Charlynn asked me what I thought about the bees disappearing. It's somthing I've been reading a lot about this week. I'm not quite sure what to think. On the one hand a lot of bee keepers seem to say that these things happen every few decades and bees always seem to come through and survive. their numbers dwindle and then they come back fighting and all is well again and they wouldn't have survived sor so many millions of years otherwise.
But I also think that they are up against a lot more these days. I don't think they are up against 'nature' this time. They are up against chemical warfare really instead.
The entomologists all seem to have various ideas of why bees are disappearing - apart from the diseases that is (I'm talking about colony collapse disorder rather than the diseases and parasites). Some say it is caused by the stress bees are under these days from being transported from State to State to pollinate crops. Some say its caused by pesticides like Neonicotinoids (same as nioctine - it breaks down the bees immune system, causes memory loss and damages their sense of navigatin. This has been banned in France after campaigning by French Beekeepers).
Many believe the bees lives follow our lives - that when our lives get stressed the bees lives get stressed :)
Many try to raise their bees in an organic way but when you think about it, you can only keep your hive in an organic manner - your bees don't stay on your own land - they fly off and take nectar from other peoples plants - so you can't say your bees are organic......they are taking their nectar and honey from the environemnt around us....you can't keep them safe from the environment around us......sadly you ahve to hope the farmers and land owners around you don't use too many pesticides....
My bees won't be moved around much......They can feast on my dandelions and clover and my garden as much as they like. I plan to grow a bee garden and vegetables and MANY sunflowers for a late Summer feast. My neighbours all grow hay......so not much there for my bees to feast on but the odd dandelion and clover.....
As for Colony Collapse Disorder.....I don't know.....I hope they find an answer. The amount of bees really is astounding - this is MILLIONs of bees disappearing each year.......the price of ICE CREAM is going up already because of bees disappearing!!!! That really puts things into perspective!!! It's really amazing! And so sad....to watch videos on youtube of beekeepers crying because of loss of livestock :( Very sad.
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