Bumble Bee Epidemic?

According to the news on TV, there are a great number of dead bees in the USA, which is also spilling into Canada.

This situation, if it continues, will affect our agriculture to the extent that we could be in major trouble within the next three to five years.

Does anybody know anything more about this?

I heard about it over the past few months tops. It is surprising to see it spilling into Canada.
God Bless,
Will

I heard the the bees were a possible potential maybe threat to Homelad security! You know they have the ability and the potential to create weapons of MASS Distruction! George w declared an open season on BEES! This will eliminate another potential, maybe, possible, threat!
(this post is not bassed on any true or somewhat true findings or sources, very similar to the realistic findings of the Bush league administration LOL)

Posted from another forum:

"If the bee disappears off the surface of the globe, then man would have
four years left to live. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man." Albert Einstein.

If that is the case, the 2nd Coming will take place before then.

Hello Dan,

Where have you read a comment by President Bush about the bees?

Gordon

Redfog is a beekeeper if I recall. Maybe he can provide some insight into this.
God Bless,
Will

If I remember correctly, Redfog is away.

Hopefully, upon his return, he will be able to update us on this situation.

Found an article:
honeybees
God Bless,
Will

Interesting article.

Here are a couple sites on the Varroa mite that is causing the problem. I thought the last two were the best of the three.

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/struct/ef608.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varroa_destructor

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2169.html

They are talking a lot about this on both radio and TV.

They are working on finding a way to destroy the Varroa mites without destroying the bees along with them.

This looks like a problem that "mite-bee" a very serious issue!

Time will certainly reveal just how mite-ty this mite mite-bee.

If I had a "mite" for everytime I saw a "bee" what a rich man I "mite" be!
-humour sometimes takes the "sting" out of reality.

There's more than one way to be stung.

We seem to have lots of bumble bees, I see them around anything that is currently blooming. I have noticed that they seem to have a thing for straw. Anyone have any knowledge of why this would be?

Just like a honey bee the bumble bee is attracted to flowers, both for the nectar and the pollen. They make honey and use the pollen for raising their brood. I wonder if they are attracted to straw as a possible nesting site or to somehow use it for nesting material?

There are companies who raise bumble bees for pollination. Usually used in conjunction with honey bees. In some ways the bumble bee is a better pollinator in that it will work in cooler and rainier weather than the honey bee, but a large "hive" of bumble bees will have a few hundred bees, where as a honey bee hive will have up to 60,000 bees.

Redfog

This is a stupid question, but do Bumble Bees produce honey?
God Bless,
Will

They produce enough for their own needs which are very little. A honey bee colony survives through the winter with thousands of bee's requiring lots of honey. Of course they produce much more than is needed, thus the bee keeper can take the excess, in some cases a hundred pounds or more, and still leave plenty for the colony. However with bumble bees only the queen lives through the winter so it's honey requirements are very minimal. I've read that their honey is a rather watery compared to honey bee honey and I've never heard of anyone eating it.

Redfog

Very interesting and informative information, which is what this particular forum of MSDAOL is really all about.

Then I hope they all die. Is that OK to want that? I don't want anyone or thing to die, however I want to go to heaven. If we were to purposely wipe out all the bee's, then God would come first, right? So, why not just start eradicating the bee's and other creature's that God gave us? Maybe we wouldn't have to do it, we could get someone else to do it so we don't have to feel bad about them all dying?

Just a thought.

If we were to do that, then we would be one of those who would be guilty of destroying the earth, and we all know what God will do about that.

I think there are other ways to hasten the Lord's coming without doing that and thus avoid coming under the wrath of God.

You're among nature lovers here, so have you any other suggestions, including using nature, to hasten our Lord's Return?

How about nature showing the glory of God to point people toward the glory of God's salvation?... for those who're good at explaining the appearance and functioning nature out there.

And I'm a nature lover as well. Many, many, many years I have spent in the woods. In fact, as a child that was one of the best things about the Sabbath. It is a chance to commune with nature, with God, out in the wonderful world he created for us. So please don't think I'm not a lover of all animals.

