Abuzz with out-of-towners

By Amanda Stewart

Published: July 26, 2008

Part of the problem Virginia beekeepers have with their bees is that, for the most part, the bees are out-of-towners.

Most Virginia beekeepers start their hives with "packaged" bees bought from suppliers in southern states such as Georgia, Alabama, Texas and California, beekeeper Keith Fletcher said.

Coming from the south, those bees are used to living in a warmer client and pollinating different plants and crops than the ones found in Virginia, beekeepers said. They often don't live through the winter.

The packaged bees also present another risk to Virginia's bee population. They could bring with them dis-eases found in those states.

So, what's a beekeeper to do?

The Prince William Regional Beekeepers Association recently got a two-year, $15,000 Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant to figure that out.

According to the group's grant proposal, they plan to experiment with ways to "produce a consistent supply of local honeybees."

They plan to use local queen bees to develop "survivor stock," or "bees that are better adapted for the local conditions," according to a grant abstract.

"[By] promoting the creation of local supplies of honeybees among beekeepers and studying how to rear queen bees as a group, we expect to dramatically shift the odds of honeybee survival in our favor," club members wrote in the grant abstract.

The Prince William Regional Beekeepers Association was one of 10 groups to get a SARE grant this year.

SARE, a group supported by the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service of U.S. Department of Agriculture, awards grants to groups, farmers and researchers who want to study sustainable agriculture.

The Prince William Regional Beekeepers Association members are beginning the first phase of their grant activities this year and expect to finish by 2010.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.