In 1990 I came across the following information in Apicultural
Abstracts. I don't remember now which issue. At that time I published it
in my newsletter The Aware Beekeeper. I present it her for your
collective evaluation.

Dick Bonney


> BEES AND HIGH VOLTAGE
>
>  Over the years there have been reports of adverse effects on mammals (including
> humans) from being housed or pastured under high voltage electric lines. Now a
> paper from Russia, "Ethological and physiological anomalies in honeybees caused
> by the action of high-voltage line electric fields", by E.K. Es'kov and N.I. Bragin,
> reports that there are adverse effects on bees. The paper is written in Russian but
> fortunately there is an English abstract, as follows:
>
>   Effects of electric fields (industrial frequencies) on honey bees were studied in the
> laboratory and under a high-voltage electric line (500 kv). Regulation of the brood
> nest microclimate was disturbed in exposed colonies and viability of embryos, larvae
> and adults was reduced. (Other adverse effects were noted.) Honey production was
> reduced. The effects were eliminated by moving the bees to a site at least 50 meters
> from the line, or by placing them under trees, or by covering hive tops with a layer of
> dirt.
>