Bees are back, thanks to science and rain.
"This will be a much better honey-producing season," said Bill Oesterlein, deputy Riverside County Agricultural Commissioner.
Commercial bee colonies have been ravaged in recent years by a mysterious malady called colony collapse disorder. Local beekeepers said their colonies are rebuilding this season and they expect banner honey production later this spring.
David Kellum, an agricultural scientist with the San Diego County Agricultural Commissioner, said many factors are involved in colony collapse disorder. He attributes the colonies' return to better beekeeping techniques and this year's steady seasonal rains, which have greatly expanded bees' food supply.
Kellum said beekeepers have gotten better at managing their colonies.
"A lot of beekeepers did not know what they were doing," he said.
Colonies around the world have been infested with deadly Varroa mites. To counter that, U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists have bred queen bees resistant to the mites, said Tom Glenn, who raises the mite-resistant breeder queens for customers at his Glenn Apiaries in De Luz.
Glenn said the mites grew resistant to treatments and the chemical build-ups in the colonies harmed the bees.
Researchers at the University of Montana, UC Davis and other institutions are looking at that and other causes of bee deaths, which threatened the industry in recent years.
Colony collapse disorder knocked out 800 of Alan Mikolich's colonies last year, leaving him with just 100, he said. His bees live in several locations in San Diego and Riverside counties.
In recent months, Mikolich has rebuilt about half the colonies he lost, he said. A colony typically contains from 25,000 to 60,000 bees and produces up to 90 pounds of honey per season in Southern California. This year, beekeepers are talking about their colonies producing twice that, he said, thanks to rains which have made everything bees like bloom.
In Oceanside, veteran beekeeper Brother Blaise also is expecting good honey production.
The Benedictine monk at the Prince of Peace Abbey has been raising bees and producing honey for sale for 40 years ---- until the bees started dying off or leaving the hives in recent years.
Blaise said he is sure he had the mites under control. He thinks cell phone transmissions may have had something to do with the deaths and disappearance of his bees.
About 10 years ago, the abbey leased a high point of its land to a cell phone service company for transmission towers. The lease helps the abbey pay its bills, but Blaise's bees began to die off after the towers went up.
A few months ago, he moved his hives to the other side of the abbey property where hills block transmissions from the cell towers. Since then, he has restored about 25 of his original 100 colonies.
Research on cell phone transmissions and bees is inconclusive, said Eric Mussen, a bee specialist at UC Davis. What is certain is that bees pollinate about one-third of the food crops consumed in the United States; at the abbey, the bees fertilize the 85 fruit trees that provide food for the priests, monks and visitors.
Kellum, the agricultural scientist with the San Diego County Agricultural Commissioner, said many factors are involved in colony collapse disorder, but he doesn't think cell phone transmissions are among them.
Blaise's bees now are the aggressive Africanized variety, picked up from around the area where people have asked him to clear out their infestations. He said he typically makes two pickups a day and his colonies are fully restored.
He plans to requeen his colonies with the more docile European honey bees. But for now, his hopes hinge on the surly Africanized bees.
Whatever the cause and whatever the cure of colony collapse disorder, Blaise's colonies clearly are vigorous, focused on the honey making and intolerant of visitors. On a recent visit, they swarmed over Blaise and a visitor.
Call staff writer Jeff Rowe at 760-740-5417.
