So we're still losing honeybees. That ain't good...

[Gewehr98]

Dean Lapp, a beekeeper in Reeseville, lost about half of his 1,000 honeybee colonies this year alone. Each colony can hold up to around 20,000 honeybees.

Reeseville, WI is just a few miles down the trail from me.  if he has 20K bees/colony, and lost 500 colonies, that's 10 million honeybees gone.

http://www.channel3000.com/money/beekeepers-losing-bees-income/-/1644/20161972/-/oih58x/-/index.html

I read that Italy banned use of neonicotinoid pesticides as seed coatings, and is experiencing a rebound in the honeybee populations.

Colony collapse disorder points to additional factors, like mites, viruses, winter weather, etc.  But it appears the 800lb gorilla in the room is the nicotine derivative pesticides.

Could it really be that simple - the bees are getting a big nicotine fix and become so disoriented in the field they never return home?

If so, that would be something Monsanto and Bayer could reverse quite quickly.  Seeing that 80% of our crops are pollinated by honeybees, this could be really bad news.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i'm the last guy to buy the enviro zomg and i'm a believer  about the bees . and loss of income is the least of it.  its real bad

[bedlamite]

One of the guys at work has a couple hives on his 10 acre hobby farm. He's mentioned that the hobbyists don't have a problem, it's mostly the bigger apiaries that truck the bees around the country to pollinate crops that are losing them.

[brimic]

One of the guys at work has a couple hives on his 10 acre hobby farm. He's mentioned that the hobbyists don't have a problem, it's mostly the bigger apiaries that truck the bees around the country to pollinate crops that are losing them.

I'llhhave to take a closer look at that.
There's a huge operation a few miles south of me that travels to Florida in the winter months.

[Regolith]

One of the guys at work has a couple hives on his 10 acre hobby farm. He's mentioned that the hobbyists don't have a problem, it's mostly the bigger apiaries that truck the bees around the country to pollinate crops that are losing them.

There's a massive hive of wild bees in one of our old outbuildings that's been pollinating our crops for decades, and they don't seem to have been affected by it either.

One of the theories I've heard recently is that the big commercial operations sell off most of the honey and feed the bees corn syrup. This compromises their immune system and makes them more susceptible to insecticides, pests, fungal infections, etc.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

lots of small guys here are losing hives    50% for a couple i know  might buy a couple hives

[drewtam]

Maybe they are going Galt?

[TommyGunn]

Maybe they are going Galt?

Nah, they just ain't bee-haiving right.   

[AZRedhawk44]

I was going to plant some wild Tarahumara tobacco in my backyard this spring but ended up not having time after taking care of my friend for so many months.  Aside from the big middle finger to the F-troop it would provide me, I also wanted it because it's a natural pest repellent.  Roaches, ants, spiders, et cetera.  I could harvest leaves, dry them, brew a sun tea from them and put the tea into a sprayer to use as a natural insecticide for the rest of my garden.  And they're pretty plants, too.



It'll happen this fall for sure.  Bees beware.

[Regolith]

Nah, they just ain't bee-hiving right.   

FTFY.

[Fly320s]

Hive mind, will travel.

[SADShooter]

Someone should investigate this question with a fine-tooth honeycomb.

(Heaven help me, channeling Tallpine!)

[mtnbkr]

One of the guys at work has a couple hives on his 10 acre hobby farm. He's mentioned that the hobbyists don't have a problem, it's mostly the bigger apiaries that truck the bees around the country to pollinate crops that are losing them.

I know a hobbyist beekeeper who's also a greenie type who has lost several colonies.

Chris

[roo_ster]

G98 (& others losing bees):

Are any of your local gov'ts spraying for skeeters on GP or due to West Nile Virus?  After we sprayed last year, lots of bees took it in the jimmy round here.

[Gewehr98]

Maybe in the greater metropolitan Madison area, but not out in the sticks where I am, or the local beekeeper in Reeseville.

I'll have to go see my dad on his farm an hour to the north of us.  He's usually got just a couple of hives, to keep his 5 acres of gardens pollinated.

He told me he feeds them HFCS as an off-season supplement, but he also doesn't take their honey or honeycombs.  They're simply around to keep the gardens and fruit trees happy.

[French G.]

I was supposed to have bees this year, but I refer back to F! the IRS. I hope around me will be okay for bees, there is about zero crop farming here, most of the chemicals going down are herbicides in the eternal war on multi-flora rose. Local keepers say they have been fine.

[Balog]

Maybe in the greater metropolitan Madison area, but not out in the sticks where I am, or the local beekeeper in Reeseville.

I'll have to go see my dad on his farm an hour to the north of us.  He's usually got just a couple of hives, to keep his 5 acres of gardens pollinated.

He told me he feeds them HFCS as an off-season supplement, but he also doesn't take their honey or honeycombs.  They're simply around to keep the gardens and fruit trees happy.

I wonder how far the average bee goes from the hive to collect pollen?

[RoadKingLarry]

A friend of mine is a hobby beekeeper. He has lost hives to the varora mite but hasn't had any massive die offs. Last year his big problem was the heat. His hives are in the shade but he had problems with the comb melting/slumping down in the hives.

[Pharmacology]

Saw an F-350 Monday at the San Antonio airport that had a BIG  wad of bees/wax  living in its wheel-well.

[rcnixon]

I saw a report out of Europe a couple of weeks ago that suggested that new pesticides based on nicotine seem to have a role in CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder).  These new pesticides have been touted as a "safer" alternative.  My old man soaked chewing tobacco in water for a couple of weeks and then used the "water" to spray on Mom's rosebushes.  The aphids FELL off after the treatment.  This was over fifty years ago and he told me it was old-time then.

Russ

[zxcvbob]

Imidacloprid (made by Bayer.)  I had a hunch a couple of years ago that it was involved.  Good old fashioned nicotine sulfate would probably be OK -- but they took that off the market at least 10 years ago.  ("Black Leaf 40")  I still have a small bottle; it's the only consumer pesticide I've seen with the DANGER warning on the label

[Scout26]

I saw a report out of Europe a couple of weeks ago that suggested that new pesticides based on nicotine seem to have a role in CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder).  These new pesticides have been touted as a "safer" alternative.  My old man soaked chewing tobacco in water for a couple of weeks and then used the "water" to spray on Mom's rosebushes.  The aphids FELL off after the treatment.  This was over fifty years ago and he told me it was old-time then.

Russ

Think that would work on ants?  (I've now got two mounds in the front yard.  I thought I destroyed the one mound a couple years back.  I guess you take a couple years off to go through chemo and they come back.)