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More Than 40% of US Honeybee Colonies Died In a 12-Month Period Ending In April
walterbyrd writes: The Agriculture Department released its annual honeybee survey Wednesday and it doesn't look good. More than 40% of U.S. honeybee colonies died in a 12-month period ending in April. While the precise cause of the honeybee crisis is unknown, scientists generally blame a combination of factors, including poor diets and stress. Some bees die from infestations of the Varroa mite, a bloodsucking parasite that weakens bees and introduces diseases to the hive. Environmental groups also point to a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids. In April, the Environmental Protection Agency said it would stop approving new outdoor uses for those types of chemicals until more studies on bee health are conducted.
My parents have a small bee farm. They lost their colonies... Because it was too cold of a winter this year, and they froze.
Global climate change, as created a lot of atypical, and more extreme weather conditions. I doubt there is a single issue, but a wide set of issues. I know it is complex and hard to put in a headline, so you vilify someone. But reality is there are not so many villains but the actions of many people. Often a combination of good intentions.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I am a beekeeper. 30% of feral bee colonies do not survive naturally and is also the number I try to maintain to keep genetic diversity. With that said other beekeepers and myself do not report this as loss to the DOA and count this as the price of doing business. I am right in line with this number with 10% loss on top of what I dispatched.
Take a bee colony and stick them in a deep freeze and see how many survive. In case anyone missed it, the U.S. and Europe experienced record cold this winter. How fucking stupid do you have to be to not put 2 and 2 together?
Europe had an exceptionally warm and mild winter this year.
In summer, a typical worker bee lives for about 6 weeks. 8 weeks, maybe 10, if she has one of the rare posts of guardians at the bee colony's entry, or is one of the even fewer bees that feed the queen. Bees literally work themselves to death. The replenishment rate is, during summer, 100%; this is taken care of by the queen. A typical bee colony has between 10,000 and 40,000 bees in high summer, then goes into winter with about 1,000 bees, clumped around the queen to keep her warm, and comes out of winter with 400 to 600 bees. We are talking about apis mellifera carnica here, the so-called Italian bee, which is the variety most commonly used by beekeepers.
An entire colony dying in spring or early summer is, normally, an extremely rare event, and indicates either an epidemy, or severe poisoning. Varroa mites are a known cause, but are a largely contained phenomenon now, at least in professional bee-keeping circles. What remains, is ... poisoning. Neonicotinoids or something else.
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
Someone else covered this but is buried.
Bee colonies do not freeze in the winter. They starve.
We've been keeping bees in North Dakota, which is colder than wherever you are, for 7 years. All 3 of our colonies survived last winter. One is strong enough that we've split it this spring to try and prevent a swarm.
The way that bees operate in winter is amazing. The bees form a sphere, with the queen near its center. They vibrate their wings and bodies to create heat. The bees on the outside of the sphere obviously lose heat the fastest. The bees on the inside stay the warmest. The sphere of vibrating bees constantly turns itself inside out, over and over, so that the cooler outer edge bees return to the warm core and replenish their warmth, while the warm bees from the core circulate out towards the edges after they've recuperated.
This consumes lots of energy (and food).
As the cluster of bees does this, it moves upwards in the hive, consuming stored honey.
When they get to the top of the hive, they stop migrating. If they run out of honey, they die.
We use 2 deep supers and 1 medium honey super to over-winter our bees.
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.