Along with massive loss of honeybee colonies, the number of professional beekeepers is falling, says the Washington Post, although the number of managed bee colonies is on the rise. The USDA reported 2.7 million colonies in its latest tally, the highest in 20 years. The report says the annual mortality rate is nearly four of every 10 colonies.
“Amid the die-off, beekeepers have been going to extraordinary lengths to save both their bees and their livelihoods,” says the Post. Among their techniques is to introduce a new queen into hives that have lost a queen, or to split a healthy hive in two and put a new queen into the second hive. They also can restock an abandoned hive with a colony of packaged bees including a queen.
“What’s not increasing are the commercial levels of beekeepers,” Tim Ticker, president of the American Beekeeping Federation, told the Post. He estimated that there are half as many professional beekeepers on the ABF rolls as there were in the mid-1990s. Commercial beekeepers make money by providing bees to pollinate an array of crops and by selling honey. Scientists say colony losses are likely the result of interacting factors that include pests, such as the Varroa mite; pathogens; poor nutrition; exposure to pesticides; and bee genetics.