Do you see any bees where you live?

Originally posted by took red pill
North Texas

No bees here. I have a big plum tree that was solid white with blooms & should have been buzzing with bees. I never saw one bee of any kind. The blooms finally dropped off & there isn't a plum on the tree. Same with the apple tree.

I bought some little paint brushes to pollinate the vegetables myself.

It is about time to panic.

Instead of panicking, you could get some of your own bee hives.

Not much, but I expect to see more soon.
Beekepers in Serbia have been complaining about pesticides affecting bees and there is less honey around at the outdoor markets.
Here is a very interesting article that anybody who wants to know whats going on:
www.economist.com...

reply to post by mwc273


Outside of Cleveland, OH here. I haven't seen any where I live currently, in the suburbsish/rural area. It's weird that I see more bees inside the city than out of it. I'm guessing maybe Lake Erie helps contribute to that? Less pesticide spraying? I don't know.

i live in western australia and see no change in the bee populations. i have a huge variety of flowers in my yard and always see the busy insects working.

For the last few years i've had a hive come in large numbers to a water barrel fountain.
I've seen not a single one this year.

SW PA tons of sweat bees. More than I have ever seen before. Perhaps these are replacing the honey bees? Have not seen any honey bees or yellow jackets yet. Yet... It is early in the year. Just wait until all the flowers get blooming and we shall see.

The beekeeper i know say that where there are no GM crops the bees are doing fine and where there are GM crops they have problems.
I live in a town in the Mojave desert and we are having no problems but there are no GM crops withing 75 miles.

A couple beekeepers i know are now keeping there bees in non GM crop areas during the off season.
plus they are keeping some hives away from GM crops year around and using the honey from those hives as feed in the off season for there hives that have worked hard in GM areas.

I don't know what kind of bees I saw today, but I saw a few bees at Pontiff Playground in Metairie, LA today!

I have holly tree next to my porch that has been literly humming for two weeks. All kinds of bees are visiting.
We live in SC, one mile away is a verizon cell phone tower. Although, my sprint service drops calls constantly. It is a drought year already here. No rain for a month. The soil is bone dry and hard as concrete. I didn't have very many daffodils or irus because of the lack of rain this spring. I worry there will not be good crops this year. The insects are happy we had a non existent winter this year. I have bats too, they circle the house at night.

The only pesticides I use are fire ant killer in the yard and roach killer around the house. The Savannah Bee Company lady I talked to two years ago was relieved to hear that the wild honey bees are thriving. My state probably primarily grows cotton and does not use the pesticides. I would guess the cancer rates in people are up where the bees are missing too. My father and my husband's father both died of cancer in Cincinnati/ Ohio valley areas. I lived in Cincinnati in the 1980-1990s and I never felt it was a clean healthy environment. We could smell the factory emissions on I 75. The river draws in all the rain and the sky is always white.

Orange county, Ca.....I see bees at the golf courses and around my backyard all the time but they are almost ALWAYS on the ground and either disoriented,sick or dead...

Originally posted by jtma508

Originally posted by loueber
No honey bees, but MANY more fuzzy bumble bees so far this year then prior years.

Note: was reading yesterday that honey bees are not indigenous to North America. they were shipped over from Egypt years ago. Article also said that local bees do more pollinating then honey bees do... and that crops survived for thousands of years before honey bees came to america (now all honey bees coming to america are stopped at the border, frisked and groped by the TSA, and got so pissed off they refuse to be part of the Obamanation and went back home)

Untrue. Honey bees in general are native to North America and the US --- fossil record bears this out. The particular breeds we keep have been imported from Europe (and somewhat recently, Russia) because of the various characteristics that make them good for apiculture --- disease resistant, docile, productive and able to over-winter. In general all bees now come from large apiaries in the U.S. (predominantly the South).

We saw honey bees working when we had our early season warm spell up here in MA but it haas been unseasonably cool, rainy and cloudy so the bees are keeping to the hive cluster till it warms up. It's still somewhat early up here in the northeast as far as the bees go.

To the OP: Since you're a prepper and seem to be located in an advantageous area why not setup a couple hives? Lots of honey (which never goes bad and needs no preservation) and can be made into mead wine. Not to mention beeswax for candles.

Haven't read the entire thread yet, but great post. I posted earlier about not seeing honey bees in my area. While strange, we have also had an unusually warm winter...but we more than often have an odd cold snap about this time....usually April but it has gotten later every year since about 93. Not that it gets later by months but by hours or a day or 6.

Reading the rest of the thread now but had to reply to this. Great post.

I live at country side in Czech republic. It is small patch of wilderness with great biodiversity in middle of fields. Bees can (and did) feed all season here. Nearest beekeeper is 1.5 Km away but there were tens of hives of wild honey bees. Swarming is common spectacle for me.
So this year there are almost no bees. I noticed it few days ago. Reason may be in weather. Hard freezing through January and February, very warm March and cold April probably took the toll. Lot of bumble bees and hornets. I noticed that population of hornets is oscillating greatly over years so nothing odd.
There are reports of CCD in Czech republic but it is not as big problem as in USA or France.

reply to post by stanguilles7


I live in the SW US. There have been more bees this year than in previous years. They seem to be making a small comeback out here.

I have seen quite a few sickly/struggling bees lately.

Did take a walk today in the park:

Date: 5/4/2012
Location: La Jolla, CA
Temperature: 66
Conditions: Partly Sunny with trails
Observation: City Park, Clovers: Count - 4 (Low for the area)

Sreply to post by mwc273


Plenty.
And then some.


S&F

reply to post by JanAmosComenius


Awesome! Keep it pure, as I require the Pilsner Urquell
Brewery to bee at its best.

reply to post by mwc273


Oh Yeah, Thank Goodness for The Honeybees.
I am trying to figure out how to divide the colony as it is so prolific I think it may swarm.
I have noticed Emergency Queen Cells.
So... I have a new empty hive for them to move in to if that happens.
There are quite a many Drone cells.

I am working on hive management rather than Honey production at this point.
However, I will have to come up with some comb honey this year
for validation and respect. Business is Business.

Busyness, Wildmanimal

I live in Scotland and last year i noticed very little bees, 2 i think all summer.

This year though i have noticed at least 30 or 40 last month alone which i was rather pleased about even though i struggled to explain to my kids the importance of bees and not to stomp on them.

i see bees just about every day when i go o the park they hover around the grass in the open fields

reply to post by mwc273


We still have bees out in my neck of the woods. Whatever is killing them off hasn't reached us yet, I suppose. I pray it never does. I don't use any pesticides on my lawn and garden, I imagine that helps quite a bit. Quit spraying poisions people. Bend over, and pull the darn weed.