# Some good news, Bees



## Toefoot (Jun 21, 2017)

The number of U.S. honeybees, a critical component in the agriculture industry, rose in 2017 from a year earlier, and deaths of the insects attributed to a mysterious malady that's affected hives in North America and Europe declined, according a U.S. Department of Agriculture honeybee health survey released Tuesday.

The number of commercial U.S. honeybee colonies rose 3 percent to 2.89 million as of April 1, 2017 compared with a year earlier, the Agriculture Department reported. The number of hives lost to Colony Collapse Disorder, a phenomenon of disappearing bees that has raised concerns among farmers and scientists for a decade, was 84,430 in this year's first quarter, down 27 percent from a year earlier. Year-over-year losses declined by the same percentage in April through June, the most recent data in the survey.

Link:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...as-numbers-recover-while-mystery-malady-wanes


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

That is great news!


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

Very good news. A co-worker and I kept a couple of wild-caught hives for years, but they succumbed to that terrible disease. We need bees.


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## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

Very great news indeed, the honeybee is a critical part of food production.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

That is good news. I will try to quit giving them a swat.


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

I let honeybees live. Anything else that fly's and stings I kill outright. I take particular pleasure in killing hornets. :vs_closedeyes:


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## Redneck (Oct 6, 2016)

Prepared One said:


> I let honeybees live. Anything else that fly's and stings I kill outright.


We need to protect all our pollinators. Our crops will fail without them. Keep in mind other bees pollinate too. For example, bumblebees are much better pollinators than honeybees. They work longer & in conditions honeybees quit flying, such as windy or cloudy/rainy days. I have lots of bees in my pastures, orchard & garden. I have plenty of honeybees, as my neighbor has several hives but the stars of pollination are the big bumblebees.

The issue with the demise of the honeybee has much to do with man. We raise them for their honey. The modern commercial hives are not like a wild hive and that impacts the health of the bees. For example beekeepers don't let their bees make their own comb, they use commercially made foundation where every cell is of uniform size & placement. They also reuse old beeswax in these foundations which is contaminated with miticides and other chemicals from treating bees from prior hives. So not only are bees poisoned by chemicals in the environment but are poisoned in their own hives. When you consider a single hive of honeybees can contain 20,000 to 60,000 bees, that can cause a huge impact.

Bumblebees live in the wild and there are only 50-400 bees in each of their hives. I'm blessed to have many, many of these inquisitive pollinators. Others are now raising & using mason bees, which are considered the best pollinators by far. Just 250-300 mason bees can pollinate a whole acre of apples by themselves. They are called solitary bees in that they don't live in hives but raise their young in tubes or similar. Since they don't live in a hive, they don't have an instinct to protect the hive, so no protective gear is needed when raising them.


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