Posted on 04/24/2007 8:24:42 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
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 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 also have been reported in Europe and Brazil.
Commercial beekeepers would set their bees near a crop field as usual and come back in two or three weeks to find the hives bereft of foraging worker bees, with only the queen and the immature insects remaining. The worker bees that survived were often too weak to perform their tasks.
If the bees were dying of pesticide poisoning or freezing, their bodies would be expected to lie around the hive. And if they were absconding because of some threat -- which they have been known to do -- they wouldn't leave without the queen.
Since about one-third of the U.S. diet depends on pollination and most of that is performed by honeybees, this constitutes a serious problem, says Jeff Pettis of the U.S. Agricultural Research Service.
"They're the heavy lifters of agriculture," Mr. Pettis said of honeybees. "And the reason they are is they're so mobile, and we can rear them in large numbers and move them to a crop when it's blooming."
Mr. Pettis and other analysts have gathered outside Washington for a two-day workshop that started yesterday to pool their knowledge and come up with a plan to combat what they call colony collapse disorder.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
It all depends on what the definition of bee be. Ask the ‘Toon.
They've gone to Canada: to do the work the Canadian bees won't do!
It appears that it has specialized...
Yeah; what you said!
This has finally convinced ME that there is a counter movement in the world to try to divert our attention away from the FACT that man’s destructive works have poisoned our bees, causing their frail bodies to evaporate!
It is very funny and gets better with time
Moron author thinks folks that are smart enough to create alloys would be too stupid or lazy to farm.
You did not understand this cartoon, the alloy folk become productive farmers there! This is the whole point, the creative free market types do not need farmers or workers, they can do the job themselves.
Apis Shrugged.
No, it is because of cell phones!
HFCS, if made right, will have no proteins in it that could be influenced by GMO. You basically take the starch, pass it over an enzyme bed, and the rest of the process is separation and purification of the fructose.
A more likely source of something “bad” from a GMO would be the enzymes.
Bee Rustlers!
Another Missing Bee Freeper Article , & I Sent You A Ping for another bee article a couple days ago too :)
Thank you again,
This article seems to begin to address the seriousness of this situation.
Our tomatoes are beginning to bloom now. I’ll do as I did last year - take a small, soft paint brush and go from one bloom to another. It takes a lot of time but in it’s own way isn’t a bad task and well worth the effort.
What the big farmers do is another problem though. I wonder if we’ll see an increase in produce supplies this year because of this?
I hope you’re doing well and thank you again.......Ping
PS: You might want to plant your own family garden. Let me know if you do.
Yes, the bees are all driving down our freeways, glued to their cellphones.
“Cell phone signals disrupting bee navigation.”
Those little buggers are slurping all the signal strength from the sky and causing all sorts of dropouts for the cell phone users.
thanks for the detailed post - fascinating stuff
LOL! That is what I thought also. The theory is that cell phones are interfering with the bees ability to navigate. Which is a good theory, but this is also happening where there is no cell phone coverage.
“Meanwhile, it’s 5.1 mm foundation, followed by 4.9 mm, for me.”
Wouldn’t using the old comb eventually have the same effect? I understand they do not clean out the cocoons when the brood hatches out.
Bees are Very Important , I just ignore the scarsam from other posters ....
We may do a garden this year , & I’ll send you freeper mail if we do !
Thanks Again & Have A Great Day ! DvdMom
Naah, I just heard John Kerry and Howard Dean say that the Bush administration is outsourcing the bee's work to China and India so the bees are following. The problem most of them are having is getting across the Oceans before their wings give out. For the rest of them they are finding it difficult to usurp China and India's illegal immigration policies. China and India actually enforce their laws.
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