday morning, I received a call from a customer named Jerry. As with the occasional customer service call, Jerry had a problem. He did not receive the ends for one of A2Z Ozone’s Silica Air Dryers he had ordered. While I searched for his order to send him the missing pieces, he asked if we sold 3-gram ozone generator parts. You see, Jerry creates and maintains his own ozone generators.

Please Don’t Modify the Ozone Generators…

I was curious, and at first, a bit perturbed. There is a rare segment of our customers who insist on modifying our ozone generators. They come to us when they have issues with the machines, but they have voided their warranty. There is not much I can do for them. But as time went on in the conversation, it was clear that Jerry knew exactly what he was doing. He built a solid ozone generator, from the ground up, that met his particular needs precisely.

Common Ground

Jerry’s Ozone Application – To Save His Honey Bees

I wanted to know how Jerry used ozone. So, I asked. At the time, I was the manager at A2Z Ozone, and I worked with ozone generators daily for over seven years. What I was about to hear was astonishing. Jerry uses ozone to help in raising his honey bees in Virginia Beach. What?

The Bee Teacher

The Fascinating Life of a Honey Bee

From my own reading, I recently learned that honey bees produce less than one teaspoon of honey during their lifetime. I asked Jerry about that. He told me that the worker bees live an average of 45 days. They expel a great deal of energy during their lives, as they travel two or three miles for pollen and nectar. Perfect navigation systems allow them to come back to the hives. A queen bee births hundreds of worker bees per day to support a beehive.

Jerry’s Hive Production

Jerry maintained two hives at the time of our conversation. His beehives yield an amazing amount of honey, about 150 pounds during peak season. Jerry shared that spring–March to June–is when his hives create most of the honey. While there is a fall flow, Jerry does not harvest the honey. He allows that time for his honey bees to recuperate. Then, during the winter months, when the honey bees are dormant, Jerry treats the beeswax with ozone.

Ozone Resistance of Wax

We know that wax is an ozone-resistant product.(1) Some customers use wax to insulate less ozone-resistant materials such as rubber. Because of that resistance to ozone, the wax is in the same state after the ozonation. Jerry said that while the beeswax retains its chemical makeup, the treatment also has many benefits.

Benefits of Ozone Treatment on Beeswax

Each ozone treatment reduces contaminants that cause disease in the beehive. It reduces pesticides that the honey bees bring back to the hive from the plants. The ozone treatment allows the bees to re-use their wax from the previous season. So, it cuts down on the amount of work the bees do. Rebuilding the wax each year takes the honey bees two to three times longer without ozone.

Method of Ozone Treatment

Jerry learned from a chemist in Ohio about treating the beeswax with ozone. Jerry devised a method to treat the beeswax. He extracts the beeswax from the hives. Then, he put the wax in an airtight ozone-resistant bag. He runs the ozone generator through the bag for a couple of days. Then Jerry reintroduces the beeswax back into the hives.

Jerry’s Ozone Generator

Jerry devised his ozone generator with the 3 gram/hour ozone-generating board. He said he can treat the beehives in stacks of four or five hives at a time with a 7 gram/hour ozone generator. Since he has two hives, the 3 gram/hour ozone generator is strong enough. He uses an air pump designed for a swimming pool to pump the ozone through the bag.

MP-3000 Light-Duty Ozone Generator

Bottom Line

The bottom line is that the ozonated wax enhances the health of the bees, improves the quality of the honey, and increases the yield for each hive.

Interested in Beekeeping?

Jerry mentioned he was the president of a bee club in Virginia Beach. He said there is a bit of a learning curve to raising honey bees. There are also startup costs, which as time goes on, these costs diminish. Because beekeeping requires quite a bit of knowledge, Jerry recommends attending club meetings. If your interest grows, then join the club and get a mentor. He had a mentor, and now he is a mentor.

Even now that I am semi-retired, I learn something new every day about ozone benefits and applications. Ozone is a powerful oxidizer and has many environmental uses in practice today. I encourage you to research the environmental applications of ozone generators, and I will be writing more about it.

Reference
(1) U.S. Government Research Reports, Volume 34, Issue 4. Page 453. U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Technical Services. 1960