# Mystery killer silencing honeybees



## bbbuddy (Jul 29, 2002)

This was posted to an email list I am on. I don't have bees, but have wanted to start some top bar hives. This looks bad, have any of you seen problems this year?


Mystery killer silencing honeybees
If the die-off continues, it would be disastrous for U.S. crop yields.
By Sandy Bauers
Inquirer Staff Writer

A bee, laden with pollen. Honeybees pollinate more than $15 billion
worth of U.S. crops, including Pennsylvania's apple harvest and New
Jersey's cranberries and blueberries.

Something is killing the nation's honeybees.

Dave Hackenberg of central Pennsylvania had 3,000 hives and figures he
has lost all but about 800 of them.

In labs at Pennsylvania State University, the Pennsylvania Department
of Agriculture, and elsewhere in the nation, researchers have been
stunned by the number of calls about the mysterious losses.

"Every day, you hear of another operator," said Dennis vanEngelsdorp,
acting state apiarist with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
"It's just causing so much death so quickly that it's startling."

At stake is the work the honeybees do, pollinating more than $15
billion worth of U.S. crops, including Pennsylvania's apple harvest,
the fourth-largest in the nation, worth $45 million, and New Jersey's
cranberries and blueberries.

While a few crops, such as corn and wheat, are pollinated by the wind,
most need bees. Without these insects, crop yields would fall
dramatically. Agronomists estimate Americans owe one in three bites of
food to bees.

The problem caps 20 years of honeybee woes, including two mites that
killed the valuable insect and a predatory beetle that attacked the
honeycombs of weak or dead colonies.

"This is by far the most alarming," said Maryann Frazier, an
apiculture - or beekeeping - expert at Penn State's College of
Agricultural Sciences.

One of the first to notice the latest die-off was Hackenberg, who
lives in Lewisburg, north of Harrisburg in Union County.

He and his son truck about 3,000 hives up and down the East Coast
every year as part of a large but little-known cross-continental
migratory bee industry.

Hackenberg's bees pollinate oranges in Florida, apples, cherries and
pumpkins in Pennsylvania, and blueberries in Maine. Come summer, they
are buzzing along the Canadian border, making honey.

This season, Hackenberg hauled his hives to Florida by Oct. 10, just
as he has done for 40 years. By November, some hives were empty;
others had just sickly remains.

He made some calls and found out a beekeeper in Georgia had seen the
same thing.

Since then, with concern mounting, experts have been investigating. A
few months ago, they were referring to the die-off as "fall dwindle
disease." Now, they have ratcheted up to "colony collapse disorder."

Last weekend, apiarist vanEngelsdorp and other researchers headed to
central California, where hundreds of acres of almond trees - the
source of 80 percent of the world's almond harvest - are about to blossom.

Last fall, workers transported managed hives - about 450 per
tractor-trailer - to California from colder areas such as the Great
Lakes and the Dakotas. Now, hives are coming from Texas, Florida,
Maryland and Pennsylvania. In all, about half the country's managed
hives are needed for the mass pollination.

As workers openthe hives to check them, "the picture's not so good,"
said Jeffrey S. Pettis, a leader in bee research at a U.S. Department
of Agriculture lab in Beltsville, Md.

Pettis said bees often had some winter loss, but this level of death
was unprecedented.

As dead or dying insects are collected, dissected and tested, several
possibilities are emerging.

The most recent mite problem - the varroa mite - compromises a bee's
immune system, so a virus might be the new culprit, Frazier said. Or
it could be a new fungal pathogen.

Frazier said researchers also were looking at a new group of
pesticides that might impair the bees' ability to orient to their
hives. So maybe they are dying only because they cannot find their way
back home.

Honeybees are not natives. The country already had about 3,500 species
of pollinating bees before Europeans brought honeybees in the 1600s.
But because honeybees produce honey and can be managed so easily, they
have become a mainstay of U.S. agriculture.

"Part of the problem is that today we develop these big monocultures
of corn or peas or cabbage," Frazier said. "They wipe out the
diversity of nectar sources and reduce nesting sites for wild bees.
And we use, unfortunately, a lot of pesticides to keep the insects we
don't want from eating these crops, which also works to eliminate the
pollinators."

