Bees Bees Bees what wonderful little creatures.

I write this knowing that I will soon be making a difference to our local environment by saving possibly two wild swarms of African Bees from being poisoned by capturing them and relocating them to a hive which I will manage. Obviously checking the health of the colony, size to avoid swarming and also in the bigger picture helping with the pollination of flowers in a 7 kilometer radius of where the hive will be positioned.

Myself and my Wife attended a Bee keeping course over the past weekend and was exposed to this wonderful hobby.

In today's World where pesticides are used far far too often these little guys are having a tough time out there. To think of what will happen to our ecosystem if this insect had to become extinct eventually one day

I can hand on the chest say that my main motivation is to save this colony. I will not deny that natural raw honey is one of my favorite things in this World. I cannot tolerate the corn syrup honey flavored rubbish we buy these days in our local super markets. Even when the supplier of the honey is kosher you find them heating the honey to stop it from crystallizing. The sad truth is that once raw honey is heated all the goodness is lost.

The point of this post is to humbly request that more of you take yourself on a Bee keeping course and learn more about these insects. Might I add the only insect which manufactures food which we as Humans consume.

Aren't those African bees the ones that get crabby if you disturb them? Are you sure you want to do that?

Maybe they aren't crabby when they live in Africa though, when you bring them to the USA with the cold weather and piles of toxic chemicals it probably gets them kind of pissed.

The only good Africanized bee colony is one that you burn.

If you want to raise bees, either learn to beeline and get you a feral Italian bee colony, or buy a queen with a few pounds of workers. What we DON'T need is more Africanized bees.

eta: we kept bees for years on our farm. It's a lot of fun, if you aren't afraid of them. However, breeding up aggressive bees like that, you might be the proximal cause of a dead child or pet down the road. You need to take maybe a few MORE courses past the 'this is a bee' 101 intro.

My theory on the reduction of the number of bee's on this planet is down to the change in atmospheric frequency modification.

I have heard bee's use magnetic fields to navigate, mobile phones are disrupting the natural frequency emitted by the earth, rendering the bee's navigation useless. Thus effecting their migration and life patterns.

Mobile phone microwaves have been blasting the earth since the evolution of mobile phones, not much can be done to avoid this, some people are allergic to EMF's caused by mobile devices, called "EMF sensitive", so they generally put lead in the walls of their house and avoid being outside in locations near a mobile cell tower.
What I have just said may not be 100% fact and is my opinion, so please do not hold my thoughts against me.

reply to post by ShaunSwindon


I like bees, prefer them over wasps any day.

I dont know alot about bees but I do know those african ones are rowdy, be careful.

rickymouse
Aren't those African bees the ones that get crabby if you disturb them? Are you sure you want to do that?

Nope the African Bee is actually smaller than the European Bee and is in fact quite docile. I took part in opening up a hive of wild African Bees over the weekend and the Bees never once directed repeated attacks on the 15 odd people present. Of course you need to remember we were all wearing full Bee keeping suits. Without the suits and also the smoker which hid our scent from the Bees we would have been stung.

Bedlam
The only good Africanized bee colony is one that you burn.

If you want to raise bees, either learn to beeline and get you a feral Italian bee colony, or buy a queen with a few pounds of workers. What we DON'T need is more Africanized bees.

eta: we kept bees for years on our farm. It's a lot of fun, if you aren't afraid of them. However, breeding up aggressive bees like that, you might be the proximal cause of a dead child or pet down the road. You need to take maybe a few MORE courses past the 'this is a bee' 101 intro.

edit on 12-12-2013 by Bedlam because: (no reason given)

Well I would not agree with burning any wild creature who is trying to survive just like you and I. Try to remember that I live in Johannesburg, South Africa. These Bees are indigenous here and are not a pest.

Bringing in a Bee from Italy might not be a great idea either

AGreenDestiny
My theory on the reduction of the number of bee's on this planet is down to the change in atmospheric frequency modification.

I have heard bee's use magnetic fields to navigate, mobile phones are disrupting the natural frequency emitted by the earth, rendering the bee's navigation useless. Thus effecting their migration and life patterns.

Mobile phone microwaves have been blasting the earth since the evolution of mobile phones, not much can be done to avoid this, some people are allergic to EMF's caused by mobile devices, called "EMF sensitive", so they generally put lead in the walls of their house and avoid being outside in locations near a mobile cell tower.
What I have just said may not be 100% fact and is my opinion, so please do not hold my thoughts against me.

