Campaign aims to restore honeybee population in Virginia

SUFFOLK

The General Assembly, Virginia Tech’s Cooperative Extension Service and the state Department of Agriculture are on a campaign to bring honeybees back to Virginia.

The cause has attracted more attention in Virginia, and across the country, as a mysterious, deadly ailment has mounted an attack on the insects.

“We’re continuing to do research, and we’ve seen at least two new pathogens we hadn’t seen before,” said state apiarist Keith Tignor. “We’re trying to keep bees alive and active.”

In 2007, the state set aside money to sponsor seminars across eastern Virginia to provide bee information and help supply beehive start-up kits. In Suffolk recently, nearly 300 people showed up at two seminars held at the National Guard Armory.

“If you’re a farmer, the more bees you have, the better off you are,” Tignor told the crowd.

David and Georgianne Mitchell of Portsmouth were there Thursday night after learning about the event on a home-schooling Web site. David Mitchell said they fell in love with the taste of home-produced honey when a friend gave them some last year.

Dennis Martin of Suffolk is a retiree, not a farmer, but he loves to garden and had little luck with his fruit trees or his vegetables last year.

“I had almost no fruit,” Martin said. “I thought, if I had my own bees, it would help.”

The disease, known as Colony Collapse Disorder, causes bees to seemingly disappear. It began showing up in Virginia late last year, Tignor said.

Honeybees were first brought to the region in 1622, according to the Department of Agriculture, by Europeans settling in Jamestown. Today, bees provide pollination for at least 80 crops grown in the state.

But Virginia is currently losing honeybees at about 30 percent a year, a concern for everybody, said Rex Cotten, the Virginia Tech extension agent in Suffolk who organized the seminars.

Cotten said that educating the public is meant to help re-populate the bee population east of Interstate 95.

“We must bring them back; we will bring them back,” he said.

Several insects and diseases threaten honeybees, Tignor said. Mites, for example, are causing widespread concern now, he said.

In addition to providing money for education, the state has given away, at each seminar, 25 bee-keeping start-up kits that provide everything needed for beginners except the hardworking insects. Part of the funding order was that at least two of the kits given away at each session go to youngsters.

The kits can be purchased for about $150, Tignor said. Then, those interested in the sweet hobby must have a queen and several pounds of bees. Although a queen bee – who lays from 1,200 to 1,500 eggs a day this time of year – can live up to eight years, Tignor recommended replacing the queen every two years to maintain the hive.

“The queen stays busy,” he said. “She’s laying an egg every 12 to 20 seconds.”

Linda McNatt, (757) 222-5561, linda.mcnatt@pilotonline.com