Mystery ailment strikes honeybees

[marmar]

AP, via Yahoo:


By GENARO C. ARMAS, Associated Press Writer
Sun Feb 11, 6:12 PM ET



STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - A mysterious illness is killing tens of thousands of honeybee colonies across the country, threatening honey production, the livelihood of beekeepers and possibly crops that need bees for pollination.

Researchers are scrambling to find the cause of the ailment, called Colony Collapse Disorder.

Reports of unusual colony deaths have come from at least 22 states. Some affected commercial beekeepers — who often keep thousands of colonies — have reported losing more than 50 percent of their bees. A colony can have roughly 20,000 bees in the winter, and up to 60,000 in the summer.

"We have seen a lot of things happen in 40 years, but this is the epitome of it all," Dave Hackenberg, of Lewisburg-based Hackenberg Apiaries, said by phone from Fort Meade, Fla., where he was working with his bees.

The country's bee population had already been shocked in recent years by a tiny, parasitic bug called the varroa mite, which has destroyed more than half of some beekeepers' hives and devastated most wild honeybee populations. .......(more)

The rest of the article is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070211/ap_on_sc/dying_bees

[marmar]

1. To quote INXS:

"Sometimes you kick, sometimes you get kicked."

:kick:

[Javaman]

2. Dang, I was seriously thinking of starting an apiary this spring too.

There have been several "blights" over the years but this one is by and far the worst.