You're the beekeepers; am I missing something?

[AgentMulder]

For the last year I've been reading about CCD. A lot of articles seem to quote the same statistics so much I think they're actually cut/pasting. So roughly 35% of US commercial pollinating honey bees dissappeared last year, right? And It increased this season, right? And they pollinate our food, right? And there's no sign of any turnaround in the population decline, right?

Well then aren't we talking about SERIOUS food shortages then? This seems to be a problem that is much more in our immediate future than the melting of the polar ice caps or California being submerged under water. Sure, news reports on it, but it's usually no more than a 3 minute report, yet entire news specials, magazines and congressional hearings are centered around global warming. Seems this CCD thing is even bigger. Of all the reasons I hear about food price increases (biofuels, poor harvests...), no one ever mentions that not as much food can be grown unless we have more bees. But no one here seems really panicked. Shouldn't we be?

[JP]

Where are you located? Please update your profile, thanks.
And we are not panicked here on this site because our bees are doing fine.

CCD is very disturbing nonetheless, and I agree it should be getting lots more press.

Try not to panick, that doesn't accomplish anything, have you hugged your bees today?


...JP

[Keith13]

Come on Agent Mulder Do as your name suggest search the Truth is out there, but you will not find it in the MSM CCD is real but has been blown way out of proportion by the news media its what they do.

[Jerrymac]

Didn't you post this in the CCD section?

[MrILoveTheAnts]

Bees reproduce by devision of hives, budding, or swarming; call it what you will. The surviving 65% of hives will attempt to double in number each spring. Not all survive but on a good year a lot do, and it's up to beekeepers like us to obtain the swarms when they occur.

Feral hives, hives not managed by beekeepers, are supposidly uncommon but they certainly are out there. Because no one manages them or knows they're there I don't think they're included in the figure of hive losses.

Also, we have about 4,500 species of native bees that do great in the absence of honey bees. But they can only live where environments are good and a steady stream of blooming plants are present all year. Farms next to undisturbed forest land, untiled sand areas, and stock piles of dead wood, will still get pollination weather they want it or not.

[beemaster]

I was just going to say that Jerry - PLEASE DO NOT POST THE SAME MESSAGES UNDER DIFFERENT TITLES OR FORUMS. I'll MERGE these two, but 1)please add your location to your profile and 2 don't multipost topics, please. Welcome aboard.

People with names like AGENTMULDER usually catch my attention, especially if they multipost, it looks Mulder to members as if you are a spammer or something - just FYI. Enjoy the forums.

[Scadsobees]

Hmmm....maybe 30% of our food needs to be pollinated, and of that 30% there are still lots of native pollinators.  We just wouldn't have as many almonds, and our fruit would be smaller.

Panic can cause such problems.

Lets go over what we know...big operators feed their bees corn syrup and fake pollen to build them up really fast so that there are enough bees to pollinate (try eating just twinkies for a week!).  Bees are moving all over the world, from Israel to Australia to USA, picking up ??? on the way.  Then the bees from all over the USA are moved to and stuck togather in huge holding beeyards in california.

Then we are surprised when stuff starts happening?

Really...we can build new hives and split faster than they are dying off.  It just costs more money and will probably put some beekeepers out of business if it happens too much which is bad.  But in reality there is and probably will always be enough honeybees to pollinate.

It will be great when (and if) they figure out what is going on and can solve it.  But in the meantime the sky has been falling for many years in so many ways but I haven't been hit by a star yet.

rick

[HAB]

Hmmm....maybe 30% of our food needs to be pollinated, and of that 30% there are still lots of native pollinators.  We just wouldn't have as many almonds, and our fruit would be smaller.

Panic can cause such problems.

Lets go over what we know...big operators feed their bees corn syrup and fake pollen to build them up really fast so that there are enough bees to pollinate (try eating just twinkies for a week!).  Bees are moving all over the world, from Israel to Australia to USA, picking up ??? on the way.  Then the bees from all over the USA are moved to and stuck togather in huge holding beeyards in california.

Then we are surprised when stuff starts happening?

Really...we can build new hives and split faster than they are dying off.  It just costs more money and will probably put some beekeepers out of business if it happens too much which is bad.  But in reality there is and probably will always be enough honeybees to pollinate.

It will be great when (and if) they figure out what is going on and can solve it.  But in the meantime the sky has been falling for many years in so many ways but I haven't been hit by a star yet.

rick

That rings so very true. :)

[AgentMulder]

Sorry; I initially posted this in the CCD forum.  But I then figured there might not be as much traffic there so a meaningful reply would take longer.  I'm not a very patient person.

I'm certainly not condoning panic.  I'm just surprised there isn't more.  Seems ever since "An Inconvenient Truth" came out, any story that has something to do with the ecology and human survival becomes the cause du jour and I'm just surprised this doesn't get more than it does.

