1/3 of honeybee population died last winter..Is this true?

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Silverguns6

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I read part of a shared FB post that said that last winter 1/3 of the honeybees died off.
1- Is this true?
2- What is "at risk" if it is true?
3- Who has honey in the Prepper stockpile and why?

On another note, I heard that a NOAA station in Hawaii recently released data earlier this month which showed the Carbon Dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached 400.03 ppm.

Sing along now..ITEOTWAWKI[flame]

-Dave
 
I can't speak to 1/3 of the population but of the 4 people I know who have hives, all 4 lost them around the same time frame (Feb-March) and have concluded it was was caused by starvation. Appears they had plenty of food in Jan-Feb but then ate more than expected and passed by the end of March.

Fitz
 
It could be several factors that were involved. With the introduction of systemic pesticides, "varroa destructor" mites that arrived in 1987, and dozens of other harmful diseases, the bees are struggling for survival. I have heard of many cases where bees will starve during the winter with plenty of honey left in the hive. They use the honey (carbohydrates) during cold weather to heat themselves and particularly their brood. If it is cold enough, they will die with the brood before they can walk the few inches to take honey.

We are raising two hives this year, and while doing research it is apparent that everything is now against the bees. Varroa have played a significant role in their destruction because it has since destroyed all feral bees in the United States as soon as it arrived from China (Apis Cerena). Our hives are doing well so far, but we need to constantly check on them and apply treatments where necessary. Often a hive will be weakened by one thing (Varroa), and then be finished off by something else (disease, pests, starvation, moisture, etc)
 
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I watched a news story on how major US cultivators are reserving bee services 5 years in advance. These farmers in many cases have but one small window to achieve a fruitful harvest. When you lump weather, politics, the economy & now shrinking bee populations into the formula it could spell real trouble for the US food chain. Billions of dollars are on the line with food exportation & our own supply's.
 
My replies in Red

Silverguns6 said:
I read part of a shared FB post that said that last winter 1/3 of the honeybees died off.
1- Is this true? YES It's called "Hive collapse"<---Linky
2- What is "at risk" if it is true? Just the food supply of the entire planet.
3- Who has honey in the Prepper stockpile and why? The benefits of eating honey. <---another linky

On another note, I heard that a NOAA station in Hawaii recently released data earlier this month which showed the Carbon Dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached 400.03 ppm.

Sing along now..ITEOTWAWKI[flame]

-Dave
Click to expand...
 
We keep three hives but combined two of them last Fall as we felt neither was strong enough to make it through winter. Luckily, both made it through and have since been split into three again (just had our "inspection" last week). Last year, was a different story as we lost one and one was very weak come Spring. Not sure how many beekeepers we have on NES but for anyone interested, the Worcester County Beekeeper's upcoming event schedule is as follows:

Saturday June 8, 2013
Sturbridge Village Spectacular! Joint Meeting of Hampden & Worcester County Beekeepers

Time: 9:30am—5:30pm 9:30 am first admission 12noon lunch 1-2pm presentation 2pm hive opening 5:30pm OSV closes
Place: Old Sturbridge Village Sturbridge, MA
Speaker: Dr. Charlotte Zampini
Topic: Honey Bees and Nectar Plants
Cost: $25 per person (adult or child) includes all-you-can-eat dinner plus entrance into the Village for the day

Download Registration Form Here

Members will step back in time to the 1820s as they enter old Sturbridge Village at 9:30am. We will explore the village and its activities until 12pm. We will then enter the 1810 Oliver Wight Tavern where we will enjoy a Sturbridge Vil-lage colonial lunch (family style buffet) cooked by Worcester County’s own member chef, Brad Arcoite.

From 1-2pm, Dr. Charlotte Zampini, a professor from Fram-ingham University will present a visual presentation on the interaction of the honey bee and nectar bearing plants, as well as how bees convert nectar into honey. Dr. Zampini will ex-plain to us what conditions turn off and on nectar flows with-out notice. Old fashioned 1830s hives will be on display.

This will be followed by hive openings. Members are free to explore the Village until closing at 5:30pm.