I appreciate your explanation and yes it makes sense. I just mention the pesticides as when the Bee lands on the plants it has a chance of ingesting these chemicals which could lead to either death or illness which would lead to death and eventually the failing of the colony.

Some reports say when the Bees go missing in the States they say they don't even find bodies but the colony is just gone. Perhaps getting lost on the way home

ShaunSwindon

Well I would not agree with burning any wild creature who is trying to survive just like you and I. Try to remember that I live in Johannesburg, South Africa. These Bees are indigenous here and are not a pest.

Bringing in a Bee from Italy might not be a great idea either

Ah. While no honeybee in North America is indigenous, the ones here since Europeans came over are Italian bees, bred for production and relative docility. When they were crossed with African bees, they became insanely aggressive, and will empty out the hive attacking any large mammal that comes close, especially when the weather's warm. They aren't content with driving away a perceived aggressor, like an Italian bee would, they will persist until the thing is dead or is out of their defensive sphere, which may be hundreds of meters in diameter.

What you proposed doing would be, in North America, like stating you wanted to start up a business selling fire ant farms.

AGreenDestiny
My theory on the reduction of the number of bee's on this planet is down to the change in atmospheric frequency modification.

The atmosphere doesn't have a frequency.

I have heard bee's use magnetic fields to navigate, mobile phones are disrupting the natural frequency emitted by the earth, rendering the bee's navigation useless. Thus effecting their migration and life patterns.

The earth doesn't have a frequency either, nor does the earth's magnetic field. Also, radio waves do not "disrupt" static magnetic fields, which are the sort we DO have.

Mobile phone microwaves have been blasting the earth since the evolution of mobile phones

What about all the other radio sources that have been blasting the earth? AM towers? FM? TV? Lightning? The sun?

...not much can be done to avoid this, some people are allergic to EMF's caused by mobile devices, called "EMF sensitive", so they generally put lead in the walls of their house and avoid being outside in locations near a mobile cell tower.

The fun thing? If you take such people and put them into a proper test setup, they'll "react" to simply being told the radio's on. Whilst not reacting when it is. And lead isn't a really good shield for EM, that's one of those things the more technically inept, as most of these people are, associate with the term "radiation", whilst not knowing there's a qualitative difference between, say, gamma rays and microwaves.

What I have just said may not be 100% fact and is my opinion, so please do not hold my thoughts against me.

Bees in north America have had a lot of issues over the last few decades, between foulbrood, mites and fungi. Adding in neonicotinoids has been a real issue, and IMHO is a big part of what's going on at present.

WTH would you want to save Africanized bees. They're a menace and a pest. I think you need more experience with bees than just a weekend class. Insert rolleye here.

reply to post by ShaunSwindon


Hey, ask some old time beekeepers there if they 'beeline'. It's something that's relatively rare here, and will likely be gone in a few more generations. I grew up in the edge of the Appalachians where we learned it from some of the old-timers for fun, but not many people even know what it is here any more.

Basically, it's a technique for locating feral bee colonies by baiting a few workers and tagging them with whatever plant-based non-toxic colorings you can drum up, watching where they fly, and separating the hives you 'detect' by color.

For instance, once the bees start finding your bee-box with the tasty bait inside, you watch and see which vectors they're taking. Eventually, you will see that you have anywhere from one to four (never saw more than four) hives sending traffic to your box by the paths they leave, so you randomly assign colors to the hives and start labeling bees with the colors, one color per hive. You can then take a stop watch and get a feel for the distance to the hive based on flight time for your colored bee to come back. From that, you can either ignore the ones that are too far, or ones you know to be your own or a neighbor's hives. Sometimes that's all you spot. But if you get a string of bees going to a place you can't identify, you start a sort of geocaching expedition moving towards the hive and watching your bee's time and vector. If you don't move too far in a cycle, she'll find YOU by your clothing (it pays to wear a distinctively colored hat, for instance) and you can proceed in jumps to find the hive. Eventually, you'll find them and Bob's your uncle. Box them up and take them back to your hiveyard and you've got new bees and some wild honey.

eta: I don't know if this was a purely Appalachian artform or if it's done everywhere, I have never seen it done in the US outside the Appalachians.

reply to post by ShaunSwindon


I have six acres with three horses on it. I would like a hive or two to keep us in honey. Hoe much she they and what do they need for food. Not many flowers here. Message me if you want to. I need all help i can get lol.

