Honeybees?
Has anybody seen any honeybees around here lately? For the life of me I can't remember seeing even one in at least the last month or two.
What got me to thinking about it was my one zucchini plant doesn't have any fruit yet. By now they should have some. I was wondering why and then wondered if maybe there weren't bees around to pollinate them? I haven't seen any, so far, and Connie doesn't recall seeing any, either.
Anyone else?
posted by Fred Mangels @ 4:40 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
I saw a honeybee in McKinleyville last year. Just one.
Saw one in the backyard this afternoon. Plus bumblebees as well.
Perhaps we have some honeybee experts who can weigh in here?
Yes, the honeybees are disappearing-- at a frightening rate-- and no one is quite sure as to the reason why. What you're seeing is both a symptom and a problem of what's happening right now on a larger scale.
There are companies currently that are renting bees out to desperate farmers. You call, pay, and they arrive with their semis and flatbeds unloading the bees and hives during the flowering season, leaving them there for a few days or weeks. They come and pick them up to deliver onto the next location. It's a big business in the US now.
For a long time bee keepers were keeping their continuous hive losses to themselves because of embarrassment they were doing something wrong. We now know that isn't the case. The problem has reached an epic turning point: we're losing 30% of our bees and hives yearly. 30% is big.
The situation is growing critical. The only reason we haven't had a complete collapse is beekeepers have been splitting their hives, keeping bee populations from failing altogether, Fred.
At first we thought that CCD--Colony Collapse Disorder-- was due to mites; specifically, the Varroa mite. That has now been discounted as the reason for CCD, but still remains a source for concern. No one knows or is entirely sure what's causing CCD. One possible correlation is CCD only occurs where there is mono crop agriculture and pesticide use. Areas and countries free of monocropping and pesticide use have no CCD indications.
One national-beekeeper-head-honcho expert advised in a recent article addressing the subject is due to the collapsing honeybee population, hives should continue to be split. He strongly advised everyone, all of us, having at least 1 beehive. He reasoned it's better to have 60,000 people keeping a hive than one beekeeper having 60,000 of them. He maintained the honeybee problem is now reaching a critical turning point requiring this kind of serious response.
Fred, it's time to get a hive of honeybees. Now. Humboldt has a beekeeping association; perhaps they have folks who'll gladly put a hive on your (our) properties making bee keeping, tending, and the expense much easier.
Maybe the future of our world depends on it.
it's time to get a hive of honeybees..
Interesting idea and something I've never considered.
Some years ago we had a bee hive swarming in our back yard. It was on a trellis not far from the back door. They just showed up one day and Connie saw it first. They didn't bother us. It was just a big blob of bees hanging from the trellis. We called some bee guy that came and took it to start another hive.
Maybe we should have left them and let them do their thing?
The honeybees are obama voters and members of seiu. they have decided as a group that it is easier and more profitable for them to not work and instead to receive "investment" and "social justice" checks from the federal government. They are buzzing around the local 215 clinic and are pollinating their plants for free bud. due to federal government subsidies the bees make more by not producing honey and live in section 8 hives while watching big screen tvs. they are also planning a protest at winco for their friends that are unjustly imprisoned in the honey bins near the deli.
Fred can't legally have bees because the City of Eureka prohibits bees within 200 feet of any residence. Time for the City to rethink this one.
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