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You know how sometimes when you try to fix a problem you end up causing more trouble for yourself than what the initial problem posed? Here's another instance of this phenomenon with a man trying to end the lives of some wasps that are holed up in his garage. When will humans learn, don’t fool around with Mother Nature and her offspring? (FARDAL, Norway, Aug. 7 (UPI) — A Fardal, Norway, man said his attempt to rid his garage of wasps ended with the structure burning to the ground with his car inside.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Disease spread to wild bees from commercially bred bees used for pollination in agriculture greenhouses may be playing a role in the mysterious decline in North American bee populations, researchers said on Tuesday. < > "All of the different species of bumblebees that we sampled around greenhouses showed the same pattern: really high levels of infection near greenhouses and then declining levels of infection as you moved out," said Michael Otterstatter of the University of Toronto, one of the researchers. < >

WASHINGTON -- Food prices could rise even more unless the mysterious decline in honey bees is solved, farmers and businessmen told lawmakers Thursday. "No bees, no crops," North Carolina grower Robert D. Edwards told a House Agriculture subcommittee. Edwards said he had to cut his cucumber acreage in half because of the lack of bees available to rent. About three-quarters of flowering plants rely on birds, bees and other pollinators to help them reproduce. Bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion annually in crop value.In 2006, beekeepers began reporting losing 30 percent to 90 percent of their hives. This phenomenon...

Beekeeper Isaiah Hess tries to coax a swarm of bees estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 off a power pole into a hive in the alleyway off Commerce Street near the Sprint building.

A survey of bee health released Tuesday revealed a grim picture, with 36.1 percent of the nation's commercially managed hives lost since last year.Last year's survey commissioned by the Apiary Inspectors of America found losses of about 32 percent.As beekeepers travel with their hives this spring to pollinate crops around the country, it's clear the insects are buckling under the weight of new diseases, pesticide drift and old enemies like the parasitic varroa mite, said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, president of the group.This is the second year the association has measured colony deaths across the country. This means there aren't enough numbers...

Air pollution interferes with the ability of bees and other insects to follow the scent of flowers to their source, undermining the essential process of pollination, a study by three University of Virginia researchers suggests. Their findings may help unlock part of the mystery surrounding the current pollination crisis that is affecting a wide variety of crops. [...] This phenomenon triggers a cycle, the authors noted, in which the pollinators have trouble finding sufficient food, and as a result their populations decline. That, in turn, translates into decreased pollination and keeps flowering plants, including many fruits and vegetables, from proliferating....

All morning one cool, drizzly April Sunday, cars pull up to the Reseska Apiaries warehouse in Holliston - one driven by an attorney, one carrying a plumber and a machinist, another a yoga studio owner. The occasion is the arrival by truck of 270 three-pound boxes of honeybees from Georgia, all ready for pick-up by a diverse and burgeoning cadre of backyard beekeepers. "When I signed up for bee school, I thought there would be six people," says Kristina Ward, a 38-year-old landscape designer from Norfolk. "It turned out there's a whole subculture." Subculture indeed. Ward is among almost four...

70 Hospitalized After Mexican Killer Bee Attack POSTED: 3:41 pm PDT April 8, 2008 MEXICO CITY -- At least 70 police officers were hospitalized after so-called Africanized bees swarmed a police shooting range in southern Mexico, authorities said Tuesday. The attacked occurred Monday in Tapachula, Chiapas, after one of the policemen hit the bees' hive with a bullet, local police officer Miguel Serrano said Tuesday. At least 10 of the 70 officers stung were in serious condition, he said. "We tried as hard as we could, but we weren't able to avoid getting stung," Serrano said. "Some of us hit...

(WebMD) Taking allergy drops instead of enduring painful shots may someday become an option for people who are allergic to honeybee stings. In a preliminary study, Italian researchers found that putting honeybee venom under the tongue was safe and significantly reduced reactions in people allergic to bee stings . Immunotherapy using the ubiquitous allergy shot is the standard treatment for allergies to everything from insect stings to dust mites. Tiny amounts of the allergens are injected into the patient until tolerance develops. The new study involved a different form of immunotherapy, called sublingual immunotherapy. It involves putting extracts of allergens...

