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Another Year of Disappearing Honey Bees

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The 2008 calendar indicates that another spring has arrived in North America and the signs of the new season are everywhere. Buds have appeared on trees, heralding the arrival of new leaves. The increased daylight and the warming sun act as harbingers for the appearance of flowering plants that will soon begin their summer cycle of growth. Nurseries and home improvement stores; such as, Home Depot and Loews, are selling plants, rakes, shovels, mulch, and fertilizer.

Indeed, the familiar signs of spring are everywhere. However, once again this year, there is a real problem in nature which is tempering agricultural enthusiasm for the upcoming growing season. It is a problem that was first identified in 2006. The problem continues to be the disappearance of the honey bee. Once again there is little progress to report from research into this mystery surrounding the honey bee called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

CCD occurs when all adult bees disappear from the hive, leaving the honey and pollen behind. Few, if any, dead bees are found around the hive. Between 50 and 90% of the commercial honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in the United States have been afflicted with CCD and the problem is making it difficult for U.S. commercial beekeepers to pollinate crops. About a quarter of beekeeping operations were affected by CCD during the 2006-2007 winter alone. It is estimated that up to 70% of honey bees in the United States have just disappeared due to Colony Collapse Disorder. The problem has continued during the winter of 2007-2008.

In addition to the ongoing problem of CCD, consider that news reports indicate significant regional problems with dying honey bees this spring in the United States. In Hawaii, a microscopic mite is devastating Oahu’s honey bee population and the long term affects could wipe out much of the island’s agriculture. Western Washington State has a developing agricultural crisis as bees are dying from a new pathogen called Nosema Ceranae. This fungus attacks the bee’s gut, making it impossible to process food and the bee eventually starves to death.

In general, the various problems with disappearing and dying honey bees are rapidly taking a toll on the entire United States beekeeping industry. It has been reported that the number of keepers who produce more than 6,000 pounds of honey annually has declined from 2,054 in 2005, (the year before keepers started experiencing colony collapse) to about 1,100 this year.

Internationally, a lack of a sufficient number of honey bees is responsible this spring for problems in blueberry pollination in Canada. The Fraser Valley produces about one-fifth of the world’s blueberries, but no longer has a sufficient number of honey bees to support its blueberry pollination, and honey bees are now being imported for pollination.

In England and Wales, proposals to protect honey bees have recently been announced by the government. However, bee keepers complain about a lack of research funding and the slow pace of governmental response since the number of honey bees continues in decline.

It is now estimated that nearly half of Italy’s 50 billion bee population died last year. That bee mortality rate will have a drastic effect on the country’s 25-million-euro honey industry (which could plummet by at least 50% in 2008) and wreak havoc on fruit crops. The worldwide bee epidemic has also hit France, Germany, Britain, Brazil, and Australia.

The increased cost of energy in food production and transportation has already led to a world food price inflation of 45 percent in the last nine months alone. There are serious worldwide shortages of rice, wheat, and corn. The rising cost of food has recently been responsible for deadly clashes in Egypt, Haiti, and several African states.

However, if the population of the honey bee continues to decline, worldwide events from higher prices and shortages of food will have only just begun. The pollination of the honey bee is crucial to agriculture and the world’s food supply. Without the honey bee, prices of vegetables, fruit, meat, eggs, and dairy prices will all spiral much higher.

The disappearance of the honey bee poses a threat to eating premium ice cream as well. Haagen-Dazs, (owned by General Mills) said bees are responsible for 40% of its 60 flavors, such as strawberry, toasted pecan, and banana split. The company is launching a new flavor this spring called Vanilla Honey Bee to raise consumer awareness about the problem. Proceeds from the sale of the ice cream will be used to fund CCD research.

The ramifications to our diet and lifestyle are enormous, but government’s response to the developing food crisis has been limited and slow. The disappearing honey bee issue has not been discussed in any Presidential debate or in any campaign forum. In fact, both of our major political parties have been silent on the problem.

