The Buzz on bees

[brian99]

There is extensive research going on, all initiated by CCD. Canpolin, the Canadian Pollination Initiative, out of U Guelph is doing work all across Canada. Many large brains have been tapped to try and find the cause. It's not one specific factor.

[ASRG]

I wonder?
Recently in Red Deer Alberta they found a peregrine falcon dead. She was one they had been watching, as she had mated and laid three eggs in a monitored nesting site. She was so loaded up with poisonous stuff they couldn't even figure out which poison had killed her!
Now this is a bird that is obviously eating other birds and rodents that are eating the crap we are putting on the land?
The falcon dies today.....how long until it is us? Does this raise any alarms?

[grassfarmer]

brian66, Did you read the part of the article I posted
where it said
"A third study by the Harvard School of Public Health
actually re-created colony collapse disorder in several
honeybee hives simply by administering small doses
of a popular neonic, imidacloprid."

Sure, that may not be conclusive proof that all CCD
in the world is caused by this chemical but at least
they were able to recreate the condition.
Meanwhile in the beef world UK scientists failed
spectacularly to recreate BSE to prove their "infected
feed" theory (the extensive using American embryos)
Yet this is still the officially accepted cause of BSE.

[brian99]

Sorry it took this long to reply, but Alberta is hiring a new Provincial Apiarist and I attended the hiring meeting today. Part of that process detailed new information on honey bee diseases. I'm a leafcutter bee guy, not a honey bee guy, but I can tell you what I know.
There are 27 known viruses in honey bees. Probably not that many in Canada, maybe 20-24. There are two distinct mites, as well as nosema that cause damage in honey bees. One project in Alberta is currently screening 7 viruses in honey bees that seem to correlate most strongly with CCD. Add to this the constant moving of hives, especially the furthur south you go, and then add a harsh winter. To me this sounds like a recipe for dead bees. Bees can only take so many stressors at one time.
Another research project is looking at the adverse effects of multiple chemicals. Beekeepers use pyrethroids in the hives to control mites. These are delivered at a level sublethal to the bees(pyrethroids are an class of insecticides). A tiny portion of the pyrethroid is trapped in the wax in the hive. Worker bees bring back provision for the larvae. What do farmers use in the field? Chemicals. They aren't necessarily the problem. Surfactants are added to herbicides and fungicides to cut the waxy layer on the leaf. The theory is they do the same thing in the hive, cut wax, releasing the pyrethroid.
Again, I don't think there is one definitive cause for CCD. This is a multiple vector disease brought on by multiple factors. The trick is finding the critical ones.
Most of the time I can pick out a sick calf just by walking the pen. You can't do that with a bee.

[Kathy]

My caragana trees are absolutely loaded with honey bees today. The trees are alive with a buzz and black and white dancers. We don't spray, and it does irk me considerably when a neighbor sprays his fields using a commercial plane spraying company. If there are any honey bee guys needing a safe place to put some bees, we are probably better than most locations.

The more agriculture relies upon chemicals and artificial fertilizers to survive, the more likely we will have a similar collapse in our own futures.

I absolutely dread driving anywhere when the "spraying" season starts... and in the fall when the "desiccation" season takes place.

[Kathy]

Bilderberg’s Syngenta Settles After Contaminating U.S. Water Supply With Herbicide:

GMO Firm Syngenta allegedly tainted the water supply of 52 million with hormonally-disruptive chemical Atrazine

Aaron Dykes
Infowars.com
May 29, 2012

The Swiss-based GMO company Syngenta settled a class action lawsuit for some $105 million over the dangers posed by its gender-bending herbicide Atrazine.

(for rest of article go to this link)

http://www.infowars.com/bilderbergs-syngenta-settles-after-contaminating-u-s-water-supply/