A new report shows commercial beehives have lost more than 60 percent of bees nationally in less than a year.
Cookeville Beekeepers Association President Karin Grey said the population decline has been going on for almost 20 years. Grey said is main reason is the destruction of plants from which they get food by drought and chemicals.
“A few ways that people can help with the population of bees is watching what pesticides you’re using in your yard or on your trees, in your garden,” Grey said. “Making sure that you’re planting plenty of different flowers for the bees and not just planting stuff in the spring and summertime, but there’s also things that could be planted in the fall time, too.’
Grey said the amount of plant production can vary from region to region and state to state, according to a number of factors including weather.
“Tennessee as a whole is a little bit different because of our weather,” Grey said. “Our weather can be so unpredictable, especially in March and even now, in April. Last week, we had several warm spells, and the you turn around and then you have a day of frost. So the weather does have a huge impact in the food availability for the bees.”
Grey said residents can also help the bees by calling a beekeeper if you find a swarm of bees on your property.
“If for some reason you have wild bees that have come and landed in a fruit tree or something like that, calling a beekeeper and saying hey, I have bees, could somebody remove them?” Grey said. “Then those bees can be removed and put into a hive that they can still help produce crops throughout the state.”