Hopefully, American politicians on the campaign trail in the 2008 United States presidential election like Haagen- Daz products. The truth is that Vanilla Honey Bee ice cream may be the only way to bring the candidates attention to a serious, developing, agricultural crisis. A world without sufficient honey bee pollination will create a food crisis of economic, national, and international ramifications. Indeed, it is another year without a solution to the problem of disappearing honey bees.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/nature-articles/another-year-of-disappearing-honey-bees-411499.html

About the Author

James William Smith has worked in Senior management positions for some of the largest Financial Services firms in the United States for the last twenty five years. He has also provided business consulting support for insurance organizations and start up businesses. Visit his website at http://www.eWorldvu.com

Gettings Stung While Beekeeping? Not if You Understand the Beekeeping Suit

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The first piece of protective clothing for beekeeping is the beekeeping suit.  As a beginner with beekeeping, you should understand and prepare against the bee’s first line of defense, their stinger.  Even with an understanding of bee behavior, most beekeepers also wear some protective clothing, such as the beekeeping suit.  Many people are allergic to bee stings.  But, sometimes the only way that someone discovers that they are allergic to bee stings to the first time that they get stung.  If you are considering keeping bees, you should first determine whether or not you are allergic to bee stings.  Even very experienced beekeepers get stung.  In fact, some beekeepers believe that the more stings a beekeeper receives, the less irritation each one will cause to the body in the future.  They believe that it is important for the beekeeper to be stung a few times during the season.  With frequent bee stings the beekeepers develop higher levels of antibodies due to the reaction of the bee venom which offers them a resistant to stings in the future.

Reducing Bee Stings With A Beekeeping Suit

The best way to minimize the amount that beekeepers are stung, even very experienced beekeepers usually wears gloves, a beekeeping suit or beekeeper hat or veil.  Although, some experienced beekeepers sometimes choose not to use gloves because they inhibit some of the delicate work of working with bees, they still wear a beekeeping suit to keep the potential bee stings to a minimum.  Plus, a bee sting that is received on a bare hand can usually be quickly removed by scraping it with a fingernail in order to reduce the amount of venom that is injected.  A person’s face and neck are the most important areas to protect because defensive bees are attracted to the a person’s breath.  There can be much more pain and swelling on the face than a sting received elsewhere on the body.  Plus, it is difficult for the beekeeper to remove the bee sting from their face without looking at a mirror.  It is important to learn how to approach the bees calmly in order to avoid an aggressive assault from a large group of bees that is targeting the face.

Details About A Beekeeping Suit

As you begin your beekeeping knowing about the beekeeping suit if great information.  A beekeeping suit is a full-length jumpsuit and is worn by the beekeeper when they are tending to the bee hive.  This beekeeper suit is usually light in color, typically white, and made out of a smooth material.  A beekeepers suit that is light in color provides the largest difference from a bee colony’s natural predators like bears and skunks, which tend to be dark-colored and furry.  The beekeeping suit also gives the beekeeper a way to remove stings and venom sacs simply with a tug on the clothing.  Protective clothing may also hinder or reduce the venom from the bee-stings from entering into the body.  The stings that are left in the fabric of the suit will continue to pump out an alarm pheromone that attracts aggressive action and further stinging attacks from the bees.  In order to reduce the risk of the bees picking up the sent the next time that the beekeeper visits the hive, the suit should be washed regularly.  They can also rinse their hands in vinegar to minimize the bee’s attraction.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/hobbies-articles/gettings-stung-while-beekeeping-not-if-you-understand-the-beekeeping-suit-3357412.html

About the Author

Jason Honey has been digging gardening for more than 20 years. He has used his knowledge of beekeeping to keep himself safe and his garden thriving year round.

Visit his website http://www.mybeekeepingsecrets.com/beekeeping-suit to read more about beekeeping now! Sign up for the 10 day email mini-course of beekeeping basics.

The Disappearing Bee Populations

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News agencies started reporting on a disturbing phenomenon in the bee population, in the spring of 2007. It was reported beekeepers were visiting their hives to discover that their bees had disappeared. The queen and a few newly hatched bees were all that remained. The presence of predators feeding on the bees did not leave any evidence of having been there. There was no evidence of dead bees from bee diseases either. Based on the lack of evidence, it seemed unlikely that the bees had gotten sick and died. However, many beekeepers reported that moths, animals, and other bees steered clear of the newly emptied nests. This is a normal reaction when bees die from disease or chemical contamination.