Now then;

"Come on Agent Mulder Do as your name suggest search the Truth is out there, but you will not find it in the MSM CCD is real but has been blown way out of proportion by the news media its what they do"

First off; I think my contention here was that it's not reported enough.  Second; what do you have to back up this assertion?  I've heard it a time or two from some other beekeepers online.  But when they say "Threat to the food supply", maybe it's just me but that's like saying that being strangled is a 'threat to your air supply'.  Maybe it's just me reading too much into it.  But I figured my logic was sound.

I'm in Idaho by the way.

[JP]

Yep, a potato head! ;)

Sorry, you just have rubbed us all the wrong way with your double posts and panic attacks, and quite honestly you seemed like a sh$*stirrer, if you are legitamate, that's cool, welcome to the forums.


...JP

[AgentMulder]

Legitimate?  Well, I'm not a beekeeper.

I was trying to prevent a panic attack.  I figured that there must be some other mechanism at work than "Bees are dissappearing thus so is our food", as my logic dictated.  I figured that because no beekeepers I've met on the internet seem spooked about the idea of a mass collapse of the agricultural industry.  I figure beekeepers are the ones on the frontlines and must have some kind of insight, some of which has been provided, and for that I thank you.

The fact that I call myself Mulder and the role of western honey bees in The Conspiracy is a coincidence I hadn't noticed until after I registered.  Just waiting for July 25th now.

[Keith13]

[quote author=AgentMulder link=topic=15934.msg115541#msg115541 date=121314889

Now then;

"Come on Agent Mulder Do as your name suggest search the Truth is out there, but you will not find it in the MSM CCD is real but has been blown way out of proportion by the news media its what they do"

First off; I think my contention here was that it's not reported enough.  Second; what do you have to back up this assertion?  I've heard it a time or two from some other beekeepers online.  But when they say "Threat to the food supply", maybe it's just me but that's like saying that being strangled is a 'threat to your air supply'.  Maybe it's just me reading too much into it.  But I figured my logic was sound.

I'm in Idaho by the way.


[/quote]

Its like any thing else. lets take shark attacks remember a few years back shark attacks were on the rise in around Florida no body could go in the water with out being eaten alive by a shark. in all i think maybe 10 people were bitten out of the millions who actually went in the water. it took hurricane Katrina for the news to stop covering shark attacks. or maybe natalie hollowell(sic) you would think any American blond girl that goes out the country would go missing or be killed.
My point being yes all these events were tragic to somebody but definatly not to everybody which makes them not that big of a deal. The media blast these stories out because they have nothing else, and they need to beat out the other stations in the ratings game, even if the Truth has to suffer.
So like I said earlier CCD is very real but it is not the end of our food supply. high oil prices affecting transportation will have more of an effect on supply than CCD.
The one good thing that has occured from the CCD scare is it made people more aware of beekeeping and has brought a lot more people to the field.

[BMAC]

what??  The bees started another conspiracy out there.

Wait till I get my hands on them bad girls.....

[debay]

going way back to the beginning of this post I read something about global warming. If you want to chase a conspiracy, chase that. That wasnt aimed at you Mulder, its for everyone ;). Its amazing what a few governments, the media, and some cooky scientists can put together to fool the whole world into a frenzy. Im not suggesting that we stop trying to preserve our planet and its resources, but the hipe and fear over GW is waaayyyy overrated. If everyone would do some basic, simple research into it, there would be a lot of scratching of heads and raised eyebrows.

Back to the bees. Sure CCD is a real issue. I dont think that its being looked at in an entirely objective way. Take a third world refugee camp. Hundreds of thousands of shacks, shanties, and tents packed into rows and jumbles. Each one has more people in it than a moderate sized house should hold. You almost always end up with these situations; limited natural food supply, rampant sickness, disease, and parasite infestations, and no way to keep it from spreading because of the human contact factor. The unavoidable result is the deaths of many people, sometimes despite the best medical attention and secondary food supplies available. Its not a perfect metaphor, but look at commercial beeks. Millions of bees all landing on the same plants spreading parasites, germs, and disease. And then they come back to a hive and touch each other spreading the same stuff around. How close do bees live to one another in the wild? Sometimes close, but I would think that they often keep spread out to avoid this kind of issues. I wouldnt dare suggest that this is THE ONLY issue with CCD but I (IMHO) feel like this is a huge contributing factor. Other factors would be the chemicals used to treat for parasites and disease, natural cycles, genetic altering, and unnatural breed mixing (killer bees?).

[JP]

Yep, a potato head! ;)

Sorry, you just have rubbed us all the wrong way with your double posts and panic attacks, and quite honestly you seemed like a sh$*stirrer, if you are legitamate, that's cool, welcome to the forums.


...JP

Hey Agent whoever you are, sorry if I came across harsh, we get some real pains on here sometimes, spammers, and people just trying to stir the pot and get our blood pressures boiling.

Seriously though, if you are genuine, welcome to the forums,


...JP