I Love Bees

[Laudate_Dominum]

[i]The mysterious 4-year-old crisis of disappearing honeybees is deepening. A quick federal survey indicates a heavy bee die-off this winter, while a new study shows honeybees' pollen and hives laden with pesticides....[/i]

[url="http://www.weather.com/outlook/agriculture/news/ap-bees-in-more-trouble-after-bad%20winter_2010-03-24"]Bees in More Trouble Than Ever After Bad Winter[/url]

[url="http://news.discovery.com/animals/honey-bees-disappearing-still-a-problem.html"]Discovery News Article[/url]

[url="http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572"]USDA: Colony Collapse Disorder[/url]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRBJf57aNp4"]60 Minutes: Part I[/url]
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RZv9BvQJ-A"]60 Minutes: Part II[/url]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIcIZdFRl9M"]Backyard Hive Vid[/url]

[Nihil Obstat]

Maybe it's because the crazies from the creationist diet programs are taking all the honey that they need to survive.

[God Conquers]

B E E S

Bees.

"Use in a sentence please"

"Bees deserve to die because they once stung me on the bum"

B E E S

Bees.

[jeffpugh]

Bees are awesome. Hey--didn't Budge say that the disappearance of bees meant the end times? lawl.

Seriously, though... we gotta do something! They're still muchly needed in our world! Honey is awesome!

[rhetoricfemme]

...

I'm covered in [i]BEES[/i]!!!

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Sacred Music Man' date='24 March 2010 - 03:23 PM' timestamp='1269458584' post='2079165']
Seriously, though... we gotta do something! They're still muchly needed in our world! Honey is awesome!
[/quote]
Honey isn't really the issue. It is farmers who hurt the most from this as about 1/3 of our food crops depend on bees for adequate pollination (well, bee farmers most of all). Even before Colony Collapse Disorder started they were trucking bee colonies from as far away as California to pollinate blueberries in Maine because there just weren't enough pollinators in nature to handle such large scale cultivation.

About Budge - I've heard apocalyptic claims associated with CCD as well but I wouldn't take it too seriously. I think the idea is that bees will spontaneously die off which will cripple our agricultural system and lead to social chaos, the death of many millions, and ultimately armageddon. That's not an entirely reasonable point of view in my opinion as I don't believe that the data warrants such conclusions by any means. Unless the USDA and others are downplaying the issues, but I've yet to see any evidence of that. Don't get me wrong, it is a serious thing, but I don't think there is danger of apocalyptic proportions just yet.

[Ephrem Augustine]

St. Rita of Cascia pray for us
[url="http://www.examiner.com/x-4101-Albuquerque-Catholic-Examiner~y2009m5d24-St-Ritas-bees"]St. Rita's Bees[/url]

[IcePrincessKRS]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' date='24 March 2010 - 04:52 PM' timestamp='1269460355' post='2079178']
Honey isn't really the issue. It is farmers who hurt the most from this as about 1/3 of our food crops depend on bees for adequate pollination (well, bee farmers most of all). Even before Colony Collapse Disorder started they were trucking bee colonies from as far away as California to pollinate blueberries in Maine because there just weren't enough pollinators in nature to handle such large scale cultivation.
[/quote]


I think it would be of great benefit to farmers if they just kept a hive or two on their property (not directly on a field, of course, because bees won't pollinate within about 50 yards of their hive since those plants would be contaminated by their feces). Unless you're harvesting honey they don't really take much work at all (close 'em up in the winter and re-open the hive in the spring).

[God Conquers]

I know a bee farmer. And his sons. One is now a bee farmer. The other is an awesome priest.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='God Conquers' date='24 March 2010 - 04:24 PM' timestamp='1269465884' post='2079289']
I know a bee farmer. And his sons. One is now a bee farmer. The other is an awesome priest.
[/quote]
Apparently Vatican City is covered in carved bees, because they were the family symbol of one of the older popes.

[God Conquers]

Not the VATICAN!!!!!!!???
[img]http://images.dailyfill.com/45ba051368a749a6_b20ba851ada668e1_o.jpg[/img]

[morostheos]

I help keep a few hives of bees, and I just finished my Beekeeping for Beginners class!!

One of our hives didn't survive the winter. But we are getting 4 new packages of bees in about a month, it's very exciting!!

[IcePrincessKRS]

[quote name='morostheos' date='24 March 2010 - 06:52 PM' timestamp='1269467533' post='2079317']
I help keep a few hives of bees, and I just finished my Beekeeping for Beginners class!!

One of our hives didn't survive the winter. But we are getting 4 new packages of bees in about a month, it's very exciting!!
[/quote]

I kept a hive for a year during HS. Mine died in the winter, too. I blame myself and the weather in equal parts. I was basically beekeeping on my own without parental guidance so I don't think I covered them properly. They survived through the winter till January when we got a really warm spell, they got active (you could hear them from outside the hive) and then we dropped to freezing temps again and they died. They made awesome rich, dark brown honey.

Someday when I have my own house I'd consider getting another hive.

[Ash Wednesday]

Poor little bees.

[marielapin]

I'd be interested in having a hive at some point as well. We eat a raw honey that is made just north of here and it is amazing and hope to keep supporting these local beekeepers. We still have honeybees visit our yard, and just started seeing some wood bees show up in the past few days.