Posted on 03/29/2007 5:14:22 PM PDT by mmanager
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Beekeepers throughout the United States have been losing between 50 and 90 percent of their honeybees over the past six months, perplexing scientists, driving honey prices higher and threatening fruit and vegetable production. At a House Agricultural Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., today, members of various organizations came together to share their concerns about what they have been calling the "Colony Collapse Disorder," or CCD. Honeybees have been mysteriously dying across the United States, sending honey prices higher and threatening the agriculture industry.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Sorry - stand by my words. I killed 20 in my house in one weekend last fall (and it is not an old house, but we do back on to open space)
I can take you on too! :)
I've been following this a long time. It's kinda odd... especially since there are people saying we introduced Russian bees about the same time this all started to be noticed....
Excellent info. Thanks for posting. Although I don't raise bees, I do garden (vegetable and flower) extensively and have noticed in the past 2-3 years a dramatic decrease in the number of honey bees I see. 2006 particularly. I likely saw less than 6 honey bees working in my gardens the entire spring-summer-fall. I saw plenteous miner bees, but honey bees were practically nonexistent. Pesticides are not used anywhere near me, so it's not from that cause. At least I now know it's not just my imagination.
Not a bad idea-- next time a find some sick ones, I'll save them.
I've heard orchards and farms are building mason bee colonies - they're as good as pollinators as honey bees and seem resistant to some of the viruses and insects killing the honey bees.
Those damn communist bees! Seriously, it pisses me off when new species are introduced without knowing what the ramifications are. It just shouldn't be done.
I've heard it's more likely viral than insecticide or pollution-related.
This is almost always caused by inadequate watering. If the soil is moist, it won't shrink and crack open, and so the wasps can't make their nests. If you know where the nest is, you can lay the hose there after dark, and turn it on low, allowing the soil to expand and destroy the nest.
Bump. This is more important than people realize.
I don't think the precipitous drop in bee population can be blamed on insecticides alone. There must be some pathogen.
Outlandish, but not too outlandish...OBLaden was in the honey business. They love honey in the Middle East, and consume a lot of it.
And what's going on with peanut allergy? So many people are so allergic to peanuts these days, the airlines have quit serving them and foods containing peanuts have huge warning labels.
Now the Waspman is really WORRIED!!! (please step away from the rolled up newspaper...)
Yikes!!!
You have finally stumbled into the ONE thing that is NOT Bush's fault!!!
Jimmy Carter is the POTUS that propogated and deliberately foisted them allergy causin peanuts on the Amuricun People!!! (specially in aeroplanes!!!)
Wish that would work, but I live in Colorado - semi arid here. You can flood the yard one day, and the next day the cracks are big enough to loose the dog in. Oh well. I'm in for any other ideas - I dont know whether to call an exterminator or an exorcist. Doesn't help that we have stone facing on the house either.
I'm in S. Central Texas, and I have not seen a honeybee one on my flower covered lime tree, which last year was covered by both flowers and bees.
Some say that they pollinate to readily already.
How did pollination occur in the Americas prior to the introduction of honeybees by the europeans?
Awww, he lost his honey....:(
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.