Now The Washington Post reports the industry has turned around, the data says there are more hives in the U.S. today than there were 9 years ago. In fact the article infers that what was posited to be a mysterious malady was in fact the admittedly mysterious acceleration of a natural occurrence.
The immediate solution is simply to replace the missing colonies and keep on keeping bees, if the article is to be believed. Two quotes:
Randal R. Tucker and Walter N. Thurman, a pair of agricultural economists, explains that seasonal die-offs have always been a part of beekeeping: they report that before CCD, American beekeepers would typically lose 14 percent of their colonies a year, on average.So, yes, more colonies are dying out and, perforce, being replaced. But, no, we are not running out of bees. And yes, it does now cost more to raise bees. Entomology still needs to learn what has accelerated the die off of bee colonies.
So beekeepers have devised two main ways to replenish their stock. The first method involves splitting one healthy colony into two separate colonies: put half the bees into a new beehive, order them a new queen online (retail price: $25 or so), and voila: two healthy hives. The other method involves simply buying a bunch of bees to replace the ones you lost. You can buy 3 pounds of "packaged" bees, plus a queen, for about $100 or so.
