It's been all over the bee guild, lately. I missed last night's meeting, but there's been a huge amount of discussion about it on our mailing list. We're all seeing this as a canary-in-the-coal mine situation, too.
The other thing that is worrisome is that such a major portion of our food supply depends on bees for pollination. No bees, less food. That simple.
Yeah, our local guilds are all abuzz, too, and an interesting thing I noted was that one of the guys that refuses to let his hives travel has had an easier time than nearlye everyone else. But the hobbiest were still hit.
*sigh* And last year was such a productive year for so many folks around here.
I heard about this on NPR about two weeks ago. This is one of the more bizarre things to come down the line in a while. And no one seems to know if it's something that could be spread should other bees be brought in to replenish the stocks. Bizarre and scary!
Exactly. Especially the fact that the hive bodies that were used by the affected bees might still carry what killed them off. So all that equipment may just have to be destroyed. This is going to suck so badly.
Back in the days when foulbrood was about all we had to worry about (!!!), affected hives were fire-sterilized by charring the insides and burning all the frames and foundation. This was pretty routine, in the '70's. I find myself wondering if people have gotten lax, thinking that chemicals and antibiotics are going to fix everything.
The almond pollination is a real confluence of factsrs for creating a virus that could kill off colonies. As the article says, something like a Bee AIDS could have developed there and ALL those millions of coloneys then go back to their home states to spread it there. Possibly last year, and then all the coloneys affected would then infect all the coloneys they came back in contact with in their home states.
And the real affect would be during the winter, where any weakness just kills the bees off faster... and if the queen dies early on the winter, there would be no workers left by the time spring rolled around.
Ah, and there's the question. The theory in my bee guild is that it's a combination of factors, including viruses that have been brought into areas where they previously didn't exist, possibly from Asia. Think smallpox and indigenous peoples.
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Date: 2007-02-28 06:53 pm (UTC)The other thing that is worrisome is that such a major portion of our food supply depends on bees for pollination. No bees, less food. That simple.
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Date: 2007-02-28 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-28 07:25 pm (UTC)*sigh* And last year was such a productive year for so many folks around here.
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Date: 2007-02-28 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-28 07:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-28 07:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-28 07:18 pm (UTC)it's got to be the pesticide use, it seems no? i mean, what else?
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Date: 2007-02-28 07:24 pm (UTC)The almond pollination is a real confluence of factsrs for creating a virus that could kill off colonies. As the article says, something like a Bee AIDS could have developed there and ALL those millions of coloneys then go back to their home states to spread it there. Possibly last year, and then all the coloneys affected would then infect all the coloneys they came back in contact with in their home states.
And the real affect would be during the winter, where any weakness just kills the bees off faster... and if the queen dies early on the winter, there would be no workers left by the time spring rolled around.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-28 07:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-01 06:25 am (UTC)