As we all finish up celebrating the last of the firecrackers and rockets on Fourth of July in New England can we all please spare a thought for the bee… in fact specifically the Honeybee.

Without this apiary our trees would not bare fruit and our lives would be less. And in case you haven’t heard about it, the Bee is under attack from a mysterious source. New England beekeepers are worried sick.

As my friend Jim Hyde of New England Times says: “Recent development with honeybee hives should spark some thought in M. Night Shyamalan’s mind for a new, chilling movie, because the situation is that bizarre and scary.

For reasons that have Agriculture Department entomologists scratching their heads, honeybee hives have been mysteriously vanishing in significant numbers nationwide and in Europe. Richard Rys told the Cape Cod Times (capecodonline.com) he lost two hives last fall. He sums up the problem best, “The hives were going great, with brood and plenty of food in there. Then one day there were just 100 bees in the hive” – one day there’s 30,000 bees and then there’s 100.

These hives being lost are not wild colonies but owned and operated by commercial honeybee keepers. In fact very little of the commercial food crop is pollinated by wild honeybees as over two-thirds requires the rental of honeybee farms. And the New England crops of fruits and vegetables, are dependent on the health of these important bees.

So New England beekeepers are worried sick that the plight from other parts of America will overtake the New England colonies.

So far only isolated instances of failed hives have been reported in New England but other parts of the country have been devastated. People are not using the term biblical plague yet but if the humble honeybee goes belly up then so will a good portion of our food supply.

A truly scary thought.

For the full bee story visit the news page of Jim Hyde’s site by clicking here.

Check back in a few days for details on the country’s biggest antique event coming to a small rural town in central Massachusetts.

Cliff Calderwood
Executive Director
Vacations in New England

Related posts:

1. A New Threat to Honeybees
2. Where Have All the Honeybees Gone?