News:

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon Link

Main Menu

Bees (for Ken)

Started by Woolly Bugger, April 11, 2019, 10:54:21 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 5 Guests are viewing this topic.

Woolly Bugger

ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Onslow

Most industrial scale ag activities adversely affect soil, water, and insects.

I've toured apple tree operations in Ohio that applied pesticide to apple trees when in full bloom.  This shit should be illegal. 

There is a reason why 40% of the food I consume is grown in my back yard.

Mudwall Gatewood 3.0

Quote from: Onslow on January 10, 2020, 05:46:31 AMMost industrial scale ag activities adversely affect soil, water, and insects.

I've toured apple tree operations in Ohio that applied pesticide to apple trees when in full bloom.  This shit should be illegal. 

There is a reason why 40% of the food I consume is grown in my back yard.

Yes!!!!

"Almond Milk Is Even More Evil Than You Thought"

And the headline and bossman's preface ("Vegans almond milk bad for bees!") are so disingenuous.  Who out there, ever alleged almond milk was evil, and more than they thought?  It ain't the almond milk that is evil or bad for bees; the pesticides, the dormancy shortening, the H2O consumption, and associated sapiens are the wicked.
 
This sort of news jolts the hell out of me.  We best get our heads out of our asses.
"Enjoy every sandwich."  Warren Zevon

driver

Quote from: Mudwall Gatewood 3.0 on January 10, 2020, 09:08:50 AMassociated sapiens are the wicked.

I think this is the cause of 99% of all of it.

troutrus

"Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees". J. Mitchell 1970

 Silent Spring - R Carson 1962

"Not enough people give a shit in a nation that measures greatness in terms of stock quotes."
troutrus - 2020

Dee-Vo

Quote from: driver on January 10, 2020, 21:14:28 PM
Quote from: Mudwall Gatewood 3.0 on January 10, 2020, 09:08:50 AMassociated sapiens are the wicked.

I think this is the cause of 99% of all of it.

You beat me to it.


Quote from: troutrus on January 11, 2020, 10:52:46 AM"Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees". J. Mitchell 1970

 Silent Spring - R Carson 1962

"Not enough people give a shit in a nation that measures greatness in terms of stock quotes."
troutrus - 2020


I've got that on my to-read list.

Onslow

This year is effed up.  Red maples are blooming, and my bees are working like it's March.  Once the brood rearing starts in earnest, workers will do everything to keep the brood warm when it is cold.  However, if it turns cold for a long time, they will simply starve.  My bees were rearing brood in high numbers in Feb of 2018.  Winter returned in March, and casualties ensued.  I fear what is to come in February.

I've resided in the SE for 40 years, and never have seen red maples bloom this early....not even close.

Woolly Bugger

ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Woolly Bugger

ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Onslow

I'm pleased to have observed one of the most proper maple bloom honey flow in years thanks to a very normal and stable Winter. .  No rain on the flowering party, and what a climax.  No premature ejaculation here! 

I hope to crack open the hives for the first time this year over the weekend. Hoping to see the brood nest wrapped around with fresh nectar.

Onslow

#25

This season has started off with a bang.  The stronger hives have accrued a surplus of about 15 pounds of nectar/finished honey from the last two weeks of maple blooming. This is great since the hives typically have fairly low worker numbers this time of year.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


This is mostly straight nectar drying, and some old honey located on this frame.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


The gold colored cappings are capped brood.  The surrounding areas that look lighter are open larvae, and the bulging cells are old drown cells.  This particular frame is kinda ragged.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login



One of the hives in Dobson already has a super full of honey.  I'm loading up the hives with supers already with much anticipation.


[center


Woolly Bugger

Study Shows American Honey Has Traces of Radioactivity From Nuclear Bomb Testing

>>>According to a study conducted by Nature Communications, traces of radioactive chemicals from nuclear tests in the 1950s and 1960s can be found in American honey. The samples collected came from over 100 hives and soil samples all across the Eastern United States. The radioactive isotope identified in the honey, cesium-137, is considered to be at unharmful levels and was found in 68 of the 122 samples used.

https://www.complex.com/life/american-honey-traces-radioactivity-nuclear-bomb-testing
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Woolly Bugger


Current Chernobyl-Level Radiation Harmful to Bees: Study

>>>Bumblebees exposed to levels of radiation found within the Chernobyl exclusion zone suffered a "significant" drop in reproduction, in new research published Wednesday that scientists say should prompt a rethink of international calculations of nuclear environmental risk.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, set out to discover how ionizing radiation affects insects, which are often thought to be more resilient than other species.