The news reports were alarming. They described beekeepers losing more than half of their bees and explained the importance of honeybees in the pollination of food crops. Some of the articles implied with the disappearance of the bees widespread starvation would follow. The disappearing of bees or otherwise called “Colony Collapse Disorder: is a real phenomenon. It has the potential to impact food and honey production, but it is more complex than it has been reported. The colony collapse disorder has had an effect primarily on the domestic, commercial honeybees. These bees are raised exclusively for producing honey and pollinating crops. It also seems to effect bees from hives that are moved from place to place to pollinate crops. Of the overall bee population, the commercial honeybees make up only a small portion. African honeybees, along with other types of bees, do not seem to be affected.

Also, this is not the first time the honeybee population has suddenly and unexpectedly declined. In the last 100 years beekeepers have reported sharp decreases in their hive populations several time. In 1915, beekeepers in several states reported substantial bee losses. The condition became known as the “Disappearing Disease”. It was not named for the bees disappearing, but because the condition was limited and did not happen again.

Researchers never determined the cause for Disappearing Disease or the declines in bee population, and the causes are still unclear today for the colony collapse disorder. Several possibilities have been ruled out because they are not present in all of the affected colonies. The bees in the affected colonies were all feed using different methods, mites and other pests were controlled in a different way. The bees did not even come from the same supplier. The work group investigating the phenomenon does not suspect genetically altered crops to be the problem.

There are some theories on the causes of colony collapse disorder.

The process of transporting bees over long distances in order to pollinate crops may cause stress, which has depressed the bees’ immune system, exposed them to additional diseases or affected their navigational abilities.

Mites generally feeding on the bees may be exposing the bees to an unknown virus. Mites have caused colony collapse in the past, but they have also left evidence, which is not the case in colony collapse disorders.

One common theory regarding cell phones as the culprit, but it has been discounted. This theory made the news in April, 2007, “The Independent” who featured the article about a study being done on the cell phones and linking them to the bee disappearance, they failed to dig deep enough for their story. The study was not related to cell phones, but was on the electromagnetic energy coming from the base units of cordless phones. A cordless phone uses a different wavelength than the cell phone.

It is unknown exactly where the honeybee species is headed or exactly how the drop in the population of the bee will affect the world’s food supply. The drop in population in all likelihood not lead to the sudden extinction of the human race, it is going to have an l effect on what we eat if it continues.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/the-disappearing-bees-populations–797483.html

About the Author

Visit the Bee Facts website to learn about mason bees and bees disappearing.

Home Grown HONEY!

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It’s me in the kitchen with some of the gorgeous dripping sweetness of our homegrown food. Join my family as we make dinner! It’s soo healthy you will want to cry from your unsatiated drooling. We cared for the bees who made this honey comb for a year of drought before a wonderful rainy winter and spring brought them such heavy nectar flows that we just had to eat some ourselves! I looove insects, and bees have got to be my favorite. We crushed and strained the rest of the comb and jarred up lots that night. Later I melted the wax in my sun oven and strained out the cocoons… and made hand salve and lip gloss with the wax. Ultimate yumminess!!!!! These bees and their queen are from B. Weaver Apiaries. www.beeweaver.com

Source: YouTube

Creating your Apiary

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There are certain things that a beekeeper can do when building an apiary that helps to create a hospitable environment for bees. Some of them are obvious. Don’t keep a bug zapper in your garden. Don’t use pesticides either. Both of them kill bees. Another important thing that a new beekeeper should do is discuss his new hobby with his neighbours. Some neighbours will be afraid of the bees and it’s the beekeepers job to explain how important bees are, that bee populations are being decimated, and that bee colonies make safe neighbours.

