Empty hives creating a buzz

By Jennifer Dyck Morning Star Staff May 13 2007 http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/

Every spring beekeepers suit up and head to the hives to check up on their busy little honey makers. While they are swarmed by their buzzing workers, irritated from the disturbance, getting stung is the last thing on their minds. They’d rather be swarmed by a mob of angry bees, because the more bees, the better. That shows strength in the population. Unfortunately, many local honeybee farmers opened their hives this year to a disappointment. “We lost half,” said Kristy Anderson, who owns Stawn’s Honey with her husband. Even one of her employees, who started his own hives at home, was faced with significant losses. “I lost 75 per cent,” said employee Matt Nagy, who went into the winter with just under 40 hives of honeybees and is now left with a mere eight.

Over at Planet Bee Honey Farm the situation isn’t much better, as the farm lost approximately 50 per cent. “It’s about double what I normally lose,” said owner Ed Nowek, who is also B.C. president of the Canadian Honey Council and estimates there is an average 30 to 35 per cent loss across B.C. But the concern isn’t just for a drop in the amount of honey being produced, it is for the large role bees play in pollinating and therefore putting food on our tables. “They say honeybees are responsible for one-third to one-half of all the crops of food,” said Nowek, listing off a variety of fruits, nuts and vegetables. The drop in population numbers is widespread, and even greater in the U.S., says Reg Kienast of Armstrong, honeybee inspector and extension worker for the provincial Ministry of Agriculture. “There’s some losses of 100 per cent all the way down to five per cent,” said Kienast of the B.C. numbers.

The declining population has received widespread media attention, but Kienast warns there is also a lot of misinformation. Each of the theories, from devices such as cellphones causing radiation to a colony collapse disorder (which is more apparent in the U.S.), have varying levels of legitimacy. The cause, Kienast suggests, is a combination of factors including a protozoa, cashmere virus, mites, stress levels and overall health. “People have to try and manage their hives more, keeping their equipment clean and watching for deformed bees,” said Kienast, also urging the importance of re-queening hives and bringing in new stocks, therefore creating new bees to pollinate (pollen is a mineral source in the hives, creating vitality). “It’s also important for the public to support the bee keepers, to make sure bees aren’t put in harm’s way with sprays and such.” Kienast says those who are spending the time and effort are getting better results. But times are changing and locally there are concerns that even more needs to be done to keep this buzzing population healthy. “It’s getting worse, it never used to be like this,” said Anderson, who is still waiting on test results for answers to her loss Nowek agrees that times are changing and treatments aren’t as effective as they used to be. With the widespread impact honeybees have on different industries, a meeting of affected parties is in the works with the Canadian Honey Council, tentatively planned for the third week of June in Winnipeg.