Researchers in Scotland and Germany exposed bee colonies in a laboratory setting to a range of radiation levels found in areas of the exclusion zone around the ruined Chernobyl site, where a reactor exploded in 1986 in the world's worst nuclear disaster.

They found that colony reproduction reduced by 30–45% at doses previously considered too low to impact insects.



https://www.courthousenews.com/current-chernobyl-level-radiation-harmful-to-bees-study/
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!


Onslow

I'm a third generation beekeeper, and I started in 2002. My wife had relatives that were large scale beekeepers in the 60s-90s.  I experienced colony collapse first hand.  I've divorced myself from the beekeeping scene, and currently do no know if CCD is a thing.  It isn't for me, and hasn't been since maybe 2006. I quit all treatments cold turkey.  If mites could adapt in 2 years, the bees could adapt quickly as well.

The initial wave of CCD occurred in September-October. Peak varroa mite loads peak in most areas around August if one is running Italian bees, and of course this depends on where one lives. This points to mites, disease, and yes, poison.  Beekeepers of that era were putting all kinds of things in their hives to try to kill the varroa, but this mite would adapt in a matter of a couple years to most treatments, and keep trucking. Some of the poisons used were not authorized for use on bees.  While CCD was incredibly freakish, I believe it was self inflicted by the industry due to poor management, and the lack of understanding of the mites, and how problematic they were.  During 2005, beekeepers were breeding virulent mites, and crappy bees designed for industry, and not nature.

If neonicotinoids are the primary driver of declines, why then is CCD no longer an issue?  Yes, beekeepers have bad years, but this is mostly due to bad bee breeding, starvation, and weather.  Weather is a HUGE deal, especially in the Winter. Wacky Winter weather kills bees.

I have multiple bee yards, and the most productive, and the one with the highest rate of survival is located in heavy ag country. There is a mix of pasture, ~30 percent/forest ~15 percent/~55 percent no till round up ready fields.  The bees where no farming takes place has the worst survival record.  These facts speak for themselves.

Some key relevant factors

1. The non farming bee yard location has limited Dutch clover, and very little area for Winter weeds to grow.  This means there is near zero pollen available in the Winter for late Winter buildup.  This also means the nectar flow is fragmented after the Poplar bloom. There is also stiff competition for forage from native bumble bees.

2. As for bee yard in ag country, the no till fields become populated with chickweed, dead nettle, and gill flower, some of which blooms most of the Winter on south slopes.  The bees located at the farming area can be seen carrying pollen every day it is warm enough to fly. The pastures are full of Dutch Clover.  This provides a very reliable source of nectar all Summer except for periods of exceptional drought.

3. Forage and weather are everything. Overarching poor forage will result in starved out colonies. Wacky Winter weather can trigger activities that compromise honey stores, and cause starvation.

4. Some of the brutally cold Winters experienced around 2016-2017 caused massive bee mortality. Lost many hives due to them no able to break cluster to eat.  They starved with honey an inch away from the cluster.

The observations above are Surry County specific. When travelling in the mid west, one will encounter expansive fields with little forage for bees, e.g., rice fields in Missouri. There is no way any insect or bird can survive in the mid west farm country, or where mega orchard operations spray trees when in full bloom. Yes, neonicotinoids are used in ag heavy areas, but the loss of bees and birds I believe this is correlation, not causation.

Farmers in America are a sacred cow because they are important. It is easier to boogey man the pesticide, but the party of fault is mostly the American public.

Solutions?  Perhaps the American public should start growing more of what they eat, and a yard be damned. The reliance on industry to provide us with every food item places unsustainable demands on the environment.  Flora diversity is a huge deal.  Every yard should have a bed of either Milkweed, or butterfly weed. Dutch clover in lieu of grass helps bees. Every yard in the SE should have Echinacea, Sunflower, zinnias, and other flowers that make seeds for birds to eat. Bumble bees adore blueberries.  Where azaleas grow, so will blueberries.  Yank those worthless azaleas out, and plant blueberries, and plant enough to share with the birds.