Old Sturbridge Village Special

The member cost for the Sturbridge Village Meeting for the meal in the Oliver Wight Tavern and entrance into the Village is $25.00 per person. The club will be subsidizing the remainder of the cost of the meal and admission. We need to turn in a count by May 29th. Please fill out the enclosed form below and return it to Mike Standing, WCBA Treasurer at the address on the form. The old fashioned Sturbridge Village cooked family style buffet will consist of spinach salad with sliced apples, bleu cheese, caramelized pecans and warm bacon vinaigrette, fork mashed pota-toes, Colonial chicken pot pie, Yankee pot roast, grilled seasonal vegetables, apple squares, coffee and tea on table linens and china dinnerware. Join me in this historic tavern for a great meal and go back in time for the program! We need a minimum of 50. —Ken
=======================================================
Massachusetts Beekeepers’ Association Field Day June 22, 2013 UMass Agronomy Farm, River Road, South Deerfield, MA

Field Day is an opportunity to learn from experienced beekeepers the practical tasks of hive management.· Expert beekeepers·volunteer their time to share techniques on pest & disease management, Queen rearing, swarm prevention, and a variety of practical skills. It is an opportunity to learn and ask questions from some of our best state and New England beekeepers.

Look for details on Mass Bee web site at massbee.org WCBA will be sponsoring a bus to this event, departing from the Auburn Mall parking lot at 7am. Cost is $10 for the bus (lunch not included). Come join us for a wonderful event! We need 30 signups to make this work — use the form below.
======================================================
Saturday July 13, 2013
Date: Saturday July 13, 2013
Time: 11:30 a.m.
Place: Home of Scott Malkasian (see website for address)

Speaker: Scott Malkasian and Ken Warchol
Topics: Evaluating your hive at Midsummer Bee Smoker Contest Honeybee Trivia Contest

PLEASE BRING LAWN CHAIRS
This meeting starts off with our annual cookout sponsored by Scott Malkasian and Brian Faucher. They will provide the burgers, dogs, and drinks while members should bring a variety of salads and desserts to share (green, chef, potato, maca-roni salads or a summer dessert). We encourage everyone to attend this extravaganza. We will follow this with our WCBA smoker contest. We will then have a trivia contest where members will go to 20 stations to identify bee species, equip-ment, plants, antiques and honey varieties. There will also be an extraction demonstration for the new beekeepers. Don’t forget, the smoker champ gets a free Thanksgiving Banquet meal and bragging rights.

======================================================
Saturday August 17, 2013
Time: 1 p.m.
Place: Marty Linder’s 512 Central Turnpike Sutton, MA directions below

Topics: Preparing your hive for the long winter season: Fall Management the Ken Warchol Way

Please bring veils and gloves as needed, a folding chair and a snack to share if desired.

Come join us at the 149-acre estate where Ken keeps his bees! This program is a must for all new beekeepers in order to keep your hives alive through the winter months. Ken will demonstrate how to administer the needed medications and evaluate your hives for successful wintering. Topics to be covered are: the old queen versus the new queen, food stores and placement, pollen stores and manipulation of frames, feeding, medication versus integrated pest management and honey removal. This will be a valuable experience because of the hands-on demonstration. This is also the meeting at which we have a plant swap. Anybody who brings a plant will swap and take one home in return. This is also our annual meeting when club dues should be paid.

Directions to Marty Linder’s: Take 146 N or S to the Central Turnpike exit. Go approx. 3 miles toward Sutton and Oxford, to 4-way stop. Go approx. 250 yards to green house (#510) on right. Just after that, take long driveway that says “Private Road” and follow for approx. 1/4 mile to the house and barn. Watch for large WCBA sign.
 
Fitz said:
I can't speak to 1/3 of the population but of the 4 people I know who have hives, all 4 lost them around the same time frame (Feb-March) and have concluded it was was caused by starvation. Appears they had plenty of food in Jan-Feb but then ate more than expected and passed by the end of March.

Fitz
Click to expand...

Make that 6 people who lost hives - (I know two in addition to your 4)

Same thing - sometime in Feb/March
 
I lost my hive this year. Hoping for a swarm. THere are a lot of bees in my area though. I see them all over our trees.
 
I had three hives, two died in the winter. One was very weak and growing stronger but the ants hit it hard and wiped it out-too weak to defend itself. From what I am hearing-the mites now have viruses-some nasty ones. So the brutal winter, mites, and viruses were a death knell for the bees. Word is you need to treat bees for mites once in the spring and once in the fall-even if you don't see the mites.

Also the Italian Bees are not suited for warmer climates-cold wether bees seem to be doing a bit better. I am switching over to Russians after this years massacre.
 
Wow, so it really would be that bad if all the honey bees died off. I really didn't have any idea how crucial they are to our food supply. I would ask questions more but I will read what Twigg linked to me first.

Now the other thing..Super markets and farmers...Wouldn't farmers shop at farmers markets? Just like fleas shop at flea markets?
-Dave
 
While I appreciate that bees are mission critical to our own survival, I have to say, anybody that deliberately keeps thousands of critters in their backyard, that will each cheerfully give their life to stab you with a knife literally torn from body, injecting you with venom that they hope will kill you, is both insanely ballsy and also insane.


