Portage River Farm

I spent all day yesterday attending the Southeastern Michigan Beekeeper's Association conference. It was held at a college in Livonia and was well-attended by several hundred beekeepers from around the region. They had outstanding guest speakers and visiting beekeepers from as far away as Germany and Africa.

I attended a couple of interesting and alarming lectures by researchers studying the serious problems that are threatening to wipe out the honeybee. A fascinating talk by a scientist who has devoted her entire life to researching mites led me to realize that beekeeping has radically changed and become much more complicated in the twenty years that I had been away from it.

The daunting array of new practices and measures that everyone is having to follow in order to keep their colonies from being killed off by varroa and tracheal mites found me wondering if I still wanted to keep bees at all. Luckily, that feeling passed as I attended some educational classes and listened to seasoned old-timers spell out how they handle all of these issues.

The most alarming talk was an update on the status of research into Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Beginning in 2006, beekeepers started reporting that large numbers of their hives were simply empty of all but a small number of bees. The colonies have been vanishing, often striking large professional operations and wiping out as much as 90% of their colonies. The researchers seem very far from understanding what is happening and believe that it is being caused by a combination of factors such as pesticides, parasites and disease.

During the conference, I signed up for a year-long hands-on beekeeping course being taught by a team of seasoned beekeepers. Once or twice a month for the next year we will be working with the hives in a large apiary in Livonia. I anticipate learning a great deal from these people and greatly boosting my confidence that I know how to handle all of the challenges facing beekeepers today. My first class will be held this afternoon.