UTAH COUNTY, Utah — After an unusually dry and warm winter, FOX 13 reached out to beekeepers across Utah about the buzz that's stirred at their colonies.
For Utah County Beekeepers Association's Make Shaffer, it's always a busy life for honeybees in the beehive state.
“Activity has been good throughout the winter," said Shaffer.
Bees don't hibernate in the wintertime, and he's cared for three in his backyard all the while.
“All three of those boxes I made myself, and they’re thirteen years old," he said.
According Utah County Apiary Inspector Chris Sargeant, while bees keep themselves busy in the winter, the warmer temperatures raised concerns of a potential colony die off.
“Bees that go off flying in the winter, they’re ticking their time away," he said. “We’re finding beekeepers getting into colonies, and they’re potentially not so healthy.”
Diseases, like the American Foulbrood, can often be spread by live bees from those dead hives.
“As they’re going through, getting into the food and everything else in it, they’re collecting the bacteria spore onto the bee themselves and taking it home," said Sargeant.
As a result, health inspections have had to be done far ahead of schedule into January and February.
Shaffer's next worry would concern potential water restrictions as another drought looms in the summer.
