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Honeybees Hives On Display

Vershire, Vermont - August 19, 2009

As Bob Eastman pops the top off one of the hives at his Vershire bee yard he greets the bees with a, "hello girls." His "girls" continue buzzing about, filling their cells with nectar and tending to the brood.

With eight bee yards in five towns, Eastman may well be the king of the bees in Vermont. Call bees a nuisance and he is quick to point out they are a necessity.

"You need them for pollenating of your gardens, your crops," he says. Plus, he points out, some people use bee stings to treat problems like arthritis and Multiple Sclerosis.

Honey bees are in trouble though. In just five months - from October 2006 to March 2007 - 35 percent of the nation's honey bees vanished. Now total is closer to 90 percent.

In Vermont we have been more fortunate. Our bees are not plagued by Colony Collapse Disorder like in other states, but they are being hurt by pesticides and bugs.

"We have mites that will get on and ride right on the thorax, the size of a pinhead," says Eastman.

Because of things like disease and mites, Eastman says there are no more honey bees left in the wild in Vermont. Any that you find buzzing around your back yard originated from bee yards like his. That is why Eastman is hosting an open house, Saturday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. He hopes to get more people interested in beekeeping so they will bring more bees to the state.

"Albert Einstein said within four years after the death of the honey bee, mankind wouldn't exist," Eastman notes. "I don't want to wait to find out, let's keep the honey bees going."

At the open house visitors will get an up close look of how a hive works. If they are lucky they will get a glimpse of the elusive queen bee.

Bianca Slota - WCAX News