So a Pennsylvania orchard manager, say, will bring in bees for the two
weeks the apple trees bloom, then take them out so he can apply
substances to control other insects.

Neither entomologists nor growers can say what will happen when the
2007 growing season for most of the country's crops starts. "We're
coming up onto the season where people are really going to be
worried," Frazier said.

Although research suggests the stress of moving bees long distances
might be a factor in the die-offs, smaller beekeepers with stationary
hives worry the problem will extend to their colonies as well.

Already, Janet Katz, a beekeeper in Chester, N.J., thinks three of her
21 hives are failing.

And the bees are stressed already, she said. "The weather last season
was not cooperative," she said. "Over the course of the season it was
too wet, too dry, too hot and too cold, all at the wrong times."

Bees store honey every autumn - a hive needs 60 pounds to survive the
winter - but with this year's warm weather, they ate a lot, and
beekeepers had to supplement with sugar syrup.

Now, the bees have sealed themselves inside the hives to stay warm,
and the keepers can't open the structures until spring.

"Are we going to see this same thing, this collapsing disorder, in
these bees? We don't know," Frazier said. "It's very possible this may
extend to our nonmigratory population. We just won't know until spring."
Contact staff writer Sandy Bauers at 215-854-5147 or
[email protected].


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## Guest (Feb 9, 2007)

I guess the GMO crops they feed on aren't helping the situation.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Here is more information on this serious die off of bees in the US.
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/02/05/bees_ani.html?category=travel&guid=20070205144500>
Beekeepers are asked to report any serious die off on a web site that would allow scientists to track this unknown killer. While researchers search for clues to this die off, I doubt genetically modified crops are serious considerations.


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## Mike in Ohio (Oct 29, 2002)

I've spoken with beekeepers I know in various states (OH,PA,WV,FL and TX) and I get a sense that the folks who do migratory pollination services appear to be getting harder hit.

I'm sure there will be some confusion (about colony die offs) this spring in areas (like NE and East Cebtral Ohio) where colonies entered winter in a poor state due to the cold wet spring and the long hot dry stretch this past summer. Most everyone I know was feeding heavily as long as they could going into winter. Personally I'm anticipating losses of 50% or more and have ordered replacement bees accordingly. I expect most of my losses to be from hives that were started last spring.

Edited to add: I also plan on feeding my colonies terra-pro this spring. I normally try to go all natural but I think that given the reports of high bacteria levels in collapsed hives this might make a difference.

Mike


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i may wait to get into beekeeping. i was planning to start three hives this spring, but tales of mysterious 80% die-off in my area last winter and now this new info has me on the fence.


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## Mike in Ohio (Oct 29, 2002)

MELOC,

If you decide not to try your hand with your own hives this year, I recommend that you try to find a local beekeeper that will let you "help out" so that you gain some experience.

Just a thought.

Mike


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i'm not a total noob to bees. it has been 20 years or so since i have been in a hive. my dad had them for several years before he died.

i have approached my "local beekeeper" and adopted him as my mentor, lol. (not sure how he feels about that exactly, lol) he is a good guy and is willing to help. he encourages lots of research as well as most others on this board. i was over to visit him in december and i got to check out his operation. he has a fairly well established honey business and dabbles in candle sales as well. he actually had to purchase honey from other producers to meet all of his orders. surprising to me was the fact that he doesn't own a computer and never gets online for business or research. in this day and age, i find that to be incredible and a tribute to his drive and knowledge. he is very active in a local beekeepers association.

it was a conversation with him that informed me of the huge problems last year. we live in south central pa and several beekeepers had lost upwards of 80% of their bees. penn state came and did some testing with no diffinitive results. i don't think this guy had such great losses, but at least three of his friends did. i think some sort of virus was suggested, but there was no positive info on the specifics. i suspect it may be related to what we are seeing with the above mentioned concerns.


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## veggrower (Jan 13, 2007)

ladycat said:


> I guess the GMO crops they feed on aren't helping the situation.


GMO oranges, almonds, peaches, apples, blueberries, cranberries???


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## foxtrapper (Dec 23, 2003)

Mike in Ohio said:


> I'm sure there will be some confusion (about colony die offs) this spring in areas (like NE and East Cebtral Ohio) where colonies entered winter in a poor state due to the cold wet spring and the long hot dry stretch this past summer.


