The simple reason all the bees are dying off..

I'm curious as to one point of this issue ... the bee bodies.

The way I see it either there are dying/dead bees in these colonies, or the bees just disappear. I can't see the insecticide/pesticide arguments holding merit if there are no bee bodies left over. Unless bees have some specific behavior when they know a colony is dying they fly far away into a cave or something.

Realtruth, have you talked to any of your suppliers if bodies are found or not?

And one last thing, what about instead of missing/dead bees you simply have much lower fertility rates? You would think someone would have already made the connection there, but you'd be surprised at some of the stuff I've done research on (mostly in programming/algorithms) that is a big ol' DUH! slap to the head but no one had thought of before. Maybe the Monsantos and Bayers are (in)advertently dampening reproduction rates.

If it is a fact of disappearance ... I'd REALLY like to know what's going on. I don't want to disappear in a similar fashion.

Originally posted by Valkyr8
But what you are forgetting is if they were all dieing off there would be bodies. There are no bodies.

Doesn't need to be. They could be dieing off out in the fields. Doesn't take much time for pestasides/birds/spiders to kill a bee. The bodies aren't always recognizable either. xP Should the bee be lost, it might as well be dead.

Thank you for posting this. I've been reading a lot on the missing bees. I think it's very bad for nature that all the bees have died.

Also what is Bayer, a pharmaceutical company, doing making neurotoxins???? I have painkillers by Bayer in my medicinkabinet but they go straight out the door TODAY!!! What if they make a mix up with the toxins and the meds.... men that would be desasterous!

Well people might think i'm crazy but i think the missing bees have allot to do with the Mobile phone towers and cell phones.

I think people overreact on this issue. If bees were to go extinct, we can pollinate our own plants. We have the production capacity to do so.

reply to post by k-string


I don't think it's an over reaction Yes you are correct but are you going to run around all day long to pollinate plants for your food?

I don't think you grasp how much work the bees do

Where have all the bees gone?

Originally posted by tide88
From what I understood it was only the european honey bee that was dissapearing. There is something like 20,000 different kinds of bees.
Don't really think we have to worry too much.

Thats what I heard to

I also heard that the bee population in North America had a slow increase, but that was a few months back

Either way, good post

reply to post by theruhe


That's the way I heard it too. Oz beekeepers are currently very busy exporting bees to the affected countries because we're still free of the mites here fortunately. Attempts at controlling the mites with pesticides have proven to be disastrous for the bees as well so some more 'natural' controls are being trialled.

Google 'Varroa mite' for good factual information on the problem and what's being done in an attempt to correct it before it's too late.

A little info

and here

Originally posted by tide88
From what I understood it was only the european honey bee that was dissapearing. There is something like 20,000 different kinds of bees.
Don't really think we have to worry too much.

You may want to re-think that...

Honey bees make up the vast majority of the "pollination workforce". The other bee species tend to be solitary, and only make up a very small percentage of the "pollination workforce".

Don't care for almonds? Bees also pollinate apples, avocados, soybeans, broccoli, celery, asparagus, squash, cucumbers, peaches, kiwi, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries and cantaloupe. Pennsylvania says 90 per cent of its apple crop (worth $45 million a year) wouldn't exist without bees. Farmers of many kinds - especially fruit, nut and oilseed (such as canola) growers - hire beekeepers to bring hives at pollination time.

Crops that do not rely upon animal pollination include wheat, corn and rice. "We've replaced pollination services formerly provided by diverse groups of wild bees with domesticated honeybees," said Kremen. But if something happens to the honeybees, "we don't have a backup plan." While the crisis hasn't affected Canada in a significant way for now, U.S.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns recently warned in a statement: "This crisis threatens to wipe out production of crops dependent on bees for pollination."

