Did anybody hear about the bees? This frightens me alot

[TZ]

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (Reuters) -- A mysterious disease is killing off U.S. honeybees, threatening to disrupt pollination of a range of crops and costing beekeepers hundreds of thousands of dollars, industry experts said on Monday.

Beekeepers in 22 states have reported losses of up to 80 percent of their colonies in recent weeks, leaving many unable to rent the bees to farmers of crops such as almonds and, later in the year, apples and blueberries.

"It's unusual in terms of the widespread distribution and severity," said Jerry Bromenshenk, a professor at the University of Montana at Missoula and chief executive of Bee Alert Technology, a company monitoring the problem.
Dave Hackenberg, a Pennsylvania beekeeper who reported the so-called Colony Collapse Disorder to researchers at Pennsylvania State University in November, said he had lost about 2,000 hives, which can each contain around 50,000 bees during the summer months.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/02/12/bees.reut/index.html
Basically I heard that native honeybees have something like AIDS where they seem to have no immunity from anything and so are dying off from many different problems.
Worrysome for several reasons: one we get a lot of our fruit crops from bee pollination done with these bees. Also what guarantee do we have that whatever is making these bees so sick is not harmful to us as well. Along with all the mysterious bird deaths and such, this really is frightening to me.

[redqueen]

1. I see that it doesn't say whether this is new...

or just further effects from the same 'dwindling' that's been occurring for years.

In either case... perhaps encouraging people to become emergency amateur beekeepers is a good idea...

[jannyk]

3. This is not a 'dwindling' ! Up to 80% of colonies

are gone. Heard about this last week - it's really hurting the fruit/nut growers here in CA.

from the article:
<<A mysterious disease is killing off U.S. honeybees, threatening to disrupt pollination of a range of crops and costing beekeepers hundreds of thousands of dollars, industry experts said on Monday.

Beekeepers in 22 states have reported losses of up to 80 percent of their colonies in recent weeks, leaving many unable to rent the bees to farmers of crops such as almonds and, later in the year, apples and blueberries.

"It's unusual in terms of the widespread distribution and severity," said Jerry Bromenshenk, a professor at the University of Montana at Missoula and chief executive of Bee Alert Technology, a company monitoring the problem>>

snip...

<<Researchers from state and federal agriculture agencies have been frustrated in their search for a cause because affected hives are often empty except for the queen and a few bees.

The number of bees in a hive typically diminishes over a period of days to the point where there are very few or none left, Hackenberg said. There is no indication of where the bees have gone or what drove them away, he said.

"The rate of loss is startling," said Jeff Pettis, a bee researcher at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Maryland.>>

[redqueen]

5. I was just using the word they used in the article...

to describe previous occurrences of such incidents, though presumably those were not as severe.

:hi:

[jannyk]

11. Apologies....

I didn't mean to sound so strident.

:pals:

[redqueen]

13. No need!

But thanks anyhow. :)

'Dwindling' sure isn't a good word to describe 80% losses, within a period of WEEKS.

So ... you had a good reason! :hug:

[TZ]

4. true I heard for awhile that bees were disappearing..n/t

[sarge43]

22. It isn't new; it's just getting worse.

It is a good idea, especially if you garden or farm. Keeping bees can increase plant production by 40%. However, starting up backyard beekeeping isn't cheap. Minimum of two hives (recommended) with basic equipment and bees will run o/a a thousand dollars to start.

[redqueen]

23. Daaaaaaaaamn...

well... a little at a time, maybe... it's early yet.

Something to consider, anyway.

:hi:

[hatrack]

26. I'm a beekeeper and it's nowhere near that expensive

A hive with supers, frames and stand/cover will run you about $100 with some assembly required, or far less if you can do some simple carpentry work.

https://www.dadant.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=23

A 3-pound package with queen is running about $70 this year, and you'll also need to spend maybe another hundred for tools, veil & smoker - maybe. It's less if you have contacts with local beekeepers who will typically have some used equipment for sale.

So, there's upfront money involved, but $1,000? Not really.

[sarge43]

32. Bare bones, yeah $500 would probably do it for minimum

start up. However, a emergency cushion of another $500 for the spring flood that got one of the hives or the bear that figured out the fence or the swarm that left you with just one hive or the meds or the supplemental food. A thousand is for the year's cycle.