STUART, Fla. -- A Florida County has declared war on killer bees. Commissioners in Martin County have unanimously passed an ordinance allowing county employees to go onto private property without permission to kill Africanized bees and treat areas where mosquitoes are breeding. The county's mosquito control administrator Gene Lemire said the county already responds to bee and mosquito complaints with the permission of property owners. But he said they have had an increasing number of incidents in which property owners either cannot be found or are unwilling to clean up the infestation themselves. Killer bees, which Lemire said have been...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Millions of swarming honey bees are on the loose after a truck carrying crates of the insects flipped over on a California highway.The California Highway Patrol says 8-to-12 million bees escaped Sunday from the crates in which they were stored and swarmed over an area of Highway 99 and stung officers, firefighters and tow truck driver trying to clear the accident. CHP Officer Michael Bradley says a tractor trailer flipped over while entering the highway on its way to Yakima, Wash. The flatbed was carrying bee crates each filled with up to 30,000 bees.Bradley says several beekeepers...

Feb 7 A malady that's killed billions of bees since 2006, threatening about $15 billion in pollinated crops, has been detected again, according to the US Department of Agriculture's top honeybee researcher.

ATHENS, Greece, Jan. 26 Greek experts have expressed concern for the unexplained disappearance of large quantities of honey bees.

Honeybees will die out in Britain within a decade as virulent diseases and parasites spread through the nation's hives, experts have warned. Whole colonies of bees are already being wiped out, with current methods of pest control unable to stop the problem. The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) said that if the crisis continued, honeybees would disappear completely from Britain by 2018, causing "calamitous" economic and environmental problems. It called on the Government to restart shelved research programmes and to fund new ones to try to save the insects. Tim Lovett, the association's president, said: "The situation has become insupportable and...

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- An angry swarm of 100,000 bees buzzed their way into several Valley yards Tuesday, stinging four children, their babysitter and a beekeeper, according to Elio Pompa of the Glendale Fire Department. "They were extremely stubborn," Pompa said. "These things were burrowed down deep inside of a metal shed," he said. A beekeeper was first to be stung when the swarm became irritated around 2:30 p.m. Then the swarm moved on to the house next door and stung four children and the babysitter, Pompa said. "We actually had one of the kids running down the street trying to...

Culinary Specialist Seaman Vannessa Robertson, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion-40 Detachment Horn of Africa culinary specialist, sprinkles seasoning on fish before putting it in the oven. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Mary Popejoy U.S. Navy Seaman Vannessa Robertson Culinary Specialist Serves up Food and Smiles By Petty Officer 1st Class Mary Popejoy CJTF-HOA Public Affairs CHARICHCHO, Ethiopia, Oct. 16, 2007 — Far away from the dining facility of Camp Lemonier, Djibouti, the Soldiers and Sailors of Forward Operating Location Charichcho look to Culinary Specialist Seaman Vannessa Robertson to serve up tasty treats that keep their bellies full...

MISSION — When firefighters arrived, they found a man covered in bees. “They were on him head to toe,” said Elias Saldivar, the Alton fire chief. His firefighters pulled the man away, suffering stings on their faces as they fought off attacks. “The coat and pants only cover so much,” the chief said of his firefighters’ protective clothing. Rescuers separated 57-year-old Paul Lee Campton from the bees, but it was too late. Campton, a disabled man who uses a walker, died Thursday at Mission Regional Medical Center after being stung more than 1,000 times. The attack happened about 6 p.m....

WASHINGTON - Scientific sleuths have a new suspect for what's been killing billions of honeybees: a virus previously unknown in the United States. The scientists report using a novel genetic technique and old-fashioned statistics to identify Israeli acute paralysis virus as the latest potential culprit in the widespread deaths of worker bees, a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder. Next up are attempts to infect honeybees with the newfound virus to see if it's indeed a killer. "At least we have a lead now we can begin to follow. We can use it as a marker and we can use...

MADRID - A parasite common in Asian bees has spread to Europe and the Americas and is behind the mass disappearance of honeybees in many countries, says a Spanish scientist who has been studying the phenomenon for years. The culprit is a microscopic parasite called nosema ceranae said Mariano Higes, who leads a team of researchers at a government-funded apiculture centre in Guadalajara, the province east of Madrid that is the heartland of Spain's honey industry. He and his colleagues have analysed thousands of samples from stricken hives in many countries. "We started in 2000 with the hypothesis that it...

Could the Ozarks be emerging from what was once called a crisis for the agricultural industry? That's the question among beekeepers across the region as it seems bee populations might be rebuilding. Earlier in the year, a problem called Colony Collapse Disorder became all the buzz as bees across the nation left the hive and never returned. But as summer wears on, local bee keepers and honey vendors say there are signs of recovery. “It was a huge concern. Bees are so important, but it hasn't affected our local supplier." says Susie Farbin, co-owner of Mama Jean's Natural Market. Local...

A new technique to help find unexploded landmines using honey bees is being developed at Zagreb University in Croatia. "We started this because our citizens are exposed to serious risks with mines," explains Professor Nikola Kezic, as honey bees buzz around his head. "Luckily we also have a long tradition of keeping bees and making honey. Our solution makes use of what we have."

