Idaho Bee Keepers Efforts to Save Bees

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A commercial beekeeper in southwest Idaho says higher rental fee prices for honey bee hives are helping to offset an accelerated loss of bees due to a variety of ailments. Nick Noyes of The Honey Store in Fruitland tells the Idaho Business Review that crop growers are trying to help by creating conditions more conducive to bee survival.

Bee experts say a mysterious affliction called colony collapse disorder has been killing bees across the nation. The United States Department of Agriculture says the nation saw average losses of 33 percent of managed bees every winter through 2011. However, that fell to 22 percent in 2012. Commercial beekeeper Scott Hamilton in Nampa says he has to raise more bees to keep the same amount working.