More bee morbidity

Last winter saw one of the highest loss rates yet, according to a survey of beekeepers. The enigma that is colony collapse disorder shows no sign of abating, as nearly 38 percent of honeybee colonies nationwide died last winter, according to a survey of beekeepers by the industry-backed Bee Informed Partnership. Losses were 7 percent higher than the previous winter and nearly 9 percent higher than the average over the survey's 13-year history.  Queries went to 4,696 beekeepers managing 319,787 colonies, the partnership explains in a news release.

Kyle Grubbs, USDA's Maryland based bee research lab: "It's going to be an ongoing issue that we need to stay on top of.

Kyle Grubbs is with the USDA TB research lab in Beltsville Maryland. He says the biggest problem bees seem to be having is the parasitic varroa mite which attaches to the equivalent of the bees' liver.

"So if you have the varroa mite latched on and degrading the liver function then you can imagine how that would compound any other problem that they might have. We're trying to find bees that are more tolerant of the mites in more hygienic and able to clean mites off of each other so that's kind of a selective breeding thing that we're looking at. We're looking at some natural compounds that you can feed the bees that kind of bolster their immune system."

What troubles me is the fact that almost 2 years ago I did a number of stories on a scientist who developed a heating unit that you could install in a beehive which killed varroa mites while not harming the bees in the least bit. But Kyle Grubb says all of this will take time before we start to see significant reductions in honeybee loss rates.