And I agree, nature can show us God's glory. Look at all the amazing things he has given us command over. I think we would do well to look after those things He has given us charge over. To treat them well, provide for them when they cannot do it themselves. And find in them the type of Love that the Father has for us, a true love. A love that doesn't care what you wear, if your breath stinks, or if you just want to stay inside today. That's the love I get from my wonderful little doggies, and I think it's the same love that God has for me.

How wonderful to be one of His creatures!

As far as a problem with honeybees, yes, they are having problems. Haven't heard anything about Bumblebees. And I believe African Killer bees aren't bothered, either. There are also several kinds of honeybees. I'm not sure there are many over here besides the European kind.

However, as far as elimination of pollinators goes, Would plants really die out? How about food crops? How many of our major food crops would be eliminated if there were no honeybees or others? Not wheat, corn, nor soybeans.

Honeybees are an exotic import. So, one would suppose the only thing affected by their demise would be exotic plant imports. Then, there are other bees and other insects which pollinate plants. Granted, it may not be as profitable, which would translate into higher food costs. But, that would be only certain foods. Plenty of frosted flakes will continue to be available.

But to think that all nature will collapse because elimination of one specific component kind of says God didn't plan His design very well. And, of course, eliminating bees to speed up His coming would only prolong the period of time without bees.

Heard a report from a survey of several hundred hives in the U.S. which said death this winter was high, but colony collapse disorder was something like 5% and actually decreased from the previous year. Varroa destructor mite was their biggest concern.

I'm starting to view a honeybee hive as a living organism much like our bodies. If you keep it healthy, it does well. If you feed it sugar or other harmful substances, it declines. They talk about being careful using in the hive certain fungicides / pesticides which are very toxic to humans since this is a food item.

Beekeepers speak about taking off "excess" honey, but I'm concluding there is no excess as it is intended for the hive to grow. By taking off the honey, they report, results in a decline of the bees, but the mites continue increasing, which then results in eventual death. One would need to do an experiment with multiple hives with the same amount of bees and mites. Take honey off some and not off the others and see if the bees can cope with the mites.

(By the way, one shouldn't quote Albert Einstein / Thomas Jefferson / Abraham Lincoln / famous person, unless they really said it.
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/einstein/bees.asp)

As for bumblebees, they may be attracted to straw / hay as they may be looking for a nesting site (or their nest!). They usually find a mouse nest in the field. They may use a sparrow nest in a barn. They even have nested in the grass trimmings that accumulated around a post I weed trimmed around -- which I found out with subsequent trimmings with their buzzing! I tried relocating a small nest (just the queen starting) from a pile of hay mulch in our garden. I placed it in an old metal container with a hinged lid I closed part way. The next day or two, it was opened and the nest pulled out and the cells destroyed, presumably by a raccoon.

Humans have been keeping bees for the purpose of harvesting honey since early biblical times, 4400 years at least. The question then begs asking, is this mite issue a new problem? If it is, what causes it to happen now, rather than at any previous time during the long history of apiculture?

Well, as a former beekeeper myself, I think I might have something to add to this discussion.

First of all, there are two major disasters that were formerly considered the worst among North American apiculturists: 1) foul brood; and 2) mites. In the case of the former, hives would often be destroyed by fire to keep them from contaminating neighboring hives. I saw some of my hives die out on account of it. As a beekeeper with foul brood experience, my nose is all I would need to diagnose it, which may contribute to the "foul" portion of the name, in addition to the fact that it fouls the brood and keeps them from maturing properly.

I would have feared foul brood more than winter kill, even though the latter completely destroys the hive and sometimes the former can be treated. At least winter kill is not contagious and transmissible. Strong hives resist both mites and foul brood. But hives can be weakened by a number of factors, certainly including chemical pesticides and the like.