By the way, did you figure in the cost of an electrical fence because here in New England it is essential and I imagine essential in other areas, too. One other thing, some of the necessary text books may be available at the local library, but if not, they aren't cheap. They too are essential if a beekeeper is serious. A subscription to Bee Culture magazine to keep current. American Bee Journal can wait til next year.

And let's say first year is successful (that is possible) and the supers are full, now what? 50 to 60 pounds of honey per hive isn't unusual and at $5.00 per pound (a give away price now, six, even seven isn't unreasonable), that's a lot of money to leave out in the back yard. Do you want to tell the audience the prices on extractors and the other extracting equipment, containers, labels (if you're selling the honey commercially)?

[hatrack]

34. Bears aren't an issue here in the city - now coons and skunks, that's another story . . .

FWIW, I'm just a hobbyist, not a commercial operator.

You can also use Ross or Hogg systems to take out comb rather than extract, and there are people I know who'll lend you an extractor for after the run so you don't have to cough up for that if you want to do liquid honey.

[sarge43]

38. There's even a plastic extractor for $100 and works quite well.

We didn't even buy or borrow an extractor. We found an old but workable one at a farm auction, but that's a rural advantage. There are certainly ways to cut costs, but whenever dealing with living creatures albeit pets or livestock or crops, the engineer's axiom is handy Cost or time multiplied by two and add ten percent.

[hatrack]

40. I decided to go with comb only. I like the flavor better myself, and it sells for more

BTW, do you use oxalic acid? I have heard good things about it, and now that Apistan's down the tubes (or at least circling the drain) any input from field experience would be good to have.

[sarge43]

44. If the weather conditions ever improve here and we have

enough surplus for experimenting, we're going to sell some comb, too. Right now, we sell every bottle we can turn out.

For several reasons, we're not using any chemicals. We will try the Dowda Method this spring.

[Duer 157099]

2. To me it's a canary in the mine situation

Honey bees are incredibly important to the biosphere, as much as they freak me out on a personal-up-close level.

[redqueen]

7. Heh... I'm not so fraked by the honey bees, but...

their cousins, the bumble bees, they freak me out plenty well enough for both of 'em!

[Duer 157099]

10. It's the BUZZ that gets to me

before I can even identify who or what the source is -- must be a primal instinct thing...

[Parche]

16. BEES

And their Aunts the 'Boo Bees' that really scare me..................

[redqueen]

17. ....

That got an actual LOL... thank you! :D

[TZ]

33. don't be afraid of bumblebees

They are the most docile of all the bees and unlikely to sting you. I actually think they are kind of cute!:-)

[redqueen]

36. Maybe I'm thinking of a different bee...

these are very large and roundish, and they seem to enjoy chasing me. It really freaks me out...

[TZ]

37. still might be bumblebees

They seem unafraid of people and "chasing" might just actually be circling to check out what you are. Especially if you are wearing any kind of fragrance...also could be carpenter bees (black and white) which are a little territorial I think and they do look alot like bumblebees.:-)

[redqueen]

42. hehe... yes... it's probably my perfume

I can't help it if I get easily freaked though... I've never been stung, so I imagine it feels like the worst thing in the world. :P

And that horrible buzzing! Anticipation enhances everything, fear included.

[TZ]

43. its not as bad as you think to be stung

unless you are allergic of course. A brief sharp pain, kind of like putting alcohol on a wound. But everyone has fears. The best thing to remember if you are being buzzed by a stinging insect is just to stay calm and cool. Swatting usually makes things worse. Oh and most bees don't like CO2 much so if you stay quiet they are more likely to leave. I hope this helps. I have my own phobias (hate spiders) so I know its not always rational...:)

[redqueen]

45. Oh no, I'd never swat at them....

they're only small things.

I do run very quickly (and embarassingly), though. Usually hollering about said insect. :blush:

[TZ]

46. substitute these words

EEEWWWW!! ICKY SPIDER and thats me!!:)

[Bandit]

6. Think of the USA as the land of Mordor

No life can be sustained. Birds are dropping from the skies as well as bees and frogs are disappearing or turning up malformed. The USA has become a toxic dump. We shit in our own nest it would appear..

[BeHereNow]

9. "Shit in our own nests..." that's what I've been saying for years.

