Ask 10 beekeepers and get 11 opinions Why are bees dying? Annual losses of entire honey bee colonies from the winter of 2006-2011 averaged about 33 percent each year, with a third of these losses attributed to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) by beekeepers. The winter of 2011-2012 was an exception, when total losses dropped to 22 percent. Can you imagine the uproar if dairy farmers or cattle ranchers began losing 22-33 percent of their livestock each year? Bees have been on this planet for about a 100 million years. Before 1980, honey bees in the US pretty much took care of themselves.…

This information may change from time to time. Persons wanting to pursue the Georgia Bee Law more thoroughly can consult the following:Georgia Department of Agriculture honey bee web pageContact the Georgia Apiary Inspector, Mr. David Williams at David.Williams@agr.georgia.govCheck on your local county or city ordinancesIf you live in a neighborhood with a Home Owners Association, review your covenants, conditions, and restrictionsConsult an attorney.The following information is courtesy of the Georgia Department of Agriculture website. 2-14-40. License required for sale of bees; fee; revocation of license.(a) All persons, firms, or corporations desiring to carry on as a business the sale of bees,…

Ouch! I got stung. What should I do? First figure out if it was a bee or a wasp. Wasps have smooth stingers and they can sting multiple times.Female honey bees or workers have barbed stingers. When they sting, they leave the stinger in your skin with a venom sack and a muscle that continues to pump venom from the sack into your body. The quicker you remove the stinger, the less your reaction will be. It may be a small consolation but a worker bee sacrifices herself when she leaves a stinger in your skin.As an aside, when your…

Honey bees are collateral damage in the war on Zika. Bee kills from pesticide treatments are not new. What is new is a rational fear of the Zika virus and the rapid growth in commercial mosquito abatement franchises that feed on that fear. Many of these companies spray and fog at all hours of the day, in all wind conditions, and use pesticides that are highly toxic to honey bees and other beneficial insects and aquatic life.To reverse this trend, beekeepers need to communicate to neighbors and elected representatives that there are better ways to fight Zika than the scorched…