KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana |Honeybees Dying At Alarming Rate

Honeybees Dying At Alarming Rate

     Honeybees are dying off at an alarming rate in almost half the country.  It's a mystery scientists are calling "colony collapse disorder."  Now, some Ark-La-Tex beekeepers are beginning to see the same signs.
     Bees are far more than a picnic inconvenience.  They are the givers of honey and the providers of pollination to 14-billion dollars in U.S. crops.  Even clover needs bees.  "Lots of farmers put this on their land and it requires pollination by bees and other pollinating insects," said beekeeper James Aulds, as he grabbed a handful of clover from the ground.
     Aulds works the 350-hives for Hummer & Son Louisiana Honey in Bossier City.  "There are very few feral bees in this area," added Aulds who explained that most wild bees locally died off in the early '90's thanks to mites.
     "Bees do not take care of themselves.  That's why there's beekeepers," said Aulds.  Operations like Hummer & Son are now hired by farmers for pollination help so their animals can still graze and grow.
     Aulds said half the country's bees are in Calfornia, helping pollinate huge crops, especially almonds.  But there's trouble this year as California bee farmer Louis Rosburg described.  "Disappeared.  There's nothing there.  There's no bees on the ground anywhere.  There's just a completely empty hive."
     Scientists fear that everything from viruses and mites to fungi and pesticides could be to blame for the mysterious "colony collapse disorder," with bees dying off by the hundreds of thousands.  Aulds said, "since we live in a global economy with instant travel of stuff, we have all the diseases from all over the world in the United States."
     He isn't ready to say colony collapse disorder is here or not but conceded that they are seeing a lot more bees dying.  Typically a honey farm like Hummer & Son might see a 10-percent reduction in bees over wintertime.  This time it's 30 percent.  What would make them start to panic?  Aulds estimated that another twenty percent drop and they would begin to change their strategies.
     Hummer & Son is expected to add several hundred more hives to compensate for their winter loss and then keep their fingers crossed that the worst is over.  They now rent out bees to 8-family farms for pollination.  And since this is a relatively new venture for them they expect to sign up many more.

Story by Jeff Ferrell