Sent from my chimney using smoke signals.
 
Silverguns6 said:
Wow, so it really would be that bad if all the honey bees died off. I really didn't have any idea how crucial they are to our food supply. I would ask questions more but I will read what Twigg linked to me first.

Now the other thing..Super markets and farmers...Wouldn't farmers shop at farmers markets? Just like fleas shop at flea markets?
-Dave
Click to expand...

If you get a chance, watch "vanishing of the bees". Its on netflix streaming. A good documentary about this subject.

sent it...from the galaxy s3
 
The stings are not so bad. You build up an immunity to them and then you dont even feel them anymore. Also there is a substance in the venom for some reason that prevents or mitigates artritus. Beekeepers rarely if ever get it. Besides, each hive has 60,000 bees. I keep three hives thats about 180,000 bees. Very gentle and if you don't aggravate them they are perfectly happy to do their thing. I even open the hives and they leave me alone. Start messing with the brood they get mad. But the easiest 180,000 pets I ever owned. Never need to walk them and they feed and clean up after themselves.
 
My wife just started two hives. She's lost two queens, but it looks like things are finally taking off. They're really awesome and very docile creatures. The neighbors are thrilled that we brought pollinators into the area. Lots of small gardens and flower beds in our dense neighborhood.

I've heard many bee keepers say that we're one bad winter off from a major food supply catastrophe.
 
I just started this year. Shook two packages into hives two weeks ago and the hives seem to be really taking off. Looking forward to seeing what they can do once the populations start building up.

On another note- how do the local keepers up here guard against the awful winter and the accompanying wind? We get a lot of wind on our lot and I think it could really negatively affect them in the winter time when it's bitter cold.
 
MAshooter1 said:
I just started this year. Shook two packages into hives two weeks ago and the hives seem to be really taking off. Looking forward to seeing what they can do once the populations start building up.

On another note- how do the local keepers up here guard against the awful winter and the accompanying wind? We get a lot of wind on our lot and I think it could really negatively affect them in the winter time when it's bitter cold.
Click to expand...

Cold normally doesnt kill bees, moisture does. First off you need to pick the best spot in your yard where there's a windbreaker, but with adequate air circulation. If you have no choice, I've heard of people using hay bales to break the wind.
 
Twigg said:
I could say something about Monsanto and it's alleged "super bee", but It'd be more fun if some of you did your own research.
Click to expand...

Tracker Jackers!

We're not allowed to speak badly about Monsanto, right? Or maybe that was just on the other thread. [wink]

Anyway, my wife is slowly turning our small yard entirely into a garden. Seems like a good plan to me.
 
Gidge said:
Honey Bees and Chemtrails [tinfoil]

Chemtrails, HAARP, Earthquakes and The Honey Bee | Ahrcanum
Click to expand...

Right on cue, Thanks !

Be cautious what you lump in with junk science and by the way, you link actually supports the discussion here about the bees.
Another poster stated he was ignorant on this and that he needed to read (and learn) more. You might try reading the articles you link to if you wish to ridicule someone otherwise you simply broadcast your own willfull ignporance.

Just the start.<--- Alright, that'a Europe but there's similar legeslation in process right here.
 
Twigg said:
Right on cue, Thanks !

Be cautious what you lump in with junk science and by the way, you link actually supports the discussion here about the bees.
Another poster stated he was ignorant on this and that he needed to read (and learn) more. You might try reading the articles you link to if you wish to ridicule someone otherwise you simply broadcast your own willfull ignporance.

Just the start.<--- Alright, that'a Europe but there's similar legeslation in process right here.
Click to expand...

Easy does it killer !

I believe chemtrails are real (one would have to be blind to disagree) and I love honeybees, as they are essential to life as we know it.

I guess your reaction is to the tinfoil icon -- I always tack that on whenever I link to conspiracy sites, as there are some things on these sites I do not agree with...

and, it has the added benefit of tweaking super serious folks like yourself [laugh]
 
If there are any bee keepers in the middleboro area, I have a proposition for you!

My father has a large Blueberry patch that was planted by an association trying to determine the best growing blueberries in the area so they planted all different blueberry plants from around the world there. The last 2 years the harvest has been next to Nill. We believe its a two fold problem one is lack of bee's and the other was frost/weather.

My father is willing to purchase a hive but needs someone to tend it or at least get us off the ground showing us how to care for it for a season. You get to keep all the honey and it should take on the blueberry flavor which i hear is quite desirable. If anyone is interested please PM me, it is near the rock village area of middleboro.. If you have other suggestions on how to make it a fair deal we are open to offers!!! Please help!
 

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