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Keeper tries to ‘build’ a better bee By GINA KINSLOWGlasgow Daily Times Many fruits and vegetables such as blueberries, cranberries, tomatoes, apples, pears, apricots and almonds require the work of honeybees for pollination, the Associated Press article said.
Beekeepers lost 36 percent of their managed honeybee colonies this year, and 31 percent in 2007, the article said. Ice cream maker Haagen-Dazs is among several companies that have pledged money for research to help save honeybees. The decline of the honeybee affects about 40 percent of Haagen-Dazs’ 73 flavors, including banana split and chocolate peanut butter because ingredients such as almonds, cherries and strawberries rely on honeybees for pollination, the article said. Honeybees have a highly organized society and various bees play certain roles in the hive, such as nurses, guards, construction workers and queen bees. Hives have only one queen bee, which can live for several years. The queen bee is the only bee with fully developed ovaries and can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day. Fertilized eggs become female worker bees and unfertilized bees become male drone bees, according to the Allen County Beekeeper Association’s Web site. Honeybees have a natural instinct to survive, he said. When a hive gets overcrowded, honeybees will branch off into two separate groups and the new swarm will find a different location in which to live. Meador has been called on several times to capture honeybee swarms, as well as other members of the Allen County Beekeeper Association. About five years ago, Meador began producing his own queen bees from wild honeybee swarms. “What we’re looking for is a bee that is more suited to Kentucky’s climate,” he said. Meador was trained in queen breeding by Dr. Tom Webster at Kentucky State University. Meador is also studying honeybee disease and pests by conducting biological testing for bacterial diseases and honeybee problems. His research is funded by several laboratory supply companies. “When beekeepers want to buy bees, if they want to increase the number of bees or their hives have died over the winter, they can buy bees from other states. It is possible to get bees fairly early in the spring that way,” Webster said. “That’s an advantage. A disadvantage is the bees are reared in places with warmer winters.” And bees reared in places with warmer winters tend not to fare as well in Kentucky’s cold winter temperatures, he said. So, Meador, along with about 10 to 20 other beekeepers across the state are working with Webster to develop a bee that can withstand Kentucky’s cold winter climate. Webster explained they are doing this by evaluating the bees they have in their hives and choosing the best ones that seem to be resistant to parasites, are good honey producers and are not very aggressive. By doing so, Webster said, he expects the quality of bees to improve greatly. 
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