Have You Seen Any Honey Bees?

[chickenfeathers]

This is *major* news...we need them for our food supply!!

I haven't seen any on our property. There should be hundreds of them.

Has anyone seen them?

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/26/business/bees.php

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

They are few and far between here.

Lisa

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

We usually have many honey bees that love to pollinate our blackberries not far from our garden but we haven’t seen them as of yet, we do get the jumbo bees that are still pollinating. I feel that it is because of the overuse of pesticides?

 

[Duck-Madx]

I've seen a couple actually, one came in our house from the garden yesterday.
But i admit not as many as previous years.

 

[momof3]

You know I've only seen one. We have a wild plum tree in full bloom. Usually it is covered with bees but I haven't seen them.

 

[chickbea]

It's a bit early still yet for us to be seeing them, but there was just an article in the paper yesterday about the beekeepers seeing all sorts of horrible warning signs of massive disappearances.

 

[robbobbin]

I think it's a bit early here in central Indiana as well, but I'll start watching for them on our fruit trees. I'm highly allergic, so usually stay afar. When I was a child my step dad raised bees for honey yum! I still love fresh honey and consider raising some myself.
I did read somewhere online last year, that our honey bees were at danger, and disappearing fast.

 

[hencackle]

The May 2007 issue of AcresUSA has a 2 page article, Colony Collapse Disorder: Do We Harvest What We Sow?.
Since I don't have beehives and aren't familiar with beekeeping methods, I did read find 2 points in the article very interesting.
1) using corn syrup to feed the colony and remove all the honey instead of
taking the surplus;
2) using plastic foundations to build honeycomb.

Using corn syrup isn't the normal food for honeybees and affects their metabolism adversely; plastics leach estrogen-like compounds. Sounds like factory-farming extends to beekeeping as well.
I think I remember glancing over an article about cell towers putting out frequencies that affect the bees' dance....Did anybody else see it?
Stephanie

PS Tractor Supply carries AcresUSA magazine.

 

[MarkR]

I have a hive that's doing really well right now. So I've seen a lot of them lately. I'm also seeing a lot of bumble bees and carpenter bees around as well.

For the most part, it's only the big bee operations (pollinators) that use corn syrup and plastic foundation. Most hobby beekeepers and small operations use wooden frames with wax foundations, and feed sugar water (only before the big spring nectar flow, and in the fall to help build stores for winter). If corn syrup and plastic were to blame (believe me I'd like to), I would think, it would be limited to the big operations, though it's not. Also, there are a number of hobby beekeepers that use these products and aren't experiencing the problem.

This does seem to happen in 20-40 year cycles. It was once called Disappearing Disease. In other words, it may not be anything that unusual, only time will tell.

It also could be tied to a fungus or bacteria transported by varroa mites. The mites are much less of a problem they were a few years back, but if they're the carriers of something, we may have a problem. Scientists are even looking at whether cell phone transmissions have anything to do with it. Personally, I think we haven't even gotten close yet. Let's wait and see what's discovered in a few more months.

It would certainly help if people stopped using excess pesticides (another possible explanation, and perhaps the best), and find more natural methods of controlling pests. But we don't need to have an all out panic attack about it just yet.

Mark

 

[bayouchica]

I live in a very wooded area of Louisiana.no problem so far here.I know of atleast 4 honey bee colonies in the woods by our house.Lots of carpenter bees.
I don't think Louisiana is having the problem like other states so far.
I really enjoy to watch the bees come for water out of our birdbaths.

Miriam