There are other ways that a beekeeper can take care of bees that will provide the best environment for the bees. For example, a beekeeper should look forward to sunny days when he can visit his hives and do things for the bees that encourage colony health. Happy, healthy bees are going to make the beekeeper’s job easier and much more rewarding. The beekeeper needs to thoughtful about the colonies. He needs to think about what he did for the bees the last time he visited the hive. How have the bees reacted? Does the colony appear healthy?  By going through a hive completely a beekeeper gains knowledge about his colony and about the things he can do to ensure a healthy colony in the future.

A beekeeper should check for flying bees and the general look of the bee population. There should be a laying queen or fresh eggs or both. Are there any signs of disease? It’s wise to check for queen cups and swarm cells. If there appear to be swarm cells the beekeeper can make splits to prevent swarming. The beekeeper should see if the bees have enough nectar. There shouldn’t be so much nectar that honey supers are stuffed. This will cause swarming. The hive should be cleaned up by removing burr comb, odd brood comb, and comb configurations that are erratic. Any old comb, broken frames and broken down hive boxes should be exchanged for new equipment.

In the spring the beekeeper will want to make sure that his hives are getting the most sun that they can get, and preferably, the hives should be in a place that gets sun in the winter too. This saves the job of moving them when the weather gets colder. Is the location of the hives too windy? Are there diseases or pests in the colony?

Later in the summer and into early fall, the beekeeper should make sure that there’s still plenty of room for honey in the hive. He should check again for mites or other pests. If there appear to have been still born larvae, the equipment containing the foul brood (dead larvae) should be removed and bees should be shaken into new equipment that has a new foundation.

In the late fall and winter, make sure that the bees have enough food for the winter. The hive should be cleaned again, removing erratic brood and messy burr comb.

In winter, the beekeeper should check the colonies every few weeks. The bees need to have enough food to make it through the season. It’s also a good time to make sure that the hive is getting lots of sun and that the hive is kept dry during rain or snow.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/hobbies-articles/creating-your-apiary-4131674.html

About the Author

My name is Nancy Ketner and I have been fascinated by Bees for as long as I can remember. Beekeeping can be a daunting hobby to start. Understanding and creating an apiary you need as a beginner can be difficult. I started Beekeeper Central as a free resource for others who wish to explore Beekeeping as a hobby or small business venture so people can get the most enjoyment they can from Honey Bees. Do come on over to www.beekeepercentral.com to get your FREE mini e-course in Bees and Bee Craft.

Apiaries Honey Beekeeping – A Strategy for Business Expansion

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What should you do if your beekeeping hobby turns to be a profitable business with increasing demands for your quality honey? There are two options, you just stay where you are and enjoy your hobby as a great activity, or you can think of something on how to expand your business. As you have done beekeeping for quite a long time, and you see that there are increasing demands with remarkable profits why not expanding your business? It is really a great opportunity to strive for.

You probably may ask yourself why think of an expansion plan, while you do not have enough space to put more beehives to look after additional bees. Or you probably do not find enough flowers or gardens in your neighborhood where your bees can get additional nectar. Or is there something else that holds you, may be your neighbors or your beekeeping license? Well, there are plenty of reasons that will lead you to a “status quo” situation. But here are some ideas that you might consider.

There are some beekeeping practices that have been applied till this moment, which is to rent a piece of land where you can use it as a bee yard or an apiary. An apiary is a place where you can put your beehives as many as you wish according to your plan. You can even pay the rent with some amount of honey that is produced in this apiary. In some instances a honey beekeeper can get paid by the farmer since they need the bees very badly to facilitate pollination.

You can work together with farmers who usually need the presence of bees to pollinate their crops. There are farmers who are willing to lend their land for free to beekeepers for the sake of bee pollination. You can make a long term deal with such farmer, and manage your beehives accordingly to the crop growing cycle. This looks like a good mutual benefit for you as a honey beekeeper and the farmer who needs the help of your honey bees, isn’t it?

Now, let us move forwards and see how to choose a good site for your apiary. A good apiary should meet the following requirement:

Nearness to nectar sources. It should be definitely near a flowering field or crop. Bees are able to look for nectar within a distance of 3 km from their hives, but if they do not find any good stuff they are willing to travel up to 12 km in search for good nectar. If you place it too far, they might move and find another spot closer to the source, and your hives will be empty.