I this gods super food.

The Bot

Bedlam

AGreenDestiny
My theory on the reduction of the number of bee's on this planet is down to the change in atmospheric frequency modification.

The atmosphere doesn't have a frequency.

I have heard bee's use magnetic fields to navigate, mobile phones are disrupting the natural frequency emitted by the earth, rendering the bee's navigation useless. Thus effecting their migration and life patterns.

The earth doesn't have a frequency either, nor does the earth's magnetic field. Also, radio waves do not "disrupt" static magnetic fields, which are the sort we DO have.

Mobile phone microwaves have been blasting the earth since the evolution of mobile phones

What about all the other radio sources that have been blasting the earth? AM towers? FM? TV? Lightning? The sun?

...not much can be done to avoid this, some people are allergic to EMF's caused by mobile devices, called "EMF sensitive", so they generally put lead in the walls of their house and avoid being outside in locations near a mobile cell tower.

The fun thing? If you take such people and put them into a proper test setup, they'll "react" to simply being told the radio's on. Whilst not reacting when it is. And lead isn't a really good shield for EM, that's one of those things the more technically inept, as most of these people are, associate with the term "radiation", whilst not knowing there's a qualitative difference between, say, gamma rays and microwaves.

What I have just said may not be 100% fact and is my opinion, so please do not hold my thoughts against me.

Bees in north America have had a lot of issues over the last few decades, between foulbrood, mites and fungi. Adding in neonicotinoids has been a real issue, and IMHO is a big part of what's going on at present.

Hmm, I thought Schumann Resonances could be considered as a natural frequency of the Earth:

Schumann resonances are the principal background in the electromagnetic spectrum beginning at 3 Hz and extend to 60 Hz, and appear as distinct peaks at extremely low frequencies (ELF) around 7.83 (fundamental). 14.3, 20.8, 27.3 and 33.8 Hz.

Also, as far as cell phone towers go, I think they're still in the list as a danger for bees. There is a good documentary called "Resonance" which goes into this theory

Researcher Daniel Favre and his colleagues performed 83 experiment recording the reaction of honeybees to cell phones in their off state, standby state or active talking state. It turns out that when cell phones are in their "active" state (sending or receiving signals), honeybees are strongly disoriented and suffer from widespread miscommunication that causes them to stop seeking out food and begin swarming.

Cell phone towers may be ultimate cause of honeybee population collapse

Who knows the real reason(s) behind it, besides of course human involvement

Lurker1
WTH would you want to save Africanized bees. They're a menace and a pest. I think you need more experience with bees than just a weekend class. Insert rolleye here.

Perhaps you should read posts where I have replied that I actually live in South Africa and the African Bee is not seen as a pest here *insert rolling eyes here*.

Regardless Africa is not for the faint hearted so rather you stay over there and us South Africans will handle things over here

The point though for my post was not to be judged by you but rather to request that more people don't simply trust Hollywood for their scientific opinions on animals and rather research those animals themselves

Bedlam
reply to post by ShaunSwindon

 

Hey, ask some old time beekeepers there if they 'beeline'. It's something that's relatively rare here, and will likely be gone in a few more generations. I grew up in the edge of the Appalachians where we learned it from some of the old-timers for fun, but not many people even know what it is here any more.

Basically, it's a technique for locating feral bee colonies by baiting a few workers and tagging them with whatever plant-based non-toxic colorings you can drum up, watching where they fly, and separating the hives you 'detect' by color.

For instance, once the bees start finding your bee-box with the tasty bait inside, you watch and see which vectors they're taking. Eventually, you will see that you have anywhere from one to four (never saw more than four) hives sending traffic to your box by the paths they leave, so you randomly assign colors to the hives and start labeling bees with the colors, one color per hive. You can then take a stop watch and get a feel for the distance to the hive based on flight time for your colored bee to come back. From that, you can either ignore the ones that are too far, or ones you know to be your own or a neighbor's hives. Sometimes that's all you spot. But if you get a string of bees going to a place you can't identify, you start a sort of geocaching expedition moving towards the hive and watching your bee's time and vector. If you don't move too far in a cycle, she'll find YOU by your clothing (it pays to wear a distinctively colored hat, for instance) and you can proceed in jumps to find the hive. Eventually, you'll find them and Bob's your uncle. Box them up and take them back to your hiveyard and you've got new bees and some wild honey.

eta: I don't know if this was a purely Appalachian artform or if it's done everywhere, I have never seen it done in the US outside the Appalachians.

edit on 12-12-2013 by Bedlam because: (no reason given)

Hi there and many thanks for the positive response.