I agree. The article starts off sounding like a disease in the PA area, but ends up describing a hive emptying out, much like absconding, when placed in southern states, particularly citrus groves. 

Something not being mentioned is the queen, brood and eggs. If there's no queen, no eggs and no brood, it really sounds like absconding. If there's a dead queen, and eggs and brood, that sounds a lot more like a problem of some sort.

Foraging bees not returning to the hive, that sounds an awful lot like pesticide problems killing the workers. A not uncommon event. I'm not up on the current pesticides/herbicides and such, but if a new one is in use down south, where this problem seems to be happening the most, it may well simply be a case of a "safe" chemical actually not being safe. One of the new treatments for soybean rust for example. Or the reemerging use of DDT.


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## dcross (Aug 12, 2005)

veggrower said:


> GMO oranges, almonds, peaches, apples, blueberries, cranberries???


There's been no evidence that I'm aware of that GMO crops are affecting bees, but they do forage on corn and beans.


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## Guest (Feb 13, 2007)

veggrower said:


> GMO oranges, almonds, peaches, apples, blueberries, cranberries???


 The only GMO stone fruit that's been released is one veriety of plum. But growers have been given the go-ahead to cross it with other varieties.

They are working on GMO varieties of almonds and apples (out of what you listed).

But some of the crops bees forage on that ARE gmo are things like corn (including popcorn), several bean varieties (especially soy), squash, cucumbers, strawberries, sunflowers, alfalfa, and so on.

ETA some wild plants have also crossed with related gmo crops, which, of course, bees forage on.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

The first half hour of George Noory's Coast to Coast AM just had a Dr. Eric Mussen discussing the sudden phenomenon which is being called Colony Collapse Disorder. In a short time, it was explained how important bees were in terms of food dollars as well as why the feral swarms vanished. 

Here's the link supplied on the Coast to Coast site: http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/

Martin


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## Mike in Ohio (Oct 29, 2002)

cbs news had a story on it night before last.

Mike


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Here is an update sent out on Friday, Feb. 16th from one of the CCD investigators..... 



From: Jerry Bromenshenk 
Subject: CCD update 


All 

I think we may all be in more agreement than it seems. CCD was a name 
carefully chosen to not imply anything more than we know. 

The initial Fall Dwindling Disease terminology had three problems -- our 
surveys indicate that the problem was not confined to the fall, nor was it a 
dwindle in terms of taking several weeks of months to play out, and it may or 
may not be a disease. CCD means Colony (the effects are at the colony level), 
Collapse (sudden, rapid reduction of population sizes -- a couple of weeks, 
maybe even a couple of days), and Disorder (since it may or may not be a 
disease). 

CCD may be something new -- the nosema seen in Spain, the neonictotinics 
(imidacloprid) used in France, a new virus, a fungus, the result of throwing 
everything but the kitchen sink into a hive, etc. 

OR 

It may be something old -- a variation of mites and PMS, whatever went 
through colonies in LA and TX in the 60s, etc. 

I'm leaning towards the something old, since the symptoms are the same as in 
the 60s, and the inability to pin down a cause just as problematic. 

It looks to be contagious, and the total absence of robbing, invasion by 
hive beetles, wax moth is peculiar. 

Finally, our surveys are beginning to provide some useful information. 

So far 105 beekeepers have responded. Of the 53 reporting CCD, 17 fed HF 
corn syrup, 19 fed sucrose. 

I'd be hard pressed to argue that HFCS was the cause, or that sucrose 
provided any protection. 

35 of the CCD reports indicated that their hives had good pollen stores, 25 
reported good nectar stores, and 36 said that their hives had honey stores. 

Jerry 

 Al


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## Guest (Feb 18, 2007)

alleyyooper said:


> So far 105 beekeepers have responded. Of the 53 reporting CCD, 17 fed HF
> corn syrup, 19 fed sucrose.
> 
> I'd be hard pressed to argue that HFCS was the cause, or that sucrose
> ...


 Interesting! They might be making progress in tracking this down!


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## shadowwalker (Mar 5, 2004)

Is this happening in other countries? Just wondering.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2007)

shadowwalker said:


> Is this happening in other countries? Just wondering.


 Australia is the only other country I've heard of.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Keep em together


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