Many beekeepers around the state are concerned about their hives following this year’s many warm ups and cool downs.
Bee experts said warm ups and cool downs in the spring can be stressful for bees, and that can lead to bee deaths. Many beekeepers are concerned because this year’s fluctuations have been worse than normal.
Meghan Milbrath is a honey bee entomologist at Michigan State University. She said healthy hives can usually adapt to the changing weather… but she said many hives are already dealing with other issues.
“The issue is really when that a colony gets stressed, be it from poor nutrition, pathogens, or pesticides going into winter then all of a sudden these things like moisture become incredibly compounding or the temperature swings are the things that are going to do them in”.
Milbrath says following high loss seasons, beekeepers must expend more capital to restore their colonies. That can have a ripple effect across the agriculture industry, and can lead to higher prices for fruits and vegetables.
She said one way to help bees in the early spring is to not mow down one of their first sources of food -- dandelions.