Dying Bees

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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We have a few citrus trees that have been blooming. We had some at the other house, too, and we always enjoyed how the hney bees would frolick doing their pollenation thing.

But the last few days the bees are dying. They are all over the ground in their death throes.

We've obviously done nothing, but are surrounded by large lots which are planted with different crops.

Just wondering if anyone had any insight to bee behavior. I know about collapsed hive syndrom but never experienced it.

BTW: why do dogs like eating these bees and not other insects? Mine go nutso eating them out of the sky like me after flying beef jerky...
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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I would assume that you have not sprayed your trees, but perhaps the neighboring fields have been sprayed? Bees are hardy insects so this is serious. Have you looked at them--before the dogs eat them? Are there any whitish spots on them?

A world without bees is not a good thing. Did you know that the words for bees and honey are one of the major sources of linguistic studies as to migration and origins of languages??

HB
 

AlterEgo

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Coincidentally, today's NY Times has an article about this. Not DR study but might give some insight:

<nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" ">Study Finds No Single Cause of Honeybee Deaths</nyt_headline>


WASHINGTON — The devastation of American honeybee colonies is the result of a complex stew of factors, including pesticides, parasites, poor nutrition and a lack of genetic diversity, according to a comprehensive federal study published on Thursday. The problems affect pollination of American agricultural products worth tens of billions of dollars a year.

The report does not place more weight on one factor over another, and recommends a range of actions and further research.
Honeybees are used to pollinate hundreds of crops, from almonds to strawberries to soybeans. Since 2006, millions of bees have been dying in a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder. The cause or causes have been the subject of much study and speculation.
The federal report appears the same week that European officials took steps toward banning a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, derived from nicotine, that they consider a critical factor in the mass deaths of bees there.
But officials in the United States Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and others involved in the bee study said that there was not enough evidence to support a ban on one group of pesticides, and that the costs of such action might exceed the benefits.
“At E.P.A. we let science drive the outcome of decision making,” said Jim Jones, the agency’s acting assistant administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention. “There are non-trivial costs to society if we get this wrong. There are meaningful benefits from these pesticides to farmers and to consumers, as well as for affordable food.”
May R. Berenbaum, head of the department of entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a participant in the study, said that examination of dead bees had found residues of more than 100 chemicals, insecticides and pesticides, including some used to control parasites in bee hives.
Like Mr. Jones, she rejected the idea of an immediate ban on the use of neonicotinoids or any other single pesticide.
“It’s not a simple matter of just removing pesticides,” she said in a conference call for reporters Thursday. “It is difficult to predict the effect of removing one of 100 different contaminants.”
“There is no quick fix,” she said. “Patching one hole in a boat that leaks everywhere is not going to keep it from sinking.”
One of the most fatal afflictions in bee colonies is the parasitic mite Varroa destructor, which infests beehives and is thought to be responsible for numerous die-offs. Another factor is the planting of vast areas in a single crop like corn, limiting the forage supplies for bees.
Zac Browning, a fourth-generation commercial beekeeper who operates more than 20,000 hives for honey production and pollination in California, Idaho and North Dakota, said the solution to the bee crisis will require a broad approach and many players.
He said that the supply of bees is falling short of the need, citing difficulty rounding up enough bees to pollinate the winter almond crop in California and blueberry bushes in Maine this spring.
“We’re on the brink,” he said. “I don’t know if we’ve crossed that threshold yet, but we’re getting there fast.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/science/earth/government-study-cites-mix-of-factors-in-death-of-honeybees.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=SC_SFN_20130503

 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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Talk about one thing that could limit the population in a very short period of time. No need to hit 10 Billion before other limits kick in if the honeybees continue do die.
 

AlterEgo

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Just across the road from our house and down a bit, a friend of Mr AE's has a small finca. He has rented out a portion of it to someone who has placed a LOT of beehives there. They take the honey out in 55 gallon drums.

With all our avocado and mango trees flowering at the same time while we were there, we were treated to a daily non-stop visit of many of the bees all over our property.
 

flyinroom

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Aug 26, 2012
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BTW: why do dogs like eating these bees and not other insects? Mine go nutso eating them out of the sky like me after flying beef jerky...


Make sure he is actually going after the bees. There is a neurological condition in dogs known as "fly snapping syndrome" that is far more common than you might think.
P.S. I keep a wide berth of any dogs who are suffering from this as you can well imagine. ;)
 

Dolores1

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Contact Jake Kheel at the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation. His expert, El Rubio, can tell you what is wrong. Tel 809 959-9221
Also Sesar Rodriguez at the Consorcio Ambiental Dominicano (CAD) that groups environmental agencies, at Tel 809 385-0480. He also is a leading bee expert. This documentary can give some ideas of what could be the problem:
George Langworthy ? Vanishing Of The Bees
 

appleman

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Dec 18, 2003
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CB,

I raised bees for a while so I know a little about their behavior. When a foraging bee finds a good source of nectar, It communicates with the other bees in the hive when it comes back and they all head out to the flowering blossoms to collect the nectar and pollen found there. Unfortunately, if that field, tree, or garden was sprayed recently, all those bees have the chance to become contaminated with the insecticide. Even though bees are very hardy, some insecticides (like Sevin) are EXTREMELY toxic to bees and it can decimate a colony.

When trees were in bloom, we would only spray a fungicide so visiting bees would not have a chance to pick up insecticide poisoning. Most people are not aware of the consequences of spraying at the wrong times, and thus many bees are lost while visiting a single site.

bob
 

flyinroom

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Aug 26, 2012
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Make sure he is actually going after the bees. There is a neurological condition in dogs known as "fly snapping syndrome" that is far more common than you might think.
P.S. I keep a wide berth of any dogs who are suffering from this as you can well imagine. ;)

Apropos of my earlier comment...................

[video=youtube;iUgpZUIYSvw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=iUgpZUIYSvw[/video]

Poor thing.
 

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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The bees don't have white spots. Just dead.

We've been here for two months now and haven't sprayed anything. The bees have been here before but just now are dying.

I haven't seen anything sprayed on the three fields that border our property, and we'd probably have seen them. The dogs bark when anyone is tending the fields. Could have happened, of course, but we haven't seen them.

The dogs don't "snap" at flying things. The only go after bees...and eat them like a delicacy. Not flies, dragon flies, etc. Just bees.
 

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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Contact Jake Kheel at the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation. His expert, El Rubio, can tell you what is wrong. Tel 809 959-9221
Also Sesar Rodriguez at the Consorcio Ambiental Dominicano (CAD) that groups environmental agencies, at Tel 809 385-0480. He also is a leading bee expert. This documentary can give some ideas of what could be the problem:
George Langworthy ? Vanishing Of The Bees
Thanks!
 

flyinroom

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Aug 26, 2012
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Make sure he is actually going after the bees. There is a neurological condition in dogs known as "fly snapping syndrome" that is far more common than you might think.
P.S. I keep a wide berth of any dogs who are suffering from this as you can well imagine. ;)

To be clear, a dog that is suffering from this condition is not actually snapping at flies. He/she is snapping at thin air. This is thought to be some sort of tic or seizure......
 

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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The problem with bees is they are in conflict with the food producers profit margins, ie they are wiling to give up their pesticides unless there is overwhelming evidence. At some point they will have figured it out, but knowing how greed is it would be too late.