[getsmart-l] Honey making industry rebounds

[John O'Gorman]

http://www.norwichgazette.com/News/341765.html
Honey making industry rebounds


By Tara Bowie STAFF WRITER
Thursday September 27, 2007 Nowich Gazette

Honey production is up for at least one beekeeper in the area, after a mysterious illness wiped out tens of thousands of bees.
When John Van Blyderveen, owner of Oxford Honey and Supplies in Burgessville opened his colonies this spring he found that 25 per cent of his total population had not made it through the winter. 
While his 140 colonies were full of young bees, something was happening to the workers and drones to cause them to go missing.
"It was totally disastrous," he said. "I wasn’t sure what was going to happen." 
What resulted after a few months of worry and concern for the future of honey making, was an almost record breaking yield. 
With the help of good weather, his bees were able to produce more than three times the amount of surplus honey than the year before.
In 2006, on average each of Van Blyderveen’s colonies made approximately 
50-pounds (22.7-kilograms) of honey.
This year each colony produced approximately 160-lbs (72.7-kg.)
"It was an amazing year for us."

Within the region there are 5,000 colonies. During a meeting with the Ontario Beekeepers in March it was revealed that some beekeepers had lost 90 per cent of their population. 
In the spring, Van Blyderveen set to work on recouping his losses by bringing in bees from Australia. He created nukes, a sort of bee starter kit, for other beekeepers in the area. 
"I came through this pretty lucky," Van Blyderveen said. "I wanted to do what I could to help others without compromising my own productivity."
At the same time Ontario beekeepers were noticing losses, mysterious colony deaths were reported in at least 22 US states. 
The US ailment, called Colony Collapse Disorder, has researchers scrambling to find answers. 
Initial reports came into researchers at Penn State University in November, but Van Blyderveen said he noticed signs that something was wrong with his hives as early as May of 2006. He thinks the bee industry is battling more than one mystery. 
After swarming in late May, when the bee population of a colony doubles and splits, Van Blyderveen noticed the bees were not acting as aggressively as they should be. He also noticed at that time, leaves on trees were burnt and discoloured and he thinks the two things are linked. 
And although he says the Ontario honey-making industry seems to have rebounded he worries if other ailments will make their way to the area. 
"I have this feeling that we will never know what happened." 
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