Where have all the honey bees gone and how are our crops getting pollinated if bee colonies are collapsing all around us?
Turns out honey bees are doing just fine and farmers are doing a better job of protecting the hard working insects from neonicotinoid insecticides. But environmental activist can’t afford to give up the crusade.
I am extremely relieved to know the honey bee is doing just fine.
I hate to break it to you, but that article is a steaming pile of shit that fails on every level.
“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”
Silent Spring should have taught us all a lesson in emotional left wing, crazed environmental hoaxes, but people don’t suffer and die of malaria in the USA.
What?….You mean you don’t believe the Washington Post???
…only when it’s convenient, huh?
oh, wait….you’re ‘that guy’ 😉
Great…..now I’ll have Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ in my head all night….
As a bug man, I can tell you the bees are doing just fine around Dallas, at least. Hundreds and hundreds of bee colonies are killed each year on purpose. They reproduce quite well around these parts.
We in the bug biz would have seen a decline in bee calls over the years if they were dying off rapidly. They’re not.
Leaving them alone once they move into your structure is not an option if your allergy to them will kill you.
Capturing and removing them is expensive and time consuming. The amount of colonies that are captured are miniscule by comparison to the amount that are killed in homes.
My question to those who want to save them instead of them being killed – what would you do with hundreds of bee colonies every year? This would be a full time job for you to save and care for them, all the while hoping none of them are Africanized along the way.
Am no fan of GMO and believe it ought to be labeled. Wouldn’t surprise if the bees rejected those crops to pollinate with. “God’s bees”.
Does that mean supporting lower yields and higher costs?
That is a hard question to answer quickly.
-Hater of GMO’s.
I’m not sure how your experience with ubran and suburban wild and feral bee colonies is relevant to the issues large commercial bee keepers are having with pesticides used in large agribusiness farms….
Corn doesnt need bees to pollinate. Pollen on the tassles will fall on the silks and wha- la, little bitty baby kernels are born.
Top of that list would be that the bees are not dying off naturally. Which was the original claim. You could stop right there. That is relevant.
Secondly, If they’re short on bees, they can come get some. We have plenty. They’re not going anywhere.
Thirdly, If the farms use chemicals that keep killing them, then they’ll have to find another way to pollenise their crops or another chemical. You’re not going to make a bee that won’t die from pesticides. The beekeepers are not obligated to sacrifice their bees.
Fourthly, You use “wild and feral” like they are different from the bee colonies kept in an apiary. They are not.
You don’t appear to know as much as you think you do, but you sure do have a strong opinion about it.
No manual/mechanical shaking needed?
Wind.
Thanks.
I’m sure bees are doing fine. But locally where I live there are some bee keepers who will gladly come and get your rogue bee colony if you should happen to get one.
I had a colony come and attach itself to a front porch light. I called a bee keeper / honey seller that we knew and he came with a box and a smoker and got them all – free of charge. He was very appreciative.
I used to be the “bee’s knees”; then arthritis set in…
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