I am not aware of this form of capturing the colony. The technique which I will be using along with a senior member of the South African Bee Keeping Society will be the "tubing" method. This is where you fit at night a tube over the entrance to the hive and connect it to the hive you want the Bees to move into. Once the tube is in place we would then chisel a hole into the back of the concrete structure where the colony is currently making their home and smoking them out so that the entire colony exits through the entrance and into the new hive. Once the queen is in the new hive we # that up and keep them "locked up" for a day or two. Relocate and then open hive at night in new position. If the queen is happy then the colony will stay in their new hive and everyone is happy.

No poisoning or too much stress for the colony

dlbott
reply to post by ShaunSwindon

 

I have six acres with three horses on it. I would like a hive or two to keep us in honey. Hoe much she they and what do they need for food. Not many flowers here. Message me if you want to. I need all help i can get lol.

I this gods super food.

The Bot

This is an honorable and noble statement but with all crops one must care and nurture the colony of Bees to make sure that first and foremost their health and safety comes first.

If the colony is happy then you will get a lot of honey but please contact your local authority first to find out the laws surrounding keeping Bees. Here in South Africa it is fairly relaxed as we have so much open space even in the cities where I stay. Also honey should not be your one and only motivating reason for starting this wonderful hobby. Mine to be honest is to breed Bees so that there are a few left over when my children decide to keep them as well.

Also be careful with your horses and being near Bees. Big animals like that like to use Bee hives as scratching posts and might upset the Bees which could result in a fatal attack. Here in Africa we have so many natural predators which also love the honey so we have to keep the hives behind a fence to protect them

reply to post by dlbott


An informative link for you, www.tbhsbywam.com...

I think keeping bees is an admirable way of helping to sustain the population. Not to mention you get raw honey and comb. Yummy!

Philippines

Hmm, I thought Schumann Resonances could be considered as a natural frequency of the Earth:

Schumann resonances are the principal background in the electromagnetic spectrum beginning at 3 Hz and extend to 60 Hz, and appear as distinct peaks at extremely low frequencies (ELF) around 7.83 (fundamental). 14.3, 20.8, 27.3 and 33.8 Hz.

The Schumann resonance is the Earth-ionosphere waveguide resonance. It's not the "frequency of the Earth", and on top of that, it's not a single frequency and it's not the same from minute to minute. There are constant variations as the ionosphere reacts to the Sun and things like gamma bursts. At any rate, it's "driven" by lightning strikes and doesn't always have a signal in it, and when it does, it's both vanishingly small and very very long wavelength, meaning it doesn't interact well with things less than a few miles in length. And it's not directional, so you can't really navigate by it.

Also, as far as cell phone towers go, I think they're still in the list as a danger for bees. There is a good documentary called "Resonance" which goes into this theory

"Resonance" is a woo documentary with so many smoking holes in the science it actually competes with "What the &$*@ Do We Know" for the most IQ points lost watching it per minute.

Researcher Daniel Favre and his colleagues performed 83 experiment recording the reaction of honeybees to cell phones in their off state, standby state or active talking state. It turns out that when cell phones are in their "active" state (sending or receiving signals), honeybees are strongly disoriented and suffer from widespread miscommunication that causes them to stop seeking out food and begin swarming.

That was easily one of the worst experimental designs evar, next to the "school girl microwave" thing, and especially sad given that he should have been able to do better. Note that if you read the actual paper, there's no control groups and he doesn't even publish the stats,it's what we call a "qualitative study" meaning he tossed it together and saw some piping but didn't bother to document how often and in conjunction with what, no blinding either.

Who knows the real reason(s) behind it, besides of course human involvement

The studies where neonics were banned around the hives for a study show a decrease back to baseline in bee loss. Which started some European countries banning neonics, but it's a lobby war now. I think the manufacturers of them should be sued out of existence but that's me.

Thank you for this very interesting thread!

I love bee's and have thought about having a hive. I need to do some research and see if there are classes around me.
And good for you, for trying to protect a very import species!