Beekeepers move from farm to farm through the year, up to 20 moves a year in the southern U.S., though far fewer in Canada. In Ontario, bees are in greatest demand in Niagara and along the north shore of Lake Erie for the various fruit crops. New Brunswick needs bees for blueberries. Florida needs them for citrus fruits. "No bees, no citrus crop," says Brent Halsall of Greely, Ont., president of the Ontario Beekeepers' Association. He's hoping the American disorder doesn't come here.

We all need bees.
Without them there would be wide-spread famine and malnutrition.
The decrease in food production would push food prices through the roof and many of us would starve.

Originally posted by ashamedamerican


We're literally talking about the collapse of our entire ecosystem, and possibly the end of the human race if this is true.

Ya, uhm not so. Do you think the morons behind this (dumb as they are) would forget to make a bail out plan for themselves? They are humans and ashamed to be fools, basically.

Welp, we'll see, me hearties.

Originally posted by Fiverz


Realtruth, have you talked to any of your suppliers if bodies are found or not?

I see it first hand, the bees are somehow, someway are not returning to the hives and I don't mean they swarm and leave the hives.

These bees are actually losing there way somehow.

Prior to all of this happening, beekeepers including myself would get the typical bee problems that were quantifiable. Mites, bacteria, viruses. We could see the dead hives and bees, whether they were inside and outside.

Remember one thing about bees, then never and I mean never leave their honey at the hive if they decide to leave for another location, and if bees die or get sick they stay close to the hive and die there, so bodies are visible. Bees protect hives with their lives, nothing is more important to them.

So what we have today is 1) Tons of honey in abandon hives 2) virtually no bees dead or alive outside hives 3) What's really strange is that other bees don't want the honey that is left in the hive. 4) I suspect GMO and pesticides and that bees are succumbing to our pollution. 5) look around at all the sicknesses today we are doing to ourselves.

Why do we really need to BS ourselves here, if it kills small living things in small amounts then it will eventually hurt us. Short term gratification, BSing ourselves that everything is fine and as long as we all make money everything is OK. Bad philosophy if you ask me.

Here is an analogy. I will give you a comfortable living, a steady income warm place to live, you will be wealthy, but you and your family must drink poisons in small amounts, take medicines that we haven't a clue to long term effects, breath polluted air, listen to leaders that sell themselves out, now what are the outcomes of all this..........people are lost looking for something can see straight, confused, their minds are clouded, pretty soon they lose the ability to find their hive, money..opps I mean honey becomes not so important.

We all have to wake the hell up the bees are telling us something and we are not listening.



[edit on 6-11-2008 by Realtruth]

It seems like only yesterday that they had a problem in some areas with the African killer bees,maybe the processes used to eliviate them could of had an effect on regular bees,but as far as bees go still plenty around here

In the United states In a majority of these cases they are saying bee die off because the bees are disappearing from bee keeper hives. one day there there the next there gone. No body's to examine. In the last year they have found them. They have simply moved. They have gone from the bee keepers hives to foreclosed and abandoned homes. Below is just one of many web sites on the subject.

honeeybees busy moving

There is no proof any way you look at it, but the alarming number of foreclosed homes reported with bees as the only residents on a extreme rise.

I have heard this on a few learning channels shows as well. cant remember the names its just kinda one of those types of things you only half hear.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


As usual, there is a whole world outside of Texas.

Just because your area is fine, doesn't mean it is fine everywhere else.


So back to business.

I have heard that food prices are going to skyrocket next year, because that is when the effect of lack of bees are going to be felt. One out of four bites of food can be attributed to bees.

4h clubs and other agriculture groups are urging people to start colonies in their yards if they can. Many societies will give you a queen for free.

I think other reasons that can be attributed to CC.

lack of food: people now remove every dandelion and clover from their yard so they can have golf course grass, eliminating a massive food supply for the bees.
Clover is actually really good for your yard. Has more nitrogen then fertilizer. The flowers are pretty. keep it.


Pesticides. Have been found in massive amounts on bees.

