This is the single most devastating issue out there, yet very little attention is paid to it. I don’t understand. Honeybees are crucial to our food supply and their loss would be an event that would be impossible to recover from in any sort of timely fashion. Millions would die of starvation and the economic consequences would be immense…
http://www.redflagnews.com/headlines/us-honeybee-disappearance-worsens-video-news-story
I tried to keep bees for several years, and expended a small fortune. Queens kept dying season after season. The only place I could purchase queens was from California. I truly believe that this is where the problem lies. California uses so many chemicals and has an humungous amount of gmos planted that I think they are shipping a defective product all over the country. 5 replacement queens in one year, at $35 a whack is a big hickey for a guy with 2 hives. So I have packed up my $600 in equipment, and will wait until someone in the area reports in with better luck. And no, I had no bee diseases in my hives, they were all brand new when this started. Luckily, I have an abundance of Bumble Bees and hummingbirds in my area. You cannot save your seed for the next year without some means of pollination. These big corporations better wake up before we all die of starvation. Or is that the plan?
Hey Farmer Dave
I have been studying on beekeeping and have been planning on getting one started. Someone’s got 20 bee boxes for $18 a piece on Craigslist for sale and I am broke right now…. bummer!
But, I might hold off on them for awhile because wtshtf we are heading to the hidey-hole, and I have so many prep projects going on right now. I might just buy a couple bee boxes to hold on to for better days.
Thanks for the info on the queen problems because a friend of mine is getting some hives soon
When you buy your bee boxes, be sure to get trays with smaller cells, or plan to regress to natural cell size, which help make the infant bees too small or difficult for Varroa mites to attach during the developing stages – smaller but healthier bees with less to no need for parasiticides (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnaturalcell.htm).
I have read about half of the link you sent pretty interesting, but I have go to go to bed I am spinning. Not drunk, just tired. haha
Thanks for the link, it looks like I’ll be busy for a while on the whole site.
This is one of the main culprits.
And yes, FarmerDave, it IS intentional.
http://www.fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/bayer-cropscience-and-bee-deaths/36276/
ahhh..monsanto is planning the massive funeral as we speak~ honey not included.