THE BEE SITUATION APPEARS TO BE BAD

We are trying to get our hive situation up and running.  This does not appear to be good news.  It appears that they are preparing for beemaggedon and having to start from scratch.  Not good.

Environment Northwest

WSU preparing sperm bank to save honey bee population

Credit: AP Graphics

Western honey bee collects nectar from a flower, River Ridge, Louisiana.

by WSU and KREM.com

Posted on June 7, 2013 at 11:09 AM

PULLMAN, Wash. - Washington State University researchers are preparing to use liquid nitrogen to create a frozen semen bank from select U.S. and European honey bee colonies.

At the same time, the researchers will use genetic cross-breeding methods to produce more diverse, resilient honey bee subspecies that could help thwart the nation's current colony collapse crisis.

Honey bees face a lot of challenges, said Steve Sheppard, professor of entomology at WSU.
Invasive mites can sap a brood’s strength and vector viruses. Pesticides can build up in the brood comb and gradually weaken the bees. And while the agricultural practice of monoculture provides a lot of food, it offers little of the nutritional variety that bees need.

Some of these threats may weaken or kill a hive on their own, but a combination of factors is thought to be the cause of colony collapse disorder, in which the worker bees abruptly disappear, and the entire local population is doomed.