Posted on 05/12/2007 10:36:36 AM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Since the European was introduced to North America in the 1600s what did the native plants do for pollination before then?
I've been a beekeeper for the last 4 years and now have 3 hives. Its my understanding that bees will typically travel upwards of a 2 mile radius of their hive to find nectar and pollen. The furthur they go, the more they need to use their load of nectar as energy to return to the hive. Beyond 2 miles, they are in the "red" as far as making the trip worthless, or a net negative. Its not that they will travel 2 miles, but that they have a mechanism to venture only as far as they need to (their "waggle" dancing to communicate nearby nectar sources - how close and how plentiful).
LOL... good ol’ Buck.
Happened before.
Will happen again.
Judging from your tagline, perhaps you need to smarten up on this issue.
I have a small apiary of honeybees, yet I too have to be just as concerned for my “girls” as does a large commercial beekeeper. All bees in the US have been subject to a number of diseases and pests and pesticides. Other countries have been dealing with similar problems as well. Beekeepers have to medicate their hives to rid bees of varroa and tracheal mites. Some use natural means while others use chemicals but when the honey flow is not “on”. Beekeepers have to deal with hive beetles which can decimate a hive in ten days or less. Still others have to deal with wax moth (really noxious pests), foulbrood and other diseases. In short, there are several ways for bee hives to be weakened and ultimately lost. These maladies affect both wild bees as well as domesticated bees. These diseases and pests has resulted in a significant decline in the number of feral bees so your remark about “removing all commercial bee hives today would mean the world would continue along just fine” is absolutely incorrect. Fortunately, domestic bees have beekeepers to look after them. Were it not for this, the total bee population would decline even more. I read once that 80 percent of bees were in urban areas. Obviously, these bees had hives to return to and beekeepers to manage them.
This recent malady has experienced beekeepers and scientists scratching their heads. No one seems to have a handle on the magnitude of the problem nor its cause. Some posit that genetically modified plants may be the culprit. Supposedly, these plants have a built-in pesticide. Obviously, this would be detrimental to honeybees. There may be a number of other and as yet unknown reasons.
Locally, I have to be concerned about the city government worker who drives the streets in the early evening spraying mosquito killer into the air as he drives by. The fact that we are in a long drought and there is no standing water available for mosquitoes to incubate doesn’t seem to matter. It’s spring time and we must spray. Nevermind that this spray does a number on my bees.
The point is that there truly is a significant decline in bee population underway. Losses are higher now than in previous years partly because of the rise in the use of pesticides. The economic loss to US agriculture and to society in general will be staggering unless a cause is found for this most recent “colony collapse disorder”.
I’m not an environmentalist wacko so get off your “hysteric leftist” kick.
Gas is $3 a gallon,
Bees are $30 a hive,
Burkas are $10 a sheet,
...the world is ending.
I agree, it was a “souper” post.
There are a bunch of carpenter bees eating up my wood deck. My DH sprayed one with about a half can of flying insect spray and he (she?) just laughed it off. Then he turned around and flew right between our heads. Still eating up the deck.
“Do worry, Bees unhappy.”
Pearls before swine.
You need some residual pesticide, flying insect spray isn’t going to do it.
The bees are flying to a small valley high in the Rockies where they can get full value for their honey?
8<)
Squirt the insecticide into the bored hole (like with a WD-40 thin spray tip) ... Just spraying the outside of the wood - unless the bee’s butt is still visible - isn’t going to do any good.
You can also whack the carpenter bees with a badmitten racket as they comeout.
But why so sudden? NOTHING in any story (any common excuse - especially global warming !!!! - can explain why a hive could be lost in that short a time.
For example, if it were pesticide, then only the bees exposed (and those slowly) would die: not the whole hive. Sure, food is brought back, but pesticide (in contaminated cells) wouldn’t get every bee unless every bee in the hive ate from the same cell. And they don’t. They eat from different cells at different times.
I highly doubt your asumptions there. Highly doubt.
No, its real, but I suspect that the bee population will recover in a couple of years faster than some aspect of capitalism can be blamed and banned.
They need to to take the bees to an underground bunker, a few male ones and many female ones to ensure the species survives.............
Helen the urbane, thy knoweth nothing...the Queen (one to a hive) is the sole propgator of the colony.
My own experience with carpenter bees is that spraying them with hornet and wasp spray doesn’t immediately disable them, but if I get a good shot, they’ll fly off, fall to the ground, and eventually die.
I timed the death from insecticide of one carpenter bee a few summers back - more than three hours.
As others suggest, find the holes, spray into the hole (I fill it up). Then, I know some folks who will plug the hole with aluminum foil or something similar. I don’t. If I leave the easy-to-spray holes uncovered, they attract new carpenter bees the following year, and I know just where to find ‘em. LOL.
sitetest
There is a difference between the words “would” and “should.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.