Too warm winters. Bees need cold winters to induce hibernation. without hibernation, they do not reaching the breeding cycle.

reply to post by OhZone


[Background]

Actually [endogenous] Glutamate is a neurotransmitter in our brains. We have distinct receptors for glutamate (just like we do for dopamine or endorphins). They are part of a family of receptors called NMDA.

Glutamine passes through the blood-brain barrier. Its then converted to Glutamic Acid / Glutamate. This acts as an excitatory transmitter and overactivity, or dysfunction of this system has been linked to a large number of psychiatric disorders and pain disorders as well as strokes and seizures.

Glutamate is synthesized to GABA. The inhibitory transmitter that acts like the body's brakes. Dysfunction in our endogenous GABA-ergic systems are usually linked to panic disorders and stuff as well as seizures.

But what happens when you take too much [exogenous] GABA (pills/capsules) that you buy from a pharmacy? You cannot overdose on this (unless you mix with alcohol or other downers)

--

[My point]

Exogenous substances (substances outside the body, -drugs) need to cross the blood-brain-barrier before they can be classified as "neurotoxins". Both GABA and Glutamate do not do that well. Glutamate does not cross the barrier to enter the brain. Neither can do the supplement GABA do it in sufficient quantity to produce something serious. Similarly you can't get much with taking say nor-epinephrine in your food, or serotonin. These get made in the brain. They do not cross the barrier from outside.

From what I have noticed personally I think a lot has to do with US. Everyday people are doing a huge part of this in my opinion, see if I aint right and do something for me.

Go outside and look into the front and back yards of your home and your neighbors, how many of those little yellow bullets that are sold as wasp killers do you see? How many are half full of bees and wasps? I can count right now in my yard and the closest 3 neighbors on each side, 13 of these bee killing bullets and most of them are at least 1/4 full if not more

I aint saying Monsanto or Bayer aren't helping, but look at yourselves before you start pointing fingers. I am pulling min down today and telling the wife to stop buying these things, she does it so our grandson doesn't get stung playing in the backyard. Joke is killing them off may sting him more than anyone knows.

Just my thoughts...

Originally posted by nixie_nox
reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

 

As usual, there is a whole world outside of Texas.

Just because your area is fine, doesn't mean it is fine everywhere else.

yes there is, but none of it matters. Texas is the only place that matters.


j/k...

what i was doing was providing a regional response on behalf of west texas.

I got stung by a bee on Saturday and it wasn't a pleasant experience, but I don't kill them if I can help it. We are in a rural area with lots of hay fields and pasture, and there are lots of wildflowers and home gardens.

My garden did well this Spring and Summer and there are still a lot of honeybees and bumblebees around here. There may not be as many chemicals in the system out here since much of the area is either used for livestock and horses, or maintained for hunting.

Ultimately I think what is killing the bees is human ignorance and arrogance.

A lot of people don't understand what bees do and see them only as a threat, a somewhat dangerous "pest" to be rid of. We look at nature only as it relates to ourselves and our convenience. We want our lawns free of daisies and dandelions, spiders, bees, and wasps, and our houses free of everything.

Apparently we have learned nothing from watching what happened to the "cycle of life" when we eliminated most of the high-end predators from the "civilized" world and made a mostly feeble and inadequate attempt to take their place (largely because too many people are upset about shooting "Bambi" and "Thumper" and etc.). Now prey animals are overpopulated. They attack crops and overgraze, and in the Winter they die off anyway from lack of food. We've destroyed the balance in the mammalian predator-prey world, and now we're attempting to do the same to the insect world?

We need bats and insect-eating birds, and we need spiders. They eat tremendous amounts of insects. We need "good" bugs who eat "bad" bugs, not more pesticides. Whether or not humanity needs bees, the environment does need them. If only we could stop being short-sighted and selfish long enough to appreciate and work within the balance of the natural system instead of trying to alter it to suit ourselves, which has generally led to, and will probably continue to lead to, one or another form of disaster.