Honey Bee Mortality

[NorthernWinos]

Ramona...those yellow flowers are so perfect.


Now...in that bottom photo are those vines growing like trees???? Is there fruit all the way up???

 

[rgecaprock]

The vines are growing in the trees and yes the vines are all the way to the top!!!!, NW.


You can't see the tree for the vines!!


The yellow flowers are very fragrant!!!


RamonaEdited by: rgecaprock

 

[Coaster]

I picked up a load of firewood this weekend and the guy there informed me the lack of honey bees was due to the cell towers, the radio waves interfere with them. Not sure about the theory but it was a new one anyways.


EDIT: Could be a fungus too. http://www.latimes.com/news/la-sci-bees26apr26,0,7437491.story?track=mostviewed-storylevelEdited by: Coaster

 

[swillologist]

My wife's aunt pass away last week. We went to the cemetery to lay her to rest today and the tree just ahead of where weparked had acolony in it. We were there last weekend putting flowers on the graves andI didn'tsee them. I don't know if they just moved in or I just didn't notice them. It was good to see a wild colony.

 

[Mike777]

600,000 comercial colonies dead since last fall. The problem being that its pretty much impossible to find dead wild colonies for any sort of count. The theories are exactly as stated, mites,fungues, viruses, chemical poisioning from herbicides and insecticides, as well as the now famous cell phone towers.

Thought I saw one yesterday but it was a yellow jacket.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Now it is warm enough for the Bumble Bee Moths...

Their wings are fluttering so fast you can't see them.


Hope to see some Hummingbird Moths....they are even bigger than these guys...





Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[rgecaprock]

Whatever is happening to the honey bees, nature appears to be sending out an abundance of reinforcements to insure survival. Maybe I just have never noticed the other types of bees that are working the flowers but it seems that they are where they need to be. Have you always seen these other pollinators or do they seem more plentiful to you all?


Ramona

 

[grapeman]

I always see a lot of other bees, wasps, hornets, flies,butterflies, etc. They all pollenate flowers. Nature has diversified to ensure survival of the species where appropriate. Man has hurt those chances in some areas, but overall nature will win out. Orchards ad farms use honey bees because it's easier to domesticate them and sell their honey than other insects. I have seen some honey bees this spring and early summer, but not the numbers of past years.

 

[NorthernWinos]

I also have always seen many other bees around...but notice the absence of hives set out in our neighborhood and the others I do see are still are short, with only one or two supers.


I have been hearing much buzzing in out big spruce trees...I thought maybe there was a swarm or a hive up there...guess it is just the bees pollinating the baby pine cones...bee of all sorts, including some honey bees...I never realized that bees pollinate evergreen trees...so you learn something new just by watching for other signs.....Eyes wide open see many new things.

 

[grapeman]

Are you guys experiencin unusual amounts of pollen in the trees this year? Our area is turning yellow with pollen- it's on everything and stays put on vehicles even when driven down the road at 60 mph. We haven't had a lot of rain to settle it yet. I was telling Cindy yesterday I will need to hose everything down soon if we don't get a good shower to wash things off. No shortage of food for the bees. The pines are really heavy with pollen this year as are the black locust. Now it's the grasses turn and soon the weeds

 

[Waldo]

We contend with the pollen turning everything yellow every year down our way appleman. It was worse this year and stayed longer than usual though.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Everything was yellow here a few weeks ago...then the rains washed it away....I think it just showed up more because we hadn't had rain for awhile.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

Read in a trade paper at work today of a scientist in Germany that believes he has found a transfer of genetically modified material from plants to animals(bees). Name was Professor Hans-Heinrich Kaatz, did a web search, theres a lot of info out there on him and his work. Sure it will all be debated, talked about, considered, debated some more...but there are several European countries tearing up the fields they know were planted with GM (genetically modified) crops.
http://www.biotech-info.net/GM_genes_spread.html

 

[Mike777]

To date we have seen no honey bees in the plataeu area. There was a very large increase in bumble bees, which may have been taking up the slack over a couple year period and we didn't notice until the extinction of honeybees was complete. This is also the first year we have not trapped yellowjackets which we would catch several hundred over the summer in the past.

Unfortunately I have some knowledge in DNA and RNA extraction as well as GMO methodologies. Within that community it was known that some genetic material had the tendency to "jump species" Dollars speak louder than words though. It was always assumed that plants and animals could never be combined in any way, the same way mules do not reproduce. The issue is in the anti rejection chemisty, and that is the loop hole. We always assumed that germ warfare germs would escape into the population at one point or another, so that was the safety focus. GMOs flew under the radar and are in the feild across the US right now. In many cases our crops can't be sold to other countries. The EU tests all crop imports from the US for GMOs before importation.

Bottom line is what looks smells and tastes like corn and other crops is alien life that shouldn't even exist. And we have been eating it daily for the last decade. Scary stuff.

Good article. I had no idea some GMO seed slipped through th EU net.

Edited by: Mike777

 

[Mike777]

YEAH! two honeybees came to the lavender today! one was normal, one had a tiny light blue disc on its thorax with the number 12? must be a study of some sorts like the numbered bees that were at my work building a couple years agos? Tag was different, and more rough.

WE got two so it aint over till its over, there must be many more besides our yard!

I was very sad about this, and my spirits were lifted today. I can breathe deep.

I will check every day now, though I normaly do and these were the first two. I feel so much better.

Edited by: Mike777

 

[PolishWineP]

I've been doing my part to further the issue of honey bees. I am on the newsletter committee for my department and we're always doing general interest articles along with industry related articles. I got several comments about the article on honey bees and their plight. Spreading the word the best I can. I put the personal spin on it that it's affecting our wine making. I think that helped get the attention of the reader. Co-workers are always hoping that they'll do something that rates them a bottle of wine.