Bee Rental Common as Population Declines

R I C H M O N D, Va., July 19, 2000 -- If you’ve noticed fewer honeybees around inthe last few years, it’s not your imagination.

Virginia, like the rest of the nation, has seen its wildhoneybee population drop 90 percent in the last five to 10 years.Two varieties of Asian mites that immigrated to America havedecimated the population.

While that’s good news for those allergic to bee stings, it’sbad for farmers and gardeners who depend on honeybees to pollinatecrops.

Most of the bees that remain are kept by beekeepers. But eventhe kept population has dropped by 60 to 70 percent, said PaulDavis, past president of the Richmond Beekeepers Association andowner of Bat Bee and Hornet Removal.

Not Attracting New Blood

In 1990, Virginia was home to about 78,000 managed honeybeecolonies.

“If you treat it twice a year, you can control it,” Davissaid. “If you don’t, it’s disastrous … And you have somebeekeepers who are too chintzy to spend the money for a secondtreatment.”

Frank Fulgham, project manager for the Office of Plant and PestControl in the Virginia Department of Agricultural and ConsumerServices, said there’s little the state can do to rebuild thehoneybee population except hope that feral bees that escape frombeekeepers will develop a tolerance to the mite.

Al Hollins, a beekeeper in Mechanicsville, said he regularlyreceives calls from farmers and orchard growers who want to renthis bees to help pollinate a crop, but he rarely rents his bees outthese days. Cucumber and squash growers especially rely onhoneybees, he said.

Herman Hohlt, a horticulture professor with Virginia Tech’sEastern Shore Agricultural Research & Extension Center, saidcucumber growers have long relied for years on rented hives.

“Anybody who’s been growing a significant acreage has had theneed for rented hives for years,” Hohlt said. “For small growersin and around urban areas, the lack of bees can be a problem.”

Although there’s heavy demand for beekeepers who will rent outtheir colonies, many beekeepers no longer do so for a variety ofreasons. In some cases, people with only a few colonies got out ofthe business because of the mites and never resumed even afteroptions arose for treatment.

“Beekeeping has not historically attracted a lot of newblood,” Fulgham said.