The Buzz on Bees Is Worse Than Ever

Don't blame the deer when your garden flops and fruit trees don't produce this year. Bee experts tell us that the fuzzy pollinators are in a world of hurt and much worse than last year, when the mysterious colony collapse disorder was discovered. Federal bee counters reveal that the disorder—honeybees leave but never return to the hive—and other problems suffered by honeybees wiped out 35 percent of the U.S. population over the winter, a 10 percent one-year jump. And those who track bumblebees, the nation's native pollinators, say their counts have dropped dramatically as well. "We have been brutalized," says Richard Adee of the American Honey Producers Association.