Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DOWN UNDER BEEKEEPING => Topic started by: Lone on November 30, 2009, 08:11:44 am

Title: Honeybee Blues
Post by: Lone on November 30, 2009, 08:11:44 am
Tuesday 1st of December, SBS, 7.30pm
Title: Re: Honeybee Blues
Post by: Meadlover on November 30, 2009, 05:53:36 pm
Nice one Lone, was just about to post that one.
It's an hour long and from the shorts I saw, looks like it will cover a bit about the impending arrival in Australia of the varoa mite, as it's a matter of WHEN, not if they will get here.

I've already set my alarm to remind me tonight!

ML
Title: Re: Honeybee Blues
Post by: mick on December 01, 2009, 02:20:45 am
A treat for us! It should be available for those o/s online in a week or so. I will post the link when its up.
Title: Re: Honeybee Blues
Post by: SlickMick on December 01, 2009, 06:32:36 am
A pretty scary prospect is the varoa.. one can only hope that Oz stays free of the thing.. how insideous it is

A wonderful show if only to show us what we could be in for should it land on our shores. I really enjoyed watching the pros working their hives

Mick
Title: Re: Honeybee Blues
Post by: Lone on December 01, 2009, 06:51:44 am
Well that was sad.
Title: Re: Honeybee Blues
Post by: SlickMick on December 01, 2009, 08:25:16 am
A perception I got from the show was that those with large numbers of hives being used for pollination expected that they would lose their hives due to varroa .. perhaps I am wrong but they seemed to have no inclination to attempt treatment.. perhaps the logistics of treatment was too great. Whereas the impression that I get from this and other forums is that the treatment of varroa and learning how to live with it is quite important to the general run of the mill beek who seems now to have some weapons to use such as sugar dusting and placing a premium on feral stocks that have survived for a number of years with out treatment. Regression to small cell seems to be another part answer to the problem

What were your impressions Lone

Slicko
Title: Re: Honeybee Blues
Post by: philinacoma on December 01, 2009, 08:45:15 am
I was looking forward to seeing it tonight, but I'd forgotten it was on when I promised to collect that feral hive.

Soon as SBS have it on the net I plan on watching.
Title: Re: Honeybee Blues
Post by: taztiger on December 01, 2009, 09:49:07 pm
Hi all
SBS has all three episodes online.( I haven't watched it yet but there are 3 hours of video) I wasn't allowed to attach the link because i have had enough posts.
cheers
Title: Re: Honeybee Blues
Post by: SlickMick on December 01, 2009, 11:44:24 pm
I googled it and sure enough they have the first episode there but not the other 2 yet

Slicko
Title: Re: Honeybee Blues
Post by: mick on December 02, 2009, 03:33:07 am
I dunno, but either it was a repeat or some of the footage has been used before.

The gist of the story, from the man who discovered Varroa Mite is that varroa is behind everything else. It stresses the bees so much their immune system drops off and they are open to other pests and diseases.

The practice of Monoculture has long been recognised as risky and not sustainable. You take the vast Almond groves of the US, truck bees in from every part of the country, mix em all up for the length of the crop then ship the now entirely Varroa ridden lot of em back to where they came from. Duh, how does that make sense?

The disappearance of bees ala CCD I reckon is just the bees saying they have had enough and deliberately leaving to escape Varroa. Perhaps they have rapidly evolved to recognise Varroa use the most basic of instincts for any living creature: flight. Running away from a threat.
Title: Re: Honeybee Blues
Post by: Lone on December 03, 2009, 03:07:41 am
Quote
What were your impressions Lone





Well my little bee, she's got a bad case of the blues,
My little bee, she's down with the honey bee blues,
She might get varroa, and that's just bad bad news.

My bee's cryin and she used to buzz just fine,
Yeah my bee's weepin, her stripes used to shine
Now they're so pale, you can hardly see one line.

Poor little bee, she's gone off her flowers,
Sad little honey bee, she won't touch those flowers,
She used to love nectar, sucked it up for hours.

She went to the hive, handed her notice in
Down on her knees, said she won't buzz again,
That Varroa destructor, he's so big and mean.

Her mamma said, "Varroa, he sure can bite,
Mean old varroa, I know he sure can bite,
But we don't know if he will, we only know he mite!"
 

Title: Re: Honeybee Blues
Post by: robbo on December 07, 2009, 07:32:18 am
That was a pretty good show - cheers for the link.

Im not sure I agree with thie ethics & sustainability of this package bee business where bee's are flown from here, to go work a single crop, get diseased and die. Seriously?

Beats me why the scientists cant win the battle - everything is at stake here, but looks like the research isnt getting anywhre.
Title: Re: Honeybee Blues
Post by: Lone on December 07, 2009, 09:50:59 am
Taz, I cannot find anywhere a reference to any more episodes of Honeybee Blues.  Have I missed looking somewhere?  And does anyone have a link yet for those who haven't seen last week's show?

Robbo, I think research is usually a slow process!  Thank goodness for years of research elsewhere before we have to confront the problem.  Maybe Anderson will come up with a way to stop the chemical emitted by the larvae which indicates to the mite to multiply. 
Quote
Im not sure I agree with thie ethics & sustainability of this package bee business where bee's are flown from here, to go work a single crop, get diseased and die. Seriously?
I believe that a lot of queen and bee breeders ship to America.  There just isn't the market here for them to make a living from the few packages or queens that local beeks need.  They get an order, so they send them there.  Some people like to start off with varroa-free bees.  Naturally they can't be imported from anywhere, or we'll get varroa too.  I wonder if anyone knows..do colonies sent to the almond fields usually get mite treatment, or are they seen as expendable?  I would guess that the failure rate is similar to anywhere with varroa.

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truck bees in from every part of the country, mix em all up for the length of the crop then ship the now entirely Varroa ridden lot of em back to where they came from. Duh, how does that make sense?
Micko, we can only learn from those sorts of things here, I suppose.  There was a recent quarantine area around Mareeba way when they found Apis cerana there (the carrier of Varroa jacobsoni), so I am positive if we do get varroa, there will be restricted movements of bees to slow the spread, like there is with banana plants.

Quote
What were your impressions Lone
Slicko, I loved the music and the pictures.  They didn't have a lot of positive things to say about the future of the bee.  We all know how forests get cut down, and the reduction of leatherwood in Tassie is rather annoying.  I suppose the greenies might be too complacent after saving the Franklin River to be tying themselves to bulldozers.  Anyway, someone is making short term gain out of the apple isle.  Clearing used to be encouraged here by governments, and many didn't see then that it wasn't a good idea.  Where I am, they realised too late that grass won't grow unless there are trees! 
I was very sad when I saw those people in the jungle losing their hives and their bees.  I hope they can recover soon.  It's good Anderson found the problem when he did.  It's such a challenge, with the mite changing like it does and becoming resistant to treatments.

I wonder about the claim, though, that there are no wild hives in america.  Obviously there are swarms all season, and new wild colonies being formed.  Does anyone know how long a colony can live for in the wild in a varroa area?

Lone
Title: Re: Honeybee Blues
Post by: robbo on December 07, 2009, 04:59:20 pm
There is 4 movies on this page

http://www.sbs.com.au/documentary/program/honeybee-blues/index (http://www.sbs.com.au/documentary/program/honeybee-blues/index)

 :mrgreen: