Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Don’t Bee-lieve Fearmongering About A ‘Beepocalypse'.
newsbusters.org ^ | 7/29/2015 | Julia A. Seymour

Posted on 07/29/2015 9:10:45 AM PDT by rktman

Fear often trumps facts in media coverage. The past several years of worries about dying colonies of bees was certainly no exception, but The Washington Post recently supplied some much-needed sting to the honeybee situation.

News media scare stories about bee deaths and the label that came to describe the occurrence -- Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) -- saturated the news. Magazines, broadcast networks and left-wing websites blamed bee deaths on a host of factors, including cell phones, pesticides, mites and fungi. Oh, and global warming, of course.

Hype was rampant.

Time magazine warned of “Beepocalypse” in 2013, claiming the “economic and environmental damage could be immense.” In that story Time’s resident climate alarmist Bryan Walsh cautioned that if CCD continued it could there could be “dire” consequences -- “even for our ability to feed ourselves.” NBC referred to the die-offs as almost a “natural disaster” and ABC worried that it could cause ice cream to “disappear.”

(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: agriculture; beekeepers; beepocalypse
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-68 next last
To: Colonel_Flagg

Wow!


41 posted on 07/29/2015 10:14:51 AM PDT by luvie (All my heroes wear camos! Thank you David, Michael, Chris, Txradioguy, JJ, CMS, & ALL Vets, too!w)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Ghost of SVR4; blackdog

This is one of the most interesting threads I’ve seen lately. I didn’t realize that so many Freepers had experience keeping bees...

-JT


42 posted on 07/29/2015 10:15:14 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, If you can keep it.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Colonel_Flagg

LOL! Well, the lawn mower passing within inches hasn’t set ‘em off yet. Yet.


43 posted on 07/29/2015 10:16:39 AM PDT by rktman (Served in the Navy to protect the rights of those that want to take some of mine away. Odd, eh?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: rktman

I got my first hive in April, the Super is 80% full and I’m ready to add the honey super.

The experts here tell me this almost never happens in the first year.

Means my bees are doing great, and the Queen is working overtime.


44 posted on 07/29/2015 10:18:19 AM PDT by G Larry (Obama is replicating the instruments of the fall of Rome)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jamestown1630

I got into bee keeping about three years ago. SO much to learn but the people within the bee keeping community are fantastic people and very friendly. In February (around my parts) there is a bee keeping seminar where you can network and get on some good e-mail lists as well as check out vendor’s latest wares. You should check it out in your area.


45 posted on 07/29/2015 10:19:52 AM PDT by Ghost of SVR4 (So many are so hopelessly dependent on the government that they will fight to protect it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: G Larry

Awesome. Hope you’re not allergic to bee stings. OUCH!


46 posted on 07/29/2015 10:20:18 AM PDT by rktman (Served in the Navy to protect the rights of those that want to take some of mine away. Odd, eh?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: rktman

I used to run around barefoot every summer (hated putting my shoes back on for school-torture) and so I was very conscious of flowers and bees. Still look for them. Saw two so far this summer. The bees must be busy elsewhere.


47 posted on 07/29/2015 10:23:08 AM PDT by huldah1776
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rktman

Ha!

2 weeks ago I got Black Widow bite and bee sting on the same day.

Fortunately, no reaction to the bite.

Sting was due to honey dripped on pants and bee up pant leg... swatted....stung on knee...not many nerve endings there...


48 posted on 07/29/2015 10:25:09 AM PDT by G Larry (Obama is replicating the instruments of the fall of Rome)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: G Larry

I’ve sent a couple of widows to the other side recently. Nasty little buggers. Some folks have BAD reactions to them and others not so much.


49 posted on 07/29/2015 10:26:58 AM PDT by rktman (Served in the Navy to protect the rights of those that want to take some of mine away. Odd, eh?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: Ghost of SVR4
Cool! Only how does it know moisture percentage? If it's not capped and correct it will spoil.

I will have to read up on this one.

50 posted on 07/29/2015 10:29:10 AM PDT by blackdog (There is no such thing as healing, only a balance between destructive and constructive forces.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Reddy
"What? We don’t need to run around with our hands in the air and like our hair is on fire just because the envirowhackos say we do?"

Feel the Bern(ie Sanders)!


51 posted on 07/29/2015 10:29:40 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: rktman

Cutting grass on a dry spell will do it. Two weeks without rain and stay away from your bees. A good test is to open the outer cover. If the attendees standing guard are plentiful and point their little arses up at you and buzzz, place the cover back on and go drink beer instead.


52 posted on 07/29/2015 10:32:08 AM PDT by blackdog (There is no such thing as healing, only a balance between destructive and constructive forces.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: blackdog

Its difficult to explain in words. There are some good video’s out about Flow that “show” it far better than anything I could explain. But in a nutshell, you can operate on individual frames and when you crank the internal shaft, it splits the cells and the honey drains out. Once done, the bees clean up the rest par usual and get busy filling it up again; at least, that is the pitch. I won’t know until next season for certain after I use mine.


53 posted on 07/29/2015 10:34:05 AM PDT by Ghost of SVR4 (So many are so hopelessly dependent on the government that they will fight to protect it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: Ghost of SVR4
Bee fever lasts a lifetime. I have passed it on to three others in their teens and twenties.

November thru March is marked by the pounding and building of new frames and equipment and the sweet anticipation of that first red maple bloom busting open on a sunny day with the snow still on the ground, but the bees grabbing all they can.

54 posted on 07/29/2015 10:42:44 AM PDT by blackdog (There is no such thing as healing, only a balance between destructive and constructive forces.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: Mr. Lucky
If there has been a real on decline in wild pollinators on which a lot of crop production is reliant, shouldn’t there have been a corresponding decline in crop production?

In many cases the decline in wild pollinators has been made up for by relying on commercial operators but the commercial keepers are having a hard time keeping up with demand.

55 posted on 07/29/2015 10:51:20 AM PDT by semimojo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Bloody Sam Roberts
Probably not. But history shows, again and again, how Nature points out the folly of Men.

"Go, Go, Beezilla"....Nope. Doesn't have the same ring to it.

56 posted on 07/29/2015 11:03:50 AM PDT by FateAmenableToChange
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Ghost of SVR4

I’d like to learn, but my retirement bucket-list is long: ham radio license and veggie garden come first ;-)

I once lived next door to a house whose owner was ill and had been confined to the first floor for a long time. Nobody ever went upstairs, until one day her caregiver had some reason to. She found something dripping from the attic door, and the attic had been taken over by bees. They had to hire professionals to clear it all out. I don’t know what kind of bees, but they made honey!

One of the most beautiful and fascinating little books I’ve read is Maurice Maeterlinck’s ‘The Life of the Bee’:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4511/4511-h/4511-h.htm

-JT


57 posted on 07/29/2015 11:36:12 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, If you can keep it.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: Ghost of SVR4

No, I haven’t seen that. Thank you!


58 posted on 07/29/2015 11:40:12 AM PDT by Colonel_Flagg ("No social transformation without representation." - Justice Antonin Scalia)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: rktman

Just use discretion. Wouldn’t want anything bad to happen. Thanks for your service.


59 posted on 07/29/2015 11:41:41 AM PDT by Colonel_Flagg ("No social transformation without representation." - Justice Antonin Scalia)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: LUV W

It was pretty heavy. LOL


60 posted on 07/29/2015 11:41:56 AM PDT by Colonel_Flagg ("No social transformation without representation." - Justice Antonin Scalia)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-68 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson