The news is abuzz with reports of "killer mites"
wiping out the nation’s
honeybees. For Georgia beekeepers, though, the news isn’t all
bad.

"Most of the news is from crop and garden growers,"
said Keith Delaplane, an
entomologist with the University of Georgia Extension
Service.

"For beekeepers here, though, it’s been a pretty good
year," he said.
"Honey prices are at a historic high, and the queen and
packaged bee business is
great. This is much more of a crop and grower crisis than a
beekeeper crisis."

U.S. beekeepers have battled the microscopic tracheal mites,
which feed on blood inside
bees’ breathing tubes, since 1984. The newer, more deadly
killers are varroa mites.

"Varroa mites are external blood feeders and are much
larger," said
Delaplane, who specializes in bees. "You can see them with
the naked eye. Colonies
where you have varroa mites almost always die."

Beekeepers’ losses this year have been high nationwide. The
worst were reported in
northern states, where the winter and mites both were brutal.
Michigan, Wisconsin and New
York each lost an estimated 60 percent of their bee colonies or
more.

Delaplane figures Georgia losses at a more modest 15 percent.
Other Southern states set
losses from 20 percent to 50 percent. "I still think my
figure is accurate for
Georgia, though," he said.

Beekeepers’ losses were partly offset by higher honey
prices.

"A year ago they were lucky to get 50 cents a
pound," Delaplane said.
"Now the prices are 70 cents to 85 cents a pound. I’ve seen
premium sourwood honey at
well over a dollar. So prices have nearly doubled."

Honey prices are higher largely because varroa mites are a
worldwide problem. For the
first time in years, the global honey supply is low, and prices
are likely to stay up in
the near future.

Georgia’s main bee product, though, isn’t honey. It’s
bees.

"Georgia has mainly a queen and packaged-bee
industry," Delaplane said.
"And their business is booming."

As mites wipe out honeybees across the nation, the demand for
Georgia queen and
packaged bees grows stronger. U.S. beekeepers need replacements
for their lost colonies.

And farmers — mainly vegetable growers — are having to look
to beekeepers to replace
the bees the mites are hitting hardest: the wild ones.

"There’s no question we’ve had more honeybee losses in
the wild," Delaplane
said. Honeybees kept in hives can be treated for mites. Wild
bees have no such protection.
And their numbers have plummeted.

"Those were free pollinators," he said.

With honey prices high, beekeepers were reluctant to rent out
their hives as
pollinators, too. Most crop plants aren’t good honey plants.

In Georgia, the crop hardest hit so far has been squash.

"I’ve probably had more calls from squash growers than
I’ve ever had,"
Delaplane said. "They’ve had a hard time getting their
crops pollinated."

The wild honeybees’ decline will likely help beekeepers as
the demand for pollinators
grows in Georgia’s $400 million vegetable industry.

"In California, almond growers have to have 100 percent
pollination to make a good
crop," Delaplane said. "Honeybee rent there is
normally $40 to $50 per colony.

"In Georgia, though, growers have been very resistant to
paying for
pollinators," he said. "Now, though, they’re starting
to see that they might
have to pay, and pay well. Honeybees as pollinators aren’t free.
In fact, they’re very
valuable."

The pinpoint-sized varroa mites attack honeybees. But they’re
causing the greatest
concern among farmers whose crops need the bees. People who make
their living from bees
have had some losses, but they’ve had some good news, too.

"All in all, it’s a good time to be a beekeeper,"
Delaplane said.