If you use pesticides and DE read...Bee news!

[MissPrissy]

Quote:
DE is fossil shell flour - the fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae.. It is not volcanic rock. It works like a razor blade and cuts the exoskeleton of these tiny critters and they bleed out and die without the use of a chemical poisoning.

I do use it in my hen house. I use it to keep down the flies on my goats and around areas of the barn.

I have honeybees this year and I do keep it contained as much as I can.

Please do not confuse this food grade DE with the chemically altered pool filtering substances and some pesticide additives.

 

[chickenannie]

Thanks for the correction Miss Prissy. I was trying to remember back to my gardening class and it was quite a few years ago!

 

[kodiakchicken]

I haven't read the bee link and haven't done any DE research yet, but here's a question. If DE acts like tiny razor blades that cut through the exoskeleton of insects, what does it do to the lungs of birds and mammals that breath it?

 

[kodiakchicken]

Okay, answered my own question with a little Googling. DE can be very harmful to the lungs of humans and other animals. Here's a snippet of what I found.

"The major drawback to DE is that it can cause lung problems if accidently inhaled. The silicon reaches our lungs and scrubs away, causing bleeding and cysts. This is especially true in asthmatic people. Since the powder is so finely ground, chances of accidently inhaling it are fairly high, especially if used on a carpet and vacuumed up with a vacuum that blows out a lot of air, or if applied to the fur outside with a wind blowing. Masks for the animal and the human using it are MANDATORY."

Found it at this link: http://www.critterchat.net/diearth.htm

I have asthma so this sort of thing is of high concern to folks like me.

 

[MissPrissy]

DE with silica is not food grade.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Yes, using DE around bees can be harmful. That's why being SMART about how and where you use it is essential. It is very beneficial if used CORRECTLY! I don't know why any person with half a brain would go sprinkle it around their flowers anyways! I truly think we need to be more concerned with all of the cell towers and the damage they are causing to the honey bee population, more so than the use of food grade DE.

With that note, I also want to point out that I am in no way down playing GwenFarms plea, so to speak, to help the honey bee population. It is a very serious threat to our planet. Please do the best you can to preserve these essential creatures when treating your outdoor areas for unwanted pests.

 

[chickenannie]

How are cell towers damaging honeybees? Just curious, I never heard that one before.

 

[NYREDS]

Scientists link fungus to mysterious Honeybee deaths
by Shubha Krishnappa - April 27, 2007 - 0 comments

Scientists from University of California, San Francisco announced Wednesday that they have identified a parasitic fungus and a virus as two potential causes of the widespread death of honeybee colonies in the US and Europe.

Mysterious honeybee deaths, a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD, were previously linked to cell phone towers and radio waves by some scientists, but researchers in California yesterday said that a fungus that caused widespread loss of honeybee colonies in Europe and Asia is playing the crucial role in the sudden deaths of the buzzing insects in the United States.

Tests of genetic material taken from a "collapsed colony" in Northern California's Merced County found genes of the single-celled parasite called Nosema ceranae, a once-rare microbe that previously affected only Asian bees but might have evolved into a strain deadly to those in Europe and the United States, said Joe DeRisi, a biochemist at the University of California, San Francisco.

To perform the tests, DeRisi, who also found the SARS virus in 2003, used a technique known as "shotgun sequencing," that allows rapid reading of a genetic code and then compares it with computerized libraries of known genes from thousands of germs. It is the same approach that has been used to read the genomes, or the genetic code, of creatures ranging from bacteria to human beings.

Although the new findings represent the first solid evidence pointing to a potential cause of the disorder, but DeRisi says the results are "highly preliminary" and based on only a few hives. "We don't want to give anybody the impression that this thing has been solved."

However, some other researchers from around the country said Wednesday that Nosema ceranae has shown up in their hives as well. Researchers have also found two other fungi and a number of viruses in the dead bees from collapsed hives.

Nosema ceranae is "one of many pathogens" in the bees, according to entomologist Diana Cox-Foster of Pennsylvania State University, who was one of the organizers of a meeting in Washington this week at which about 60 bee researchers discussed Colony Collapse Disorder.

"By itself, it is probably not the culprit ... but it may be one of the key players," Cox-Foster said. "We still haven't ruled out other factors, such as pesticides or inadequate food resources following a drought," she added.

The mysterious phenomenon was first noticed last year in October in the United States when beekeepers started releasing their insects near crops to pollinate plants. It spread rapidly, with beekeepers reporting heavy losses of between 30% and 90% of buzzing insects. Some 24 American states have now reported cases of colony collapse disorder. Then speculation arose that the honey bees had been lost to global warming or insecticide poisoning.

As per the estimates of the Apiary Inspectors of America, a national group that tracks beekeeping, more than a quarter of the country's 2.4 million bee colonies have been lost since fall.

Contrary to speculation, scientists’ latest hypothesis is that the bees may have been affected by a fungus. However, DeRisi agrees that more tests are needed to prove or disprove the parasite's role.

"In our results, the control bees did not have it, and the sick ones were loaded with the stuff," he said. "It is going to take a lot of time to figure out."

Honeybee or Apis mellifera is the most important pollinator for agricultural purposes. A colony of honeybees consists of a queen, several thousand workers, and, in certain seasons, a few hundred drones. A queen can lay as many as 2,000 eggs in a single day. In her four to five years of life she produces about two million eggs. More than 80,000 bees can live in a single colony.

 

[peruvian_princess]

I am so glad you posted that! I was watching a special on that on PBS. Great stuff. As for the food grade DE I dont think honey bees are attracted to chicken poop. In my coupe and run there are no flowers only chicken poop and hay. I move the run and coupe once a year but the grass only lasts a week if that long.

 

[chickenannie]

I like the way you spell chicken "coupe"