Randy Verhoek's bees up and left, and it cost him $400,000.

Talk about getting stung.

Verhoek and others in North Dakota are reporting the same phenomenon that's affecting beekeepers in a dozen other states. They check their hives and find the bees are just gone.

Sick and stressed bees are one thing, and not all that uncommon; disappeared bees are quite another.

The phenomenon is called "collapsing colony disorder," or CCD for short.

It's causing a fair amount of mayhem in the world of beekeepers like Verhoek, who have contracts and money to be made pollinating orchards and vegetable fields from California to Georgia.

It's causing financial problems for food producers, who raise crops like almonds that depend totally on bees for the pollination that fertilizes the blossoms and makes them bear. Half the country's bees are transported for the almond pollination season in February and March.

Judy Carlson, apiary inspector for the State Health Department, said a small, recent survey of 15 out of 179 beekeepers in the state found that, while half had hives in good to average condition, the other half had hives in poor to disappeared condition.

There are 382,500 hives in North Dakota, which tops the country in annual honey production.

But the real honey - money - is in pollination services, which costs big dollars in freight per loaded semi mile and also pays big dollars, especially with healthy hives in reduced supply and high demand.

North Dakota is among states affected by collapsing colonies and thus added to those where a federal Department of Agriculture study of the problem may be directed.

Verhoek, who keeps 13,000 hives and is based in Bismarck, said it's common for beekeepers to lose 30 percent of their bees in a year from travel stress and other factors.

This year, he lost 50 percent.

"We'd go out one day and find � full boxes, and a week later they would just be gone," he said.

He lost income because he didn't have his normal hive count for pollination in California almond orchards, which dominate the world in almond production. He incurred extra costs because he sent semis of weakened hives to Texas for rebuilding.

Right now, he's on the Texas Gulf Coast after a season in California where he set out 20 percent fewer hives than normal to work the fragrant almond blossoms. He said the gulf is a "paradise" for bees and he pauses there every year between winters in California and summers in North Dakota to restore hive strength for the northern honey season.

Right now, it's hard to find a commercial beekeeper at home in North Dakota. Many are on the road retrieving their hives from southern states.

Both Verhoek and Gackle beekeeper John Miller, with 10,000 hives, say the phenomenon of collapsing colonies may have multiple roots.

Bees are like the canary in a coal mine - an indicator that something is wrong in the world. Wild, or feral, bee colonies also are suffering from the disorder, affecting the beneficial pollination of native fruits, backyard apple trees and gardens.

Among known factors is the drought in many regions of North Dakota. Various species of microscopic mites also infect hives.

On the environmental side, bees are exposed to powerful herbicides and insecticides, to genetically modified crops grown from Round-Up Ready seed and to a relatively new insecticide in the neo-nicotinoid class that causes brain and neurological damage in insects.

Miller said neither scientists nor beekeepers understand what's at the root of the collapsing colonies.

He said he had a normal year himself and believes that beekeepers generally will have to become extremely vigilant and pay relentless attention to the details of hive health and cleanliness.

Miller said he believes about one-third of collapsing colony disorder is due to poor management by the beekeepers.

"They aren't following the new standards for hive husbandry," Miller said. "Things have changed."

North Dakota beekeepers are the same as farmers here - they're getting fewer and bigger. About one-third the number of 468 beekeepers registered in 1979 are keeping twice the number of hives.

Each has thousands of hives to check and treat. Even with Miller's vigilance, there are obviously unknowns against which there is no known prevention.

Verhoek said he now finds himself in the odd position of praying for the average 30 percent bee loss this year.

Carlson said research will hopefully find ways to prevent collapsing colony disorder.

Miller said he places more trust in the private research side. Either way, it's time to "fund it and fix it," he said.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511 or lauren@;westriv.com.)