Image
Many bee farm owners say there's once again a bee shortage this year. "The bee population this year seems to be better than it was two and three years ago so there's some recovery being noted, but still we have a ways to go," bee farm owner Mike Potoczak said. "We're still losing 20% to 30% a year and that's way too much. One third of our food supply is because of their pollinating activities and that's why bees are protected by the government."

Potoczak owns a bee farm in Corfu and he's part of the Western New York Honey Producers group. He says his farm is still seeing a loss of bees and there's no solid explanation for it, but researchers are looking into possible reasons. "The name given to this situation is Colony Collapse Disorder, that's because they don't know what's doing it, the {bee} colony just collapses," Potoczak said. "The bees are there one week and then it just goes downhill... the bees disappear, they're gone and there's nothing left."

When bee keepers hear about a hive in an unwanted area like a neighborhood, the response is to save the bees and relocate the hive to a bee farm, not destroy it. A bee hive was recently discovered in a hollowed out tree on Kane Street in Buffalo on city property. Residents there complained about it for several days until the city's pest control department destroyed the bee hive last week. It's something that many bee keepers say isn't the best choice, but in this case there weren't many options. "If it's a swarm that's hanging in the tree it's easy to collect... call a bee keeper and they'd be happy to come and get them. Once {the bees} set up shop in a hollow tree or between the walls of your house, that's a problem. That will require major carpentry to get them out because they just won't come out," Potoczak said. "They are in short supply and we are looking at survivors, bees that survive what ever is going on because in nature typically most species have some resistance and our game is to pick out those that do and breed from that."

If you have a bee problem, bee keepers remind you to call them since they will most likely be able to relocate the bees to a bee farm, many for free.