Temperature. Consider a place where the maximum temperature, especially during summer, isn’t extremely hot, since this may melt the bee wax inside the hive. If the bee wax melts, the bees are going to spend more time to cooling the wax by collecting more water than nectar. Please bear in mind that the melting point of bee wax is around 110ºF or 45ºC. High temperature tends to disturb the bees and get angry more easily.

Security of your beehives. Watch out for honey eating animals like the honey badger or ratel. If there are badgers in your place you should provide some extra protection by strapping your hive together using a strong baggage strap. You should also be aware of human thieves and provide the necessary protection.

Protection of passing people. If in case you have some traffic of passing people close to your apiary, it is best if you could place a high board fence with a minimum height of 6 feet. This is to avoid the bees to straightly attack passing people when flying out the hives, since they are forced to fly high above the fence and over the head of a passer.

To avoid somebody get hurt by your bees, make sure that any people, especially children, will not accidentally enter your apiary by posting some signs of precautions.

Avoid windy places. Wind will encourage the bees to leave the hive and look for a better place. Beside that, the bees will create some blockage at the entrance using propolis and leaving some holes to maintain access. This narrow entrance will for sure slow down the bees activities. Another thing is that the bees will become less productive, since they will be spending more time on making the propolis rather than honey.

If you are serious to expand your beekeeping business, managing an apiary for honey beekeeping is a strategy to be considered. And time will come that you arrive at a point where you need to hire other people to help you in developing a successful business.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/apiaries-honey-beekeeping-a-strategy-for-business-expansion-3486911.html

About the Author

Uno Birawan is a writer and wrote a lot about beekeeping. You can find the information on Beekeeping Business by visiting his site www.TheHoneyBeekeeper.com

Beekeeping queen cells.MPG

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Wallace Family Apiary wallacefamilyapiary.yolasite.com We are a growing small family beekeeping business, located in Starke, Florida. This year we will continue with live bee removals, sign pollination agreements with our local farmers, and will have 100% pure Florida Honey for sale. Another Wallace Family apiary video. Beekeeping in North Florida and raising queen honey bees

Source: YouTube

The Trip for Life Episode 16: Growing Power Part 2, Water and Life

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In this episode of The Trip for Life, I continue my exploration of the methods that Growing Power, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, uses to grow enough food to feed many thousands of people in a couple of acres. In the last episode, I showed you how they produce the high quality soils that they need for their plants; in this episode, I will explain how they manage water, in both the fish ponds and the aquaponics beds, and how they grow their massive crop of food plants. I will also be talking about some of their experiments in integrating more traditional animal husbandry into the Growing Power system. And, you will get to see their bee yard, and future plans. An info-packed episode of The Trip for Life, a must see for anyone who wants to build a high intensity urban farm for themselves!

Source: YouTube

Kirk Webster on Self Organizing Beekeeping Pt 1 of 3

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One of the heroes of the bee world is a Buddhist beekeeper in Vermont, Kirk Webster. “When the mites hit the bees big-time in the nineties, and people started putting chemicals in the hives, Webster decided that wasn’t the way to go,” says Jacobsen. “He let most of his bees die, and he took the survivors, bred them with each other, and introduced hardy Russian bees into the hive. But to do this he went without an income for a decade. He lives simply. And he developed bees largely resistant to mites.” Webster, known as the Bee Mystic, sees the mite problem as nature’s way to root out the weaker bees—think survival of the fittest. But letting nature take its course as Webster did requires patience, something industrial beekeepers lack. Their mantra is profits; patience is costly. Treat the bees with respect, however, and you get prosperous, healthy hives, and lots of nutrient-rich honey. Which is what Jacobsen himself is doing on his few acres of undeveloped land in Vermont. He got some bees from Webster and let them do their own thing, starting with building their own hives, which are not the rectangular boxes that the industrial apiaries use, but V-shaped. Organic. Not stackable. Not conducive to being trucked around the country.

Source: YouTube