LOCAL BEEKEEPERS NOT IMPACTED BY CCD
Wednesday, October 31st, 2007 -- 12:52 PM
Beekeepers around the country have expressed concern about Colony Collapse Disorder.PBS' Nature devoted a full hour to the mysterious disappearance of the World's honeybees on Sunday; 60 Minutes also had a segment.
Obviously, the loss of the honeybees could be devastating. While there are thousands of pollinating insects, the honeybee is the only one that can be manipulated. Therefore, it's important for commercial fruit and vegetable producers.
Jim Spangler of Neillsville has raised bees for 43 years. He currently has 120 hives. Each hive can have as many as 45,000 bees. He says this area has been immune to CCD, so far.
"No, I've had no trouble or do I know of anybody in this area that's had trouble with it," Spangler reports.
Spangler doubts the CCD will affect his small operation, but could see where it could cause big problems elsewhere.
He says a combination of mites, a virus and stress have caused CCD.
"The people who have the most trouble are the migratory beekeepers," Spangler explains. "The beekeepers that move their bees to Florida to citrus, California for almonds, because the bees ae under stress. That's one of the factors why it shows up."
Spangler harvests honey in late summer and earl fall. Some producers "over winter" their bees; Spangler's bees are transferred to California where they pollinate the almond crop. That's one trait that makes the honeybee so special.
"You can move a large quantity of bees into a given area in short period of time. Other insects, you just can't move them with the quantity of bees."
During the Nature program, the filmmaker visited a region in China where pear trees were pollinated by hand for lack of bees.
[url=http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/bees]Nature: The Silence of Bees[/url]
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