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| Around The Grange |
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Loss of hives worries scientists, beekeepers |
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By Frank Juliano, Connecticut Post (3-10-08) |
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MARCH 10, 2008 --
The heck with the flowers, Ralph Harrison would like to know where have all the bees gone?
It's a mystery with huge implications for the country's food supply and variety, and Connecticut scientists and beekeepers like Harrison are trying to figure it out. Bees are leaving the hive, and not returning, and the resulting decline in the number of honeybees means fewer to pollinate fruit, berry and vegetable crops.
"I had a hive out there two weeks ago that was alive, and now it's dead," Harrison said, sitting at his kitchen table and pointing dramatically to his Devon backyard.
"It was a strong hive, with plenty of honey to see it through the winter. They didn't starve and I did all of the meds to protect the hive from mites," he said. "There were no dead bees on the ground. They were just ... Gone."
Aware of the moment where the tense music would be cued up in a Hitchcock thriller, Harrison waits a beat or two and then repeats ... "Gone."
Although scientists at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven said that the phenomenon, called Colony Collapse Disorder, has not been seen often in the state, Harrison said he has lost three of his 20 hives to it this year.
"I've been reading a lot of things about it and no one knows yet what causes it," said Harrison, a former president of the Western Connecticut Beekeepers Association.
Dr. Kirby Stafford, chief entomologist at the experiment station, said scientists there are focusing on the role that insecticides may play in the disorder, which has decimated beehive populations in several states.
"Low levels of insecticides are systemic, they are used in gardens and yards," Stafford said. "We're looking at the levels of insecticide in pollen and wax. Some insecticide is being introduced into hives to control the mites that can kill bees."
Insecticides are one potential cause, the entomologist said. "One study has linked a virus to it, though not as the direct cause," he said. "It plays a role. I suspect that there are multiple causes."
Naturalist Tim Chaucer acquired a hive from Harrison several years ago for his Gulf Pond nature center, and extracted honey from it for a few years. "It did die off, over a period of years, from mites.
"Colony collapse is a different thing, and I have no theory on that although it could be related to global warming," Chaucer said. "I would also not be surprised if insecticides played a far more insidious role than we realize."
The implications of a loss or a severe decline in honeybees for agriculture would be enormous, all three men said. "They are absolutely essential to pollination, especially fruits and berries," Chaucer said.
Stafford said bees are used to pollinate 100 different crops in the United States, worth $15 billion a year. "There are 2.4 million colonies in the U.S. now, compared to 4.5 million in 1980," he said. "The California almond crop alone uses 1.3 million colonies."
There are 332 registered beekeepers in the state, with a total of 2,628 hives, officials said. Those, like Harrison, with fewer than 100 hives are considered hobbyists.
Harrison rents his hives to area farmers, but he also has other uses for his bees, including providing them to patients using bee venom therapy. "I have two ladies with multiple sclerosis and I had one who used bee venom to treat arthritis in her spine. One fellow comes to me for bees to treat his sinusitis."
The theory, which is not generally accepted by the medical establishment, is that as bee venom breaks down in the body, it triggers the production of natural cortisone, Harrison said.
Recently retired after a 40-year career with United Parcel Service, Harrison also collects and sells the honey from his hives. He prepares three varieties, including the pale golden Early Spring, wildflower honey and buckwheat, a dark, heavy honey loaded with antioxidants.
"It's like Guinness to a bear," he said. One-pound jars sell for $5 or $10 depending on the variety, and Harrison has sold honey at the Fairfield Historical Society, Stratford Day and the Orange Country Fair.
He's been stung many times, but that's to be expected, he said. "It feels like a pinch. You get used to it."
One method beekeepers like Harrison use is to inject smoke into a hive. It causes the bees to store up honey, and they get fat and sleepy. "It's like we feel after Thanksgiving dinner," he said.
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