BETSY COHEN Missoulian MISSOULA
Nervous laughter and anticipation filled the morning air as a swarm of hobby beekeepers and University of Montana researchers patiently waited for 1.5 million honeybees yes, 1.5 million bees to arrive at the designated pickup spot at Fort Missoula. Joe Dunn, a first-time beekeeper from Stevensville confessed he was a little intimidated about working with bees, but was looking forward to learning from his brother, Nick, who has spent the past four summers as a hobby honey farmer. Nick didn't help to alleviate his younger brother's concerns when he described the first time he pulled a "frame" out of a beehive crawling with thousands of black and yellow insects. "It felt like I was holding a bomb," he said. "All I could think of was, 'Don't drop it.'" The gathering earlier this week was an uncommon event for Missoula and Bitterroot Valley beekeepers. Traditionally, each beekeeper treks to Polson every spring to pick up their colonies from Dick Molenda, a Montana bee supplier. In the spirit of efficiency and because of high fuel prices, Molenda offered this year to bring the bees to his customers at prearranged drop-off points. Molenda picked up the bees in Northern California on May 3, hauled them back to Montana in a covered trailer, and a few days later delivered millions of the hard-working pollinators around the state. During his brief stop at Fort Missoula, Molenda dropped off 572 "packages" containing 150 queens and 1.5 million bees. When the hives were unloaded, he was off to Helena, Bozeman and Butte to deliver millions more. Cautioning people the bees might be disoriented during the hand-off, University of Montana bee researcher Jerry Bromenshenk asked everyone to make sure they were wellcovered otherwise, there was a good chance for stings. Many of the beekeepers were prepared for the stinging consequence of bee handling and suited up in traditional white beekeeper outfits, complete with gloves and veiled hat. Joking that he was a "bee whisperer," honeybee researcher Scott Debnam gave pointers on how to establish new hives, moving frames of bees into their box homes with confidence and calm and without covering his bare arms or wearing a veiled hat. Last winter, Bromenshenk lost about 90 percent of his bees, and Monday's shipment of new recruits is critical to the ongoing research he and his staff are conducting on colony collapse disorder, a mysterious phenomenon that is decimating the nation's honeybee populations. It will take about three weeks for the new arrivals to settle into their Montana homes, find food and become productive honey makers. By the end of May, the queen bee will be producing 1,000 to 3,000 eggs a day and by midsummer a hive that began with 15,000 bees will likely swell to 50,000 or more, Bromenshenk said. The more bees the better, as it will give researchers additional opportunities to unlock the mystery that is killing off the honeybees, he said. UM is part of a multi-institution collaboration that is making progress toward answering that question, Bromenshenk said, as researchers are getting closer to understanding a fungus that attacks the bees' digestive system. Beekeepers also are responding to suggestions to improve hives by giving bees access to better nutrition, including sugar water and while bees are still mysteriously dying off, the improved care is helping their population bounce back. Although Bromenshenk didn't give any specific numbers, in his bee circles there's a general consensus that hives have more bees this season and are slowly rebounding. Matthew Erhart was happy to hear the news, and said he was excited to pick up his bee order and get going on his 4-H project. The 13-year-old said it was his fifth year tending to honeybees. "It's really cool," he said of his hobby. "It's cool all the things they do how organized they are, how gentle they are." That is, if you don't get in the way of their work, Nick Dunn commented. "They're real purposeful if you don't get in front of the hive and block their entrance," he advised. "That's when they get a little edgy." (AP)