Regarding the honey, and the "excess" of it, the hive truly does produce an excess of honey. There is no reason that some cannot be removed. It is true that the wise beekeeper will not remove too much, or the hive will not survive the winter. However, if the hive is allowed to grow without limits, the beekeeper will lose more than just honey--the hive will swarm. When a hive swarms, generally about half or more of the bees will leave and find some hollow tree, wall, or shelter of some sort to move to. That will set the hive back by at least a couple of months, and often during the height of the honey season. This in and of itself can tend towards winter kill, as the hive will struggle with a smaller colony to go through the winter. The beekeeper would far rather split a hive on the beekeeper's own terms and timetable as to let them swarm and no longer have the benefit of the departed bees.

I have seen hives that were 14 supers (wooden hive boxes) tall, with the bottom 6 full supers entirely in brood and the top full of honey. It was an amazing sight. (The one who owned them prayed regularly for his bees and animals.) But beekeepers generally do not permit hives to grow so tall as this that they require a ladder to open! Beekeepers often put a queen excluder (a special wire grid with slots too small to permit the queen to pass through, but still allowing the workers through) above one of the lower boxes to keep the queen from laying brood up in the supers reserved for honey.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

I have heard that. But isn't it interesting that they would? I mean, why? How would one determine if that's really true?

Why do apple trees produce so many apples? Why do squirrels hide more nuts than they need? Why do cows produce so much milk? Why do chickens lay eggs nearly every day when most other birds lay but one clutch a year?

I think it's because God has arranged things this way for our benefit. Those apples are for us. The squirrel has planted the next generation of trees. The bees provide us honey. Cows provide milk. Chickens give us eggs.

God called the land of Canaan, "a land flowing with milk and honey." The Bible also says "My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste."

God provides us these things.

Now, if you want to talk about excess and taking it from the bees, skip the honey...let's talk wax. Wax is very difficult for the bees to produce, and they must consume a lot of honey in order to make it. But we use beeswax for candles and for a great many things. Jesus also ate honeycomb.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

All I can think of saying now is,
wow.

Lower case,

wow.

Basically, the essence of my last post can be summed up in one word: bounty. God is bountiful. "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth...."

Not sure I understand what you meant, kland.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

One point that hasn't been touched on here is the scientific studies linking pesticides containing nicotine as a plausible culprit regarding the drastic changes now observed in bee behavior.

Considering that nicotine is actually a natural substance (read: organic and occurs in nature), I would be less suspicious of it than I would of all the mosquito control that has been done in recent years. They spray who knows what foul-smelling stuff all over in the air to try to get the mosquitos. Anyone know what they use?

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Many things in natural form are inert. When man tinkers with things this often no longer remains the case. Considering the extremely powerful nueralogical effects trace amounts of nicotine has on the human brain, I'm not at all surprised if this stuff messes with the delicate biological functions of bees working to pollonate crops dusted with it.

It's proven that nicotine pesticides damages memory functions of insects (including bees). If a bumble bee can't remember how to get back to the hive how likely is it that it will even survive for more than a day? I'd suspect most of these missing bees have become snack food for hungry birds.

Here is what our county uses for mosquito control!

Altosid ALL - an insect growth regulator.
Teknar HPD - a highly selective biological larvicide.
Golden Bear 1111 - a mosquito larvicide oil.

Anvil 10+10 ULV - a synthetic pyrethroid.
Pyrenone Crop Spry - a natural material made from the refined extract of the pyrethrum flower.

Synthetic Pyrethroids For Mosquito Control. (2002 Report) Office of Pesticide Programs United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) "Q. Do Pyrethroids Pose Risks to Human Health? A. Pyrethroids can be used for public health mosquito control programs without posing unreasonable risks to human health when applied according to label. Q. Do Pyrethroids Pose Risks to Wildlife or the Environment? A. Pyrethroids used in mosquito control programs do not pose unreasonable risks to wildlife or the environment. Pyrethroids, when applied at mosquito control rates, are low in toxicity to mammals, and practically nontoxic to birds. However, pyrethroids are toxic to fish and bees."

Large areas such as irrigated pastures may warrant the use of the Districts helicopter using Pyrenone Crop Spray.

Thank you, crater. That confirms some of my suspicions. Pity the poor bees, as there are multiple hazards out there for them.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.