NightSwimmer
Senator
Corn farmers... That's who.
Who killed the honeybees?
- Thread starter NightSwimmer
- Start date
MaryAnne
Governor
Good point NS. Interfering with Mother Nature has had a devastating effect on so many things.
Have you noticed how so many bee hives are attaching to houses and buildings lately? Has that always been the case,or am I just noticing it?
I guess that comes from watching those shows where they use natural products,instead of insecticide and they work just as well. I try to use natural as often as I can.
Have you noticed how so many bee hives are attaching to houses and buildings lately? Has that always been the case,or am I just noticing it?
I guess that comes from watching those shows where they use natural products,instead of insecticide and they work just as well. I try to use natural as often as I can.
Queen Titania
Senator
The corn farms are moving to Africa now, where their 'ways' are unseen !
Boltlady
Governor
The short answer is Monsanto.
Queen Titania
Senator
I know, as here, it is fast becoming a cottage industry in the US too, so I suspect your observations are correct lots and lots of people are keeping bees now all over the place and growing the plants they love
I would if my hounds didn't hate them so much but I know a lot of people who do keep them, poeple who would never have dreamed of keeping them years back.lupehernandezdepedajack
Mayor
Bees are getting to be valuable
Folks are stealing bee hives now days
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_...rs-houston-cops-say-thieves-stole-a-bee-hive/
Folks are stealing bee hives now days
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_...rs-houston-cops-say-thieves-stole-a-bee-hive/
Addy
Stand up for the people!
Interesting read.. thanks, NS.. It seems from the read they're investigating other causes for the decrease in the bee population as well as the insecticide culprit.
Since spring has been early this year, I have seen lots of bumble bees but not any bees so far.. I usually have something blooming, always hoping flowers will attract the bees. One year a neighbor sprayed his yard for weeds .. maybe it was a coincidence, but that was doom for my vegetable garden, as far as producing squash, tomatoes, etc. I blamed it on the weed killer, my neighbor had sprayed on his lawn...killing off the much needed bees for pollinators.
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What's going on? Is it a virus or fungus? A pesticide? Some researchers investigated the electromagnetic radiation from cell phones, wondering if the signals were disturbing the bees. But most scientists say there is probably no single answer. Honeybees are raised commercially, but scientists say wild pollinators, such as bumblebees and bats, seem to be having trouble as well.
snip
"All the bees we've looked at, you can't look at a single cause," said Jeffrey Pettis, research leader for the Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Md.
Mendes, the Florida beekeeper, says he's concerned. He says he has friends whose bees died off if they were next to cultivated farmland, and he wonders if there's something spreading from them worldwide; there have been bee-population collapses as far away as Europe and India.
"In many ways we view honeybees as an indicator species," like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, he said. "We don't know what's going on. And we all share the same earth."
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ho...ct-pesticides-disease-worry/story?id=10191391
MaryAnne
Governor
Yeah,Bolt! Remember all the posts about your paranoia? Seems you knew what you were talking about. Now go stick your finger in their eye!
)You have been posting on this subject for a long time!
D
Doc
Guest
Ironic that you bring that up.
Just last week I saw a show on TV about beekeepers, and, how more and more folks are getting in to it.
It really does not take as much land as I thought. Hell, if I had a few Acres, I would definately check in to it. Not much of a fan for honey, but, they said you could fill several jars a year, off of one hive, plus all the great things the bees do for your garden, both vegetable and flowers!
Of course, the beekeepers said that you WILL get stung, but, if you are not alergic to bee stings, that eventually, you will build up a resistance, and they won't really bother you.
At some time, during molting or something, the bees get really, really buys, but...you have to really intimidate them to make them agressive. The keeper said it is as if they are "high" on bee work...they are simply too busy and too "wired in" to worry about much else.
WATER, of course, is important. They re-iterated that, while most folks do not think about it, bees need water like every other living creature. And, a hive holds a lot of bees, thus, you do need a good local source of water, like a creek or something....
FROGS now...frogs, and other amphibions are disappearing quicker than any other species that I can think of....
Just last week I saw a show on TV about beekeepers, and, how more and more folks are getting in to it.
It really does not take as much land as I thought. Hell, if I had a few Acres, I would definately check in to it. Not much of a fan for honey, but, they said you could fill several jars a year, off of one hive, plus all the great things the bees do for your garden, both vegetable and flowers!
Of course, the beekeepers said that you WILL get stung, but, if you are not alergic to bee stings, that eventually, you will build up a resistance, and they won't really bother you.
At some time, during molting or something, the bees get really, really buys, but...you have to really intimidate them to make them agressive. The keeper said it is as if they are "high" on bee work...they are simply too busy and too "wired in" to worry about much else.
WATER, of course, is important. They re-iterated that, while most folks do not think about it, bees need water like every other living creature. And, a hive holds a lot of bees, thus, you do need a good local source of water, like a creek or something....
FROGS now...frogs, and other amphibions are disappearing quicker than any other species that I can think of....
NightSwimmer
Senator
MaryAnne,
It seems to me that we interfere with Mother Nature simply by being here. There are best methods and practices that can be applied, but I don't expect that anyone could operate a large production farm in the same manner that one could tend a private garden.
To the best of my knowledge, bees have always occasionally taken advantage of houses and other such buildings for nesting purposes. An apiary beehive is not unlike a small house.
NightSwimmer
Senator
There is always a threat of unexpected consequences when relocating a plant species. I recently heard that various grasses were thriving now in Antarctica from seed being incidentally brought there aboard researchers' luggage.
BTW: Our bees were transplanted here from Europe, Asia and Africa back in the 1600's. Too late to not tinker, eh?
NightSwimmer
Senator
Yes. Monsanto is one of the leading providers of farm chemicals, and they don't have a very good reputation as an ethical corporation. I don't think they mentioned a manufacturer of the insecticide in that article? I assumed it was a Monsanto product myself. They've probably changed the name of the company by now, haven't they?
NightSwimmer
Senator
I've been hearing about failing bee colonies for several years now, and the problem is fairly widespread, from what I've heard. This insecticide surely isn't the only factor. Still it seems, by the way the story was written, that they've found a very significant linkage.
NightSwimmer
Senator
Beehives are in demand these days.
From denverpost.com
California almond farms need rental bees to survive
"Without the honeybees ... the (almond) industry doesn't exist," said Neal Williams, an entomologist and pollination ecologist at the University of California-Davis. "We need those bees. We need them to be reliable, and we need them at the right time."
But a mysterious malady known as colony-collapse disorder has wreaked havoc on the U.S. bee population in recent years, stoking fears among almond producers and other farmers who depend on the insects for their livelihoods.
NightSwimmer
Senator
The linked article implied a strong correlation between that one particular pesticide and colony-collapse disorder. I'm sure the bees have other issues as well. Simple lack of habitat is a growing threat to all forms of wildlife, but even domesticated bees are being affected by this syndrome.
