More Bees, Wisco Edition

More bad news on the mystery of the disappearing bees.

Germantown's Werner can offer the scientists and Congress few clues or insights.



He lost 700, or 54%, of his 1,300 colonies of honeybees - each hive containing up to 30,000 bees - in December and January while the insects were in Florida for the winter.



Millions of adult worker bees flew off to collect flower nectar and never returned, said Werner, owner of Indian Summer Honey Farm.



They did not set up new hives elsewhere. He believes they might have become disoriented and couldn't find their way home, dying outdoors. No dead bees were found at the hives.



Ranum, in Darlington, and Palmer, in East Troy, were opening hives in early spring 2006 and were surprised to find many of the boxes empty of bees.



"It was like something had vacuumed the bees out of there," said Palmer, owner of East Troy Honey. "The bees were missing."



Ranum lost 240 of 300 bee colonies a year ago. Some of the losses were due to mites, but he could not explain why at least 120 of the hives were empty, he said.



This spring, he and other Lafayette County beekeepers lost a total of 1,200 colonies, and a large percentage of those losses came from sudden disappearances, according to Ranum. He is the third-generation owner of Ranum's 1887 Brand, a honey label.



A small number of bees die each winter, said Palmer. A year ago, however, only four of his 26 colonies survived. Most hives had been abandoned, and no other insects would go near the boxes, he said.

Emphasis added.

Powered by ScribeFire.