Wild Bees Disapearing

[ka4dpo]

I have noticed that last few years that there are no honey bees around anywhere. It's kind of spooky that they seem to be gone and we don't know why. There are lot's of theories, like pesticides but hell, we have been using pesticides since the 1930's and I know DDT and Diazanon were a lot worse than what is used today. The disappearance really started to become noticeable around 2003 when my wife and I both noticed the flowers in our deck planters that had always been covered with bees seemed to be almost deserted.
The problem has continued to grow and this year I have not seen one single bee. So unless commercial bee keepers can maintain healthy hives we will lose our food supply. This is really serious and no one seems to have an answer.

I found this article that sounds like a smoking gun but then goes on to point out a lot of maybe's, and ifs. Evidently feeding east coast bee pollen to west coast bees makes them sick. Whoop de doo. Like that's going to happen in nature. Then they go back to the pesticide issue. I'm the first one to say that I don't like pesticides but the truth is that farmers use less today than years ago and by law they are not as broad spectrum or as potent. So what is really killing the bees?

[HUGH]

We bought some "wild flower" honey in California last spring to take home as a gift for the family who were keeping an eye on our house, closer examination of the label revealed that some of the contents came from Argentina.

One theory relates to the frequent moving of commercial hives to new territories to take advantage of the crops available. This has been carried out for many years but if you combine that with the apparent disorientation produced by some pesticides it could be that many bees simply get lost and die.

My honey bees produce so much honey that I can't easily lift the boxes and the wild bees this year are prolific with about 12 different types, some solitary, some tiny colonies. There are also other insects about, notably several species of "hover fly" which also make good pollinators.

[ka4dpo]

Well Hugh I don't know about the gypsy hives and bees getting lost but I live in an area that is predominantly rural. There have been, or at least there were, wild bees all over the area in years past. Not much of that land has been disturbed and much of it is federal reserve land that will never be disturbed and yet the bees have simply vanished from this area with no good explanation.

[HUGH]

Puzzling. Did you ever find out what, or where, the bees actually lived? Considering they're not supposed to normally forage more than 3 miles, pesticides or earthworks or change of crops can't be the explanation then.
One other variable is the climate, or weather, changing to provide less water or something else that plants and bees require.

[N8YX]

Bee mites have wiped out a large percentage of the area's honey bee population. There is a shit ton of clover bloom in my back yard and nary a bee to be found. Contrast that with years past when they were everywhere amongst the flowers.

ETA:

Did a walkaround of the front, side and back yards. Thousands of clover and wildflower blooms. No bees at all. Of any species.

[kb2vxa]

Veroa mites and brown hive beetles wiped out a lot of hives around New Jersey about 10 years ago. I haven't heard anything recently because I haven't been in touch with any beekeepers since then. That however can't be attributed to the widespread mass disappearance, it remains a mystery despite all attempts to find a cause. I haven't seen a bee in years, I have to look at a picture to remind me what they look like.

"Contrast that with years past when they were everywhere amongst the flowers."
You have clover, when I was a kid the huge back yard was a field of clover loaded with bees. I got stung too many times so I decided it wasn't a good idea to go barefoot. That reminds me, Barefoot In The Park was filmed at a time sane people wouldn't dare, not just the bees but doggie mines too. (;->)

[N8YX]

Did a 42mi bike ride this afternoon along towpath trails which are bordered by grasslands and meadows everywhere.

Saw one (1) honey bee about 13mi south of our trailhead, near the canal lock at Lock 4 Park in Canal Fulton. None anywhere else.

[ka4dpo]

The Virginia Beef company owns about 400 acres across the street from us. They grow feed corn and soybeans about every other year. Talking to one of the guys who runs the farming operation he said he is worried about the corn crop not getting pollinated. I didn't realize corn needed to be pollinated but I guess he knows what he's talking about. I'm wondering what's going to happen with vegetable and fruit yields if the bees continue to disappear, that could cause a serious problem. Anyway I still have not spotted a single bee.

[n2ize]

I have noticed that last few years that there are no honey bees around anywhere. It's kind of spooky that they seem to be gone and we don't know why. There are lot's of theories, like pesticides but hell, we have been using pesticides since the 1930's and I know DDT and Diazanon were a lot worse than what is used today. The disappearance really started to become noticeable around 2003 when my wife and I both noticed the flowers in our deck planters that had always been covered with bees seemed to be almost deserted.
The problem has continued to grow and this year I have not seen one single bee. So unless commercial bee keepers can maintain healthy hives we will lose our food supply. This is really serious and no one seems to have an answer.

I found this article that sounds like a smoking gun but then goes on to point out a lot of maybe's, and ifs. Evidently feeding east coast bee pollen to west coast bees makes them sick. Whoop de doo. Like that's going to happen in nature. Then they go back to the pesticide issue. I'm the first one to say that I don't like pesticides but the truth is that farmers use less today than years ago and by law they are not as broad spectrum or as potent. So what is really killing the bees?

Many scientists, i.e.,entomologists feel that it is a combinations of parasitic infection, i.e. mites and perhaps a virus. A lot of radicals are claiming is glyphosate pesticides but scientific research doesn't bear that out.

[W5BRM]

Monsanto.
GMO's
case solved.