Most of us beekeepers are fighting with the Varroa mites. I'm happy to say my biggest problems are things like trying to get nucs through the winter and coming up with hives that won't hurt my back from lifting or better ways to feed the bees. This change from fighting the mites is mostly because I've gone to natural sized cells. In case you weren't aware, and I wasn't for a long time, the foundation in common usage results in much larger bees than what you would find in a natural hive. I've measured sections of natural worker brood comb...

WEST RUTLAND, Vt. (The Vermont Catholic Tribune) – When Father Adam Krempa sits down for a light meal, he enjoys a bowl of cottage cheese drizzled with honey, seeded rye bread lightly toasted with butter – not margarine – and a cup of coffee with a heaping teaspoon of honey."It's like dying and having lunch with the Lord," said the pastor of St. Raphael Church in Poultney, Vt. It's not the toast or even the butter that makes the meal special. It's the honey. For 40 years Father Krempa has been keeping bees at his family homestead here on Valley...

WEWAHITCHKA, Fla. (AP) -- Busy humming broken by a hard tapping fills the clearing. Bees at work, and Ben Lanier loosening their honeycombs from weathered boxes. He harvests this tupelo honey only once a year, just after the white tupelo gum trees blossom in the swamps along the Apalachicola River. Some of the box lids Lanier pries open are still black from the carbolic acid his grandfather poured on them to repel the bees while he worked decades ago. Lanier sprays the same lids with smoke or an almond concoction called "bee goo," according to the handwriting on the bottle....

......He's been recruiting beekeepers to harvest on the grounds, and all he asks is that they follow a few simple health rules. First, no using antibiotics in their colonies; the drugs can make people sick. Second, no storing honey in metal containers; those can taint the sweet goo with toxic iron and lead. Some 45 keepers have signed up. But many others are hostile to his efforts, which they see as a threat to their decades-old way of doing business on the cheap -- and making easy profits. ......Honey and thousands of other Chinese food products are showing up more...

Bees are big business. They are crucial to pollination of $14 billion in food crops and a third of the food we eat. If bees have a problem, we all have a problem. And bees have a big problem. The chief apiary inspector for the state of Texas calls it "a hell of a problem." As many as a quarter of the nation's commercially kept bees went missing last year, presumed dead, in a phenomenon now called colony collapse disorder. Inspector Paul Jackson said it is as much a mystery in Texas as it is in 24 other states and...

Albert Einstein once said, “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left.” Why? Because without bees, plants don’t get pollinated. Without pollination, say goodbye to fruit, nuts, and some vegetables. We also won’t have natural oils (such as olive oil, sunflower oil, hemp oil, etc.). And we don’t have many natural fibers, such as cotton. You can see how important the bee is to our livelihood and existence. Some economists say the bee is worth about $14 billion to our economy. That’s why I was so alarmed to...

BELTSVILLE, Md. -- Unless someone or something stops it soon, the mysterious killer that is wiping out many of the nation's honeybees could have a devastating effect on America's dinner plate, perhaps even reducing us to a glorified bread-and-water diet. Honeybees don't just make honey; they pollinate more than 90 of the tastiest flowering crops we have. Among them: apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, squash and cucumbers. And lots of the really sweet and tart stuff, too, including citrus fruit, peaches, kiwi, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, cantaloupe and other melons. In fact, about one-third of the human diet...

A fungus that caused widespread loss of bee colonies in Europe and Asia may be playing a crucial role in the mysterious phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder that is wiping out bees across the United States, UC San Francisco researchers said Wednesday. Researchers have been struggling for months to explain the disorder, and the new findings provide the first solid evidence pointing to a potential cause. But the results are "highly preliminary" and are from only a few hives from Le Grand in Merced County, UCSF biochemist Joe DeRisi said. "We don't want to give anybody the impression that...

Unless someone or something stops it soon, the mysterious killer that is wiping out many of the nation's honeybees could have a devastating effect on America's dinner plate, perhaps even reducing us to a glorified bread-and-water diet. Honeybees don't just make honey; they pollinate more than 90 of the tastiest flowering crops we have. Among them: apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, squash and cucumbers. And lots of the really sweet and tart stuff, too, including citrus fruit, peaches, kiwi, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, cantaloupe and other melons. In fact, about one-third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated...

The answer to what happened to America's vanishing honeybees is simple, a caller told entomologist May Berenbaum: Bee rapture. They were called away to heaven. No, wait, it's Earth's magnetic field, another caller told the University of Illinois professor. And when Berenbaum went on the Internet, she found a parody news site that quoted her as blaming rapper Kevin Federline and his concerts for the disappearance of the bees. Berenbaum loved it. The sudden disappearance of one-quarter of America's honeybees has brought out some strange ideas and downright myths. "I just can't get any work done," Berenbaum said. "I'm overwhelmed...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A swarm of bees clustered outside the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center shut down the emergency room Monday, as officials waited for a beekeeper to come vacuum up the 7,000 insects. Although no one was stung, the Little Rock emergency room still decided to be closed for ambulance traffic. "We'll take walk-ins, but ambulances are being diverted to other hospitals," UAMS spokeswoman Andrea Peel said. Doctors did not see any patients with bee stings, but emergency room physician Dr. Delaney Kinchen said it was an important precaution to close the ER while...

Scientists Identify Pathogens That May Be Causing Global Honey-Bee Deaths Scientists Identify Pathogens That May Be Causing Global Honey-Bee Deaths Science Daily — Researchers have identified potential culprits behind the wide-spread catastrophic death of honey bees around North America and Europe. A team of scientists from Edgewood Chemical Biological Center and University of California San Francisco identified both a virus and a parasite that are likely behind the recent sudden die-off of honey-bee colonies. ECBC researchers have identified potential culprits behind the wide-spread catastrophic death of honey bees around North America and Europe. (Credit: Scott Bauer, USDA/ARS) Using a...

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's bee farmers are feeling the sting of lost business and possible crop danger after millions of the honey-making, plant-pollinating insects vanished during volatile weather, media and experts said on Thursday. Over the past two months, farmers in three parts of Taiwan have reported most of their bees gone, the Chinese-language United Daily News reported. Taiwan's TVBS television station said about 10 million bees had vanished in Taiwan. A beekeeper on Taiwan's northeastern coast reported 6 million insects missing "for no reason", and one in the south said 80 of his 200 bee boxes had been emptied,...

In the past I have been critical of the knee-jerk environmental claim that global climate change is simply a result of man made factors. The notion that man is preponderating nature by way of his carbon output strikes me as premature. Throw in the disinclination of the left to even talk about nuclear power– a very acceptable alternative to fossil fuels– and you can see my nihilism to the established environmental talking points. Furthermore, when cyclical solar and weather patterns are factored in and the most vocal proponents of lifestyle changes leave far greater carbon footprints than the uncleansed masses,...

More than a quarter of the country’s 2.4 million bee colonies have been lost — tens of billions of bees, according to an estimate from the Apiary Inspectors of America, a national group that tracks beekeeping. So far, no one can say what is causing the bees to become disoriented and fail to return to their hives. As with any great mystery, a number of theories have been posed, and many seem to researchers to be more science fiction than science. People have blamed genetically modified crops, cellular phone towers and high-voltage transmission lines for the disappearances. Or was it...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Go to work, come home. Go to work, come home. Go to work -- and vanish without a trace. Billions of bees have done just that, leaving the crop fields they are supposed to pollinate, and scientists are mystified about why. The phenomenon was first noticed late last year in the United States, where honeybees are used to pollinate $15 billion worth of fruits, nuts and other crops annually. Disappearing bees have also been reported in Europe and Brazil. Commercial beekeepers would set their bees near a crop field as usual and come back in two or...

Sunspots reaching 1,000-year high By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor Sunspots are plentiful nowadays A new analysis shows that the Sun is more active now than it has been at anytime in the previous 1,000 years. Scientists based at the Institute for Astronomy in Zurich used ice cores from Greenland to construct a picture of our star's activity in the past. They say that over the last century the number of sunspots rose at the same time that the Earth's climate became steadily warmer. This trend is being amplified by gases from fossil fuel burning, they...

I read about this theory on mobile phone radiation being responsible for the disappearance of bees in our country. I can't post anything from the Independent (UK) because of copyright problems, but check it out at: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece This is a serious problem that has bee keepers stumped. Why is it serious? Because bees pollinate the great majority of crops and Agriculture is our number one industry in America and the economy is being affected as this continues. Aside from the economic loss, the loss of bees is increasing the price of food in your home and could eventually result in...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US beekeepers have been stung in recent months by the mysterious disappearance of millions of bees threatening honey supplies as well as crops which depend on the insects for pollination. Bee numbers on parts of the east coast and in Texas have fallen by more than 70 percent, while California has seen colonies drop by 30 to 60 percent. According to estimates from the US Department of Agriculture, bees are vanishing across a total of 22 states, and for the time being no one really knows why. "Approximately 40 percent of my 2,000 colonies are currently dead...

