Posted on 08/02/2017 9:25:13 AM PDT by upchuck
It's a Bloomberg story published on the Ag Web site so link only:
https://www.agweb.com/article/good-news-for-bees-as-numbers-recover-while-mystery-malady-wanes-blmg/
This happened in the 1930’s as well. Nobody figured out the cause then either.
:)
this is very simple the bees that are left are resistant to the mite problem that was causing the hive die offs. nature is a lot more resistant then we think
People who know bees know it happens in cycles, granted, this one lasted quite some time but we knew it would eventually wane.
"Glowbowl warmin' turned me into a newt!"
"A newt?"
We had some Carpenter bees in an old trailer and they attacked my son when he was on the loader. He bailed off and left it running and still got stung around 10 times.
Then in the yard one day they attacked the dog and then started attacking us, 3 of us got multiple sting before we could get in the house. I’m not going to tell what happened to those bees.
Excellent!
So true. My bees speak only Italian.
Just maybe bees that have a natural resistance to the disease are replacing the other bees and are thriving. (ie evolution)
In the biz, we called them “Italian bees”. Seriously.
Not as seriously: when they flapped their wings, they went buzza, buzza, buzza.
I know a third generation beekeeper who says that they’ve bred so much aggressiveness out the bees that they don’t defend the hive like they used to.
“Feral African bees are displacing domesticated honeybees.”
In some areas they have, but generally bee colonies in the United States are not Africanized.
However, some beekeepers have Africanized colonies and they produce honey in greater quantities than the Italian honeybee.
I have done inspections and harvesting of a Africanized hives and they are tend to be a little more aggressive.
“The media terrorism about africanized bees back in the 70’s was just the 1970’s version of a pitbull story.”
Exactly.
Re-queen when needed.
If you are going to have an africanized hive, make sure to suite up for your hive inspections.
They used to claim it was Monsanto’s fault because its GMO corn was evil and killed bees [even though corn is wind-pollinated and lacks nectar.]
Then I think Monsanto was bought out by foreigners at which point the protestors backed off because they prefer harassing US companies
Never heard of carpenter bees attacking anyone or anything. What you describe sounds more like yellowjackets, which often take up residence in old trailers and will aggressively defend their colony.
Carpenter bees - which are big and look like bumblebees - are solitary and do not colonize - except the mother and a handful of daughters may live fairly close. Males cannot sting, and the females rarely do unless you really go out of your way to provoke them, say by grabbing one and squeezing it.
We had carpenter bees all around in Illinois and Missouri, chewing holes in the beams of the barn or the deck to stuff with food, but never got stung.
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