New Article: Earth Life Threats - Alarming Disappearance of Honey Bees

[errollo]

I won't presume to speak for Ken [...] If the continuing losses persist at the rate seen in 2006-2008, you will see the number of hives drop at some point.

This raises more questions, but you're right it's not fair to ask you to speak for him. Mr. Schramm has earned the respect of a lot of people (including me!), but hearing second hand about qualitative, anecdotal information just isn't convincing - even from him.

 

[andrewschwab]

Ok I will speak on the beekeeping side of this

Splitting hives, I believe most if not all beekeepers will split hives most years. The process involved is taking a few frames (2-5) of bees and brood. These are taken away from the parent hive. Set off somewhere else and given a new queen. If all things go well you have a new(small) hive. NOW, most beekeepers will split the STRONG hives for 2 reasons. 1. They will replace hives that died during winter etc.. 2. Strong hives need to be split by the beekeeper OR the hive will do it on its own (swarm).
Beekeepers prefer to make the split on there own, that way they can control timing and the amount of bees removed.
Splits like this are good, and don't effect productiion of either hive.

BUT if you had heavy losses (bee die off) in your apiary then you start to split EVERYONE, this hurts. Hives will not be up to the number of bees needed to make good honey crops. You can only recover so many losses in a given year. If you have lost so many that you really can't split your own then you have to purchase bees or packages this cost big $$$$ as anyone who has purchased bees knows.

OK here is the latest report from the bee mags:
Most have heard about the almonds in CA, and the HUGE number of hives needed for them. GUESS what happen this year, yet another perfect storm to kick beekeepers in the head.
The beekeepers have been following what is recommended to get there hive healthy, feeding heavy in the fall, treating(or checking) for mites, treating for nosema(both kinds), and lots of pollen substitute in the fall. The beekeepers did it hives are looking better there where more bees in CA this year then in past. But Ooooooooo here comes the storm. NO WATER!!!!!! Sure most have heard about the water shortage in CA. Almonds need water, and lots of it. So the farmers cancel contracts or just didn't get bees this year. They will let the orchard sit. The cost of nuts is also down. So needless to say there where alot of bees that made the trip out and didn't get to see that lovely almond bloom,

Hope this kinda answers your question.maybe

 

[errollo]

Thanks Andrew - that really does help.

I can only imagine how frustrating it was to be lectured on how to keep your bees, follow all the advice, then get hit with that drought.

 

[epetkus]

...
The beekeepers have been following what is recommended to get there hive healthy, feeding heavy in the fall, treating(or checking) for mites, treating for nosema(both kinds), and lots of pollen substitute in the fall. ...
Hope this kinda answers your question.maybe

First, I AM NOT a beekeeper, bee expert nor claim to be. I just wanted to pass along some comments I got from an Apiary down in Ft. Pierce, FL.

When I asked them about CCD and what impacts it has had on their hives, their response surprised me; they haven't lost any hives to CCD. They did lose over 500 hives during the hurricanes several years back, but none due to CCD. When I questioned them why, what are they doing differently, their response was they didn't know for sure, but one reason may be that they allowed the bees to keep (feed on) the honey they produced over the winter. They stated that many apiaries feed the bees a sugar water mixture during the winter versus the bees own honey, and that maybe there was more natural nutrients/immune system boosting in the bees own honey.

Eric

 

[andrewschwab]

Yep that is correct, alot of apiary's are pulling the honey supers off earlier and letting the bees store more honey in the later summer. Which all agree is better.

 

[Kee]

Andrewschwab, thank you. That was both educational and insightful.

 

[Medsen Fey]

I saw this news article which says the losses of bees over the winter were somewhat less this year, but were still nearly 30%. There doesn't seem to be too much good news on the CCD front.

And it can only mean honey prices aren't coming down anytime soon.

 

[shunoshi]

I saw this news article which says the losses of bees over the winter were somewhat less this year, but were still nearly 30%. There doesn't seem to be too much good news on the CCD front.

And it can only mean honey prices aren't coming down anytime soon.

That could be viewed as "better news than last year", but overall that is a horrible number. The article said it best:

The ones who I talk to are just beside themselves. If you are a small business person how many years of 30 percent losses can you take?

I feel bad for both hobbyist and commercial apiaries.

 

[Medsen Fey]

Of course, I don't really know what a good number ought to be. What were the expected annual percentage losses prior to the CCD problem?

 

[shunoshi]

A report here says that annual losses since 1990 have been on average of 17%-20%. 30% doesn't seem like such a horrible number in comparison, but a 10%-13% decrease in populations is still bad.

The report has some interesting statistics in it. Dated 5/28/08, so it doesn't include this year's numbers, but interesting nonetheless.

 

[Poobah58]

Have you guys seen this article about a possible cure?

 

[andrewschwab]

10% or less used to be the norm for losses. It keeps creeping up

The "cure" article is junk. Someone got there name published. This was a yard that had nosema, they treated for it and it got better. It was not ccd. There are some very odd and pointed things when ccd happens.

The bees are all "queen right" brood in the comb at all stages, pollen stored and feed. Then number of bees start to drop with no sign of dead bees in or around the hive. Until there is a queen and handfull of bees left.
Here is the kicker, after the hive dies no other bugs will touch it for weeks.

Other bugs love empty bee hives, honey, pollen all in one stop shop.