07/24/07 Idaho honeybees

There are about 125 commercial beekeepers in Idaho. In eastern Idaho beekeeper Jay Miller sees no problems with the honeybee hives he owns and manages. In southwestern Idaho Randy Johnson says he saw some honeybee losses. JOHNSON "We used to operate our bees with maybe a seven percent loss. With the advent of the Varroa mite and the tracheal mite we have seen these losses increase over the past 20 years to a normal of 15 to 20 percent." In 22 states, mostly in the East and Midwest many bee colonies collapsed and researchers are still trying to find out why it happened. Johnson there are probably many factors that may have led to bee deaths; mites, chemicals, weather, stress. JOHNSON "The industry has selected a group of beekeepers, scientists and others interested in the industry to study this problem and try to develop some answers." That will be a big topic when beekeepers meet in Boise this December for their state meeting or in Sacramento for the national meeting in January. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott