OT. Honey bee problem ? central IN.

or lack thereof? Haven't seen a honey bee this year. Can find only one solitary Butternut on my two trees. Hickory tree down the road was loaded last year. Don't see any this year. Walnut tree is bare. Leaves almost all off and no nuts to speak of.It ,too, was loaded last year. Am afraid the squirrels will be knocking on our doors this winter asking for some of those nuts we harvested last year. Guess they will just have to eat corn. Kind of eerie.Anyone else experiencing the same.

Pretty rare to see any feral ones around here.

One a great note, I read this past week that a keeper in England believes he has come across mite resistant bees and has been working on a viable variety.

"Ron Hoskins, 79, from Swindon in southern England, says he has managed to isolate and breed a strain of bees which "groom" one another, removing the mites."

This still doesn't deal with colony collapse, but is a start.
Mite resistant bees.

Never see a lot of honeybees near me. 6 miles away a fella keeps a few colonies on my inlaw's property, they've been going strong.

On my place I've seen more bumble bees this year than I have in the total of my whole life before!

--->Paul

msb,

Around here the honey bees are working their butts off. The hive looks like a super highway at rush hour.

I thought the hive died off over the winter because nobody was stirring this spring. They got a real late start this year, but they are really making up for lost time.

We have lost quite a few hives here in the Appalachias, mainly due to greedy and lazy beekeepers. The diligent keepers insulated the hives to help keep the nasty winter out. Many people do not do such a good job keeping the mites from getting the upper hand. My hive is also on top of a shipping container; to keep the bears at bay and give them more morning sun. Two years ago I lost two hives to bears. Fortunately they rebuilt their colonys after getting put into new hives. The game comission finally trapped three bears within fifty feet of the hives.

Many keep moving their hives and the bees get lost on the way back home because of all the shifting. My hive never moves. We also did not take off so much honey last fall either. I only have three quarts of last fall's wild left right now. Considering their upkeep; the honey is mighty expensive. Still, those boys work hard for me and if I get no honey at all this year; I would consider their pollination work enough payback for the rent.

Keep the faith.
Charlie at
Moline Parts

greenbeanman in Kansas,

A mite resistant honey bee is music to my ears. You just made my day. Things are not going well recently, but your news is a ray of sunshine. No more acid pads will be great.

Charlie

Some claim 85% of the honeybee losses are due to a parasitic mite.

Yep that is why pesticides and all the non organic stuff is so bad. We keep trying to improve on what god did and we keep on killing off what we need to have.

Last year I didn't see any around here either .

mostly corn and soybeans in area. this year was quite a bit of clover being harvested . seen lots of them before haying now I have a few that like my humming bird feeder .

I haven't seen as many bees this year either. I have marigolds, nasturtium, and zinias in the garden along with lots of mullein along one border and still have lots of blossoms not being pollinated. I see a few in the goldenrod, but not near as many as other years. I walk my old fields twice a day; see lots of butterflies and bumble type bees, but fewer honey bees.

Larry

In south western PA. we are seeing a few more honey bees but seeing a lot more small bumblebees and it seems like they are doing the work of the honey bee.

Regarding nut trees, I don't know about all of the ones you mentioned but hickory trees have "on and off" years. I have stonecrop plants near the mailbox and honey bees are all over them recently, west central Ohio.

Will mites kill off the Killer Bees?

Why didn't DDT do them in then?

Your nut tree problems are more than likely a weather related issue rather than a lack of honey bee one. The early warm up and cold weather later wiped out much of the fruit tree blooms here. I know that in wet years it seems that nut trees don"t do well.

I've seen more wild honey bees nests this year than in the last 20 years. What I've noticed about these colonies is that they are foraging much earlier in the spring than I have ever seen bees do. Also, I've noticed that all five colonies seem to be slightly larger than the honey bees I remember seeing as a kid and all of these colonies are very aggressive. With the bumble bees, I've noticed I have fewer in the ground this year than in years past and more in buildings. Also, they appear to be the larger less aggressive bumble bees. BUT.... I've got one nest of them that has got to go.