The human species is the only species on the
planet that knowingly and willfully destroys
its habitat.

The earth has no choice but to rid herself of us.

BHN

[MonkeyFunk]

30. Hrmm....

I'm not sure this can be ascribed to pollution or other environmental factors. It seems to be caused by a biological agent (mites).

We have to remember that the US is a lot LESS polluted today than it was 40 years ago.

[piedmont]

12. No more so than other places: China, Russia, former Soviet Bloc nt

[redqueen]

14. Yup... it's not america... it's greed. n/t

[piedmont]

20. Yep. Unfortunately, we *did* have a lot to do with spreading the greed

Unsustainability is now the norm. I guess the only upside to our current way of life is... it won't last forever.

[redqueen]

21. Naaaaah...

Nothing new under the sun... the Mayans, the Egyptians, the French, the Spaniards, the English... we keep re-not-learning the same lessons, over and over.

Someday, hopefully, huh?

[piedmont]

25. Oh, certainly not new, but I think we have taken it to new heights...

and then spread that aspect of our culture around the world. I'm not of the "blame-America-first" mentality, but I do recognize that we (including myself) use far more resources per capita than other nations, and now that we import so much from China, Taiwan, etc., I think we've off-shored our pollution as much as our jobs. I look forward to a return to localized economies, if we can just get through the transition phase without the evil guys winning out.

[redqueen]

28. No doubt about that, no...

perhaps one might say we perfected the art of spreading ole time mammon-worship.

:hi:

[CountAllVotes]

8. this is truly upsetting

It reminds of the Monarch butterfly. I remember my late father saying about 10 years before he passed away that he used to see them "all over the place". Now you rarely see any of them.

Bees are a very important thing in our world. It is too bad nobody cares until it is too late. Is it too late? It sure sounds like it. I wonder what can be done?

My prediction is that if things do not change drastically very soon, we will see the likes of many other animals, plants, insects and alas, finally the human race itself (another "species") suffer to the point of extinction. Perhaps my prediction is an extreme one, but I've been watching this happen since the 1970s and it has just gotten worse, much worse.

:kick:

[OnyxCollie]

15. I had heard mites were responsible for the original "dwindling" of the population.

Regardless, it does not bode well for the bees, (or for us.)

I've seen few honey bees in the backyard (not at this moment, anyway.) It saddens me to observe our ecosystem fail.

[redqueen]

18. Bit cold for them to be out now, though, isn't it? n/t

[sarge43]

24. 46F is generally the minimum temp

Anything above that and the girls will come out of the hive, especially if it's sunny and calm.

[redqueen]

29. Really?

*sigh*

:(

[sarge43]

35. Cleansing flights

Bees won't poop in the hive. Whenever weather allows they'll take advantage, do their thing and skedaddle back home.

[sarge43]

31. Two kinds of mites have done the damage

Tracheal mites which attached to the breathing tubes and flight muscles, lacerating them to feed on the bee's 'blood' and lay their eggs. This weakens the bee and leaves it vulnerable to secondary infection.

Varroa mites which feeds on the 'blood' of adult bees and the larva and lays its egg in brood cell for the next larva. The problem with a varroa infestation is it weakens the larva, but doesn't necessarily kill them. So a population of weak, ill adults evolves; plus their life span is considerably shorten. Even worse the varroa population increases in late summer and early fall just at the point when the bee population is beginning to decline in preparation for winter. Those bees that survived are often short of the winter honey supply and will probably starve before spring honey flow begins.

[redqueen]

19. Anyone else inspired to take up amatuer beekeeping?

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/beekeeping/

http://www.beesource.com/

http://www.beemaster.com/honeybee/beehome.htm

http://outdoorplace.org/beekeeping/citybees.htm

[nebenaube]

27. well... that plan to distribute AIDS failed...

ala X-files... :sarcasm:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

39. That Definitely Sounds Fucked Up. It'll Be Interesting To Find Out What Some Of The Theories End Up

being.

Sucks that right now there really isn't any real explanation yet, but definitely sounds like something's goin on.

[InkAddict]

41. Scares me.

I read a sci-fi biomedical thriller once about some crazy experiment that killed off all the earthworms and thereafter, all the earth's diversity of species died off and the planetary ecosystem collapsed. It was darned scary, but I can't remember the name of the book or author.