Honeybees and Sunspots may be interacting in one of the most unwatched ballets since television was created. Metaphorically speaking of course: Imagine an aquarium containing a fish. Imagine also that you are unable to see the aquarium directly and your knowledge about it and what it contains comes from two television cameras, one directed at the aquarium’s front and the other directed at its side. As you stare at the two television monitors, you might assume that the fish on each of the screens are separate entities. After all, because the cameras are set at different angles, each of the...

A beetle thought to be extinct in the UK since the 1940s has been rediscovered in south Devon. The short-necked oil beetle was found by an amateur entomologist during a wildlife survey on National Trust (NT) land between Bolt Head and Bolt Tail. The beetles were last recorded at Chailey Common, Sussex in 1948. Up to 40 of the insects, which survive by hitching rides on miner bees as larvae and then eating the bees' eggs, were found at the Devon site. It's great that this oil beetle has survived against all the odds David Bullock, National Trust The beetle,...

David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100 million bees missing. In 24 states throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation’s most profitable. “I have never seen anything like it,” Mr. Bradshaw, 50, said from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. “Box...

Hornets hit France and could reach Britain By Peter Allen in Paris Last Updated: 2:40am GMT 21/02/2007 Swarms of giant hornets renowned for their vicious stings and skill at massacring honeybees have settled in France. And there are now so many of the insects that entomologists fear it will just be a matter of time before they cross to Britain. A hornets nest Global warming has largely been blamed for the survival and spread of the Asian Hornet, Vespa velutina, which is thought to have arrived in France from the Far East in a consignment of Chinese pottery in late...

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - A mysterious illness is killing tens of thousands of honeybee colonies across the country, threatening honey production, the livelihood of beekeepers and possibly crops that need bees for pollination. Reports of unusual colony deaths have come from at least 22 states. Some affected commercial beekeepers — who often keep thousands of colonies — have reported losing more than 50 percent of their bees. A colony can have roughly 20,000 bees in the winter, and up to 60,000 in the summer. The country‘s bee population had already been shocked in recent years by a tiny, parasitic bug...

Mystery Ailment Strikes Honeybees February 11, 2007 GENARO C. ARMAS, Associated Press Writer STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — A mysterious illness is killing tens of thousands of honeybee colonies across the country, threatening honey production, the livelihood of beekeepers and possibly crops that need bees for pollination. Researchers are scrambling to find the cause of the ailment, called Colony Collapse Disorder. Reports of unusual colony deaths have come from at least 22 states. Some affected commercial beekeepers _ who often keep thousands of colonies _ have reported losing more than 50 percent of their bees. A colony can have roughly 20,000...

ARABI, La. - The residents of flood-damaged St. Bernard Parish, still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, have a new concern: killer bees. Agriculturalists began setting traps around a half-mile radius of a storm-wrecked home Monday that authorities have confirmed was infested with aggressive Africanized honey bees. The hybrids first drove away contractors hired to tear the house down. Then they drove off beekeepers called in to catch them. Finally mosquito workers killed the bees. The state agriculture department confirmed in late December that they were hybrids with the aggressive African strain, Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Bob Odom said. The traps are...

Fort Meade beekeeper David Adams is facing a mysterious plight shared by his counterparts in Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and elsewhere: Their bee colonies are being decimated at an alarming rate, and the cause is unknown. Starting in mid-August, Adams lost a third of his 900 hives within the course of a few weeks. The seemingly healthy colonies just disappeared, he said, echoing reports from beekeepers across the country. "It's become a serious problem for beekeepers, myself included," said Adams of Adams Honey & Pollination. "We're on the ropes." The phenomenon, termed "Fall Dwindle Disease," is discussed in a preliminary...

Sniffer bees with a nose for explosives are set to make a major breakthrough in the war on terror. An extraordinary invention by a small British company is being praised by American scientists who have been testing it. Researchers at Inscentinel Ltd, which has just three employees at its Harpenden, Herts, HQ, have developed an amazing "sniffer box" to harness the bees' incredible sense of smell. Now Inscentinel is set to cash in when its box full of computer technology that turns honeybees into bomb detectors goes into mass production. Bee sniffer squads could be on duty at airports, train...

Birds, bees, bats and other species that pollinate North American plant life are losing population, according to a study released Wednesday by the National Research Council. This "demonstrably downward" trend could damage dozens of commercially important crops, scientists warned, because three-fourths of all flowering plants depend on pollinators for fertilization. American honeybees, which pollinate more than 90 domestic commercial crops, have declined by 30 percent in the past 20 years. This poses a challenge to agricultural interests such as California almond farmers, who need about 1.4 million colonies of honeybees to pollinate 550,000 acres of their trees. By 2012, the...