Bee Mystery Solved?

[Lunachick]

If this has already been posted, then please disregard. My local paper this morning:

A Spanish researcher says he has found the reason why massive numbers of bees have disappeared from hives across North America, Europe and parts of Argentina in recent months. Mariano Higes, who heads a government-funded apiculture center in Guadalajara, says the culprit is a tiny parasite called "nosema ceranae", which appears to have spread from Asia to hives in Europe and the Americas. Asian honeybees have more resistance to it, but the paraiste can kill European bees within days. Although Higes has not tested hives in the US, he says his team has detected "nosema ceranae" across parts of Europe and eastern Canada where the sudden colony collapse disorder has killed massive numbers of bees. "We've no doublt at all it's nosema ceranae, and we think 50% of Spanish hives are infected", Treatment for the parasite is effective and costs only about $1.40 per hive according to Higes.

Hey you beekeepers out there, what do you think?

 

[V Chic Chick]

I don't keep bees, but I wonder if the solution would be to restock with Asian bees?

 

[peepsnbunnies]

I wonder if it can be used as a weapon against Africanized Bees (Killer Bees)?

 

[PurpleChicken]

Luna, thanks for posting this info. The shortage of bees is very scary. While the
media is turning everyones attention to global warming we may have a real
disaster right under our noses, and no one seems to care.

I'll reserve judgement on this research until more is done. I have barely seen
any bees this year, including honey bees, yellow jackets, bumblebees, and even
wasps and hornets. It's downright scary.

 

[pattycake]

That's very encouraging. I've been planning to get a couple of hives next spring, so that my garden will have pollinators and for honey, of course. If this whole issue is a $1.40 treatment, I feel better about investing in hives, etc.

I mean, I'll do it anyway, even with the risk of Colony Collapse Disorder. But if it's an easy fix, all the better.

 

[rachel]

From what I've read, the organic bees haven't really suffered. It's been the ones that get sprayed with all kinds of crap and stressed by traveling all over the country that have lowered immunity (due to the above mentioned reasons) that have become susceptible to the die-off.