THE Bees Thread (merged)

[Ferretlover]

Honeybee die-off may preempt PO's agricultural impact
On NBC Nightly News tonight was a story about the dramatic decline in the honeybee population and its affect on the food supply. Honeybees are a critical natural component in the agricultural process; they provide pollination of fruit and vegetable crops. But they have come under a three-pronged attack by two separate mite varieties and the over-use of pesticides.

One expert stated that the bee decline could result in up to a one-third loss of American food-crop production. I don't normally eat breakfast. Everyone ready to join me?

It seems there are additional factors, man-made or natural, affecting the state of Western industrialized agriculture, in addition to PO.

[strider3700]

Mites have been killing off our local honey bees for a few years now. I'm not sure how much it helps but the bumble bee population appears to have greatly increased during that time. My apple tree is in full bloom and I have not seen any honey bees but have seen a fair number of bumble bees which used to be a rare site.

[MicroHydro]

There are many types of bees. It is only the domesticated European honeybee that is being decimated by mites.

[killJOY]

I actually had to stop keeping bees here because they kept dying. buying a new package every year gets expensive.

then my neighbor called to say she has a swarm living in her barn. I've hived them for her this spring and am hoping they're some mutant variety resistant to mite attacks.

[gg3]

To bee or not to bee, that is the question...:-)

Each species of bee probably has its own niche in agriculture, and they are not all equally interchangeable. I don't think we're headed for a bee disaster of continent-starving proportions, at least not yet, but neither is that an excuse to do nothing.

I don't eat lunch. Anyone want to join me for a mid-day snack?

[Leanan]

You know, this is a skill that's likely to be much needed in the post-peak world, and can be profitable even now. Beekeeping, I mean. The farmers around here all rent beehives, to pollinate their crops. Big trucks full of beehives pull up, and the hives are unloaded and set up in the orchards for a few weeks. Once the flowers are gone, they come and get the hives, and move them to the next crop. The honey is just a bonus.

Wonder if "killer bees" are mite-resistent?

[Ludi]

Native bees and other pollinators can do a good job if given the right conditions, which tend to not be in place in conventional farming. Native pollinators need a lot of different flowering plants around, not just rows and rows of a single crop. In general they can't be kept in hives, though Mason Bees can be given houses to nest in.

[frankthetank]

This area is full of bumble bees...i bet most of my garden is pollinated by them (they are fun to watch when the sunflowers open up).

[RealityCheckBounced]

No problem. Theres always hand pollination.

[Cynus]

What we need is some chemical we can spray on the bees, preferably made by Monsanto, that can make the bees resistant to the pesticides made by Monsanto

[KiddieKorral]

I have a beehive underground. I've seen bees going into and out of these small holes in the dirt, that look like ant piles with a wider opening. Does anybody know what kind of bees these are? They're doing a good job of pollinating.

[BiGG]

I have a beehive underground. I've seen bees going into and out of these small holes in the dirt, that look like ant piles with a wider opening. Does anybody know what kind of bees these are? They're doing a good job of pollinating.

Several types live in the ground and let me suggest never running over them with a lawn mower as I did by mistake once! They are not happy campers if you do by any means.

Ground-Nesting Bees and Wasps

[bruin]

You'd think as the honey bee population drops, the mite's population would drop with it. After balance is achieved, the bee population can grow once again.

[strider3700]

You'd think as the honey bee population drops, the mite's population would drop with it. After balance is achieved, the bee population can grow once again.

Or the mites could wipe everything around them out then die off as well. Evolution doesn't necessarily make something tougher it could just finish something off.

[seldom_seen]

The industrial agriculture response to this will probably be to create a mutant honybee with genes from a polar bear a tomato and a rattlesnake.

Then they'll release it in to the wild and it will cause some sort of unrelated ecological disaster that will only make the original problem worse.

[RonMN]

The attack of the Killer-Tomato-Bear-Snake-Bees

[killJOY]

(I just seriously screwed up this post. It was an accident, completely my fault. Will replace the text ASAP- KiddieKorral)

[smallpoxgirl]

What we need is some chemical we can spray on the bees, preferably made by Monsanto, that can make the bees resistant to the pesticides made by Monsanto

No silly. You just need Monsanto's new genetically engineered Roundup Ready Honebees.

[KiddieKorral]

Honeybees are furry. Remember that: fur=friend.

The ones under my garlic patch have fur.

[killJOY]

The ones under my garlic patch have fur.

Are they large, non-aggressive? Then they're bumblebees, which we mistakenly called "yellowjackets" in Ohio. They're reminiscent of honeybees, but they don't keep colonies through the winter. They also don't make enough honey to be harvested. They're not the aggressive pests that yellowjackets, so if you have them around, no sweat. They are also native to the US!! (unlike honeybees, which were originally imported from Eurasia.)