Feral Bees- Catherine Thompson

[Chris B]

Bob,
there is a big difference between a single-use polystyrene cup and a beehive that is supposed to last at least 20 years. Asking your MP to ban polyhives would be totally hypocritical unless you also ask him to ban polysyrene universally - or at least anything that has a life expectancy less than 20 years. Are you applying this logic to polystyrene consistently in other areas of your life?

 

[Bob Bee]

Don't we have some forum etiquette about copying and pasting rants from unattributed sources?

Or has Bob himself posted it even on BusinessBarbados? http://businessbarbados.com/opportunities/green-business/the-dangers-of-polystyrene/

I am happy to be judged, this thread has already gone off topic and I feel that a balanced view in response to Poly evangelism is oft called for.

 

[Bob Bee]

Bob,
there is a big difference between a single-use polystyrene cup and a beehive that is supposed to last at least 20 years. Asking your MP to ban polyhives would be totally hypocritical unless you also ask him to ban polysyrene universally - or at least anything that has a life expectancy less than 20 years. Are you applying this logic to polystyrene consistently in other areas of your life?

The only difference "between a single-use polystyrene cup and a beehive that is supposed to last at least 20 years." is twenty years..... and the "supposed" is also rather telling, I wonder how many will genuinely still be service in 10 ?

 

[Skyhook]

The only difference "between a single-use polystyrene cup and a beehive that is supposed to last at least 20 years." is twenty years..... and the "supposed" is also rather telling, I wonder how many will genuinely still be service in 10 ?

If my memory serves me right, I believe ITLD and Finman may be able to hep on that one.

 

[Skyhook]

On that note - this autumn I shall be doing my bees a favour, shaking them all out of my nasty cold hives on the floor and letting them find a nice cosy tree-hole for the winter

Anyone else going to join me?

With all the idiots round here with chainsaws? There's hardly a tree standing, let alone ones with holes!

 

[madasafish]

If we ban anything with a life of under 20 years, no new cars..PCs, fridges, washing machines etc.

caravans last over 20 years so they are safe.. as are trains..

 

[Russel]

With all the idiots round here with chainsaws? There's hardly a tree standing, let alone ones with holes!

Not just where you are, everybody and his aunty has a log burner and chainsaw. There's a lot of indiscriminate tree felling and hedge row flailing every where you go these days!

 

[Chris B]

The only difference "between a single-use polystyrene cup and a beehive that is supposed to last at least 20 years." is twenty years..... and the "supposed" is also rather telling, I wonder how many will genuinely still be service in 10 ?

I've been using polys for 10 years. I can see no difference in appearance between the oldest ones and the newest.

The hives are supposed to last 20 years, but I'm quite glad to find out they'll still be in use in 500 years!

Contrary to popular belief, polystyrene can also be incinerated at high temperature to produce water, carbon dioxide and carbon. In my will I'll request my coffin be made of high density poly and any hives that snuff it before me can be sent to the crematorium with me at no extra cost. Can't say fairer than that.

 

[user 6228]

Can I pose the question,,,...

Why do bees deign to build their unmanaged colonies in draughty roof spaces and in cavity walls with a good through draught... or even chimney flues for that matter... and why if the bees really do prefer a nice tree hole do they settle for a nasty uninsulated wooden bait hive ?
......

bees make balanced multifactorial decisions (unlike humans)... and have the flexibility in their metabolism to pick the best out a bad lot and be able to use it.

Nest conductivity is big factor in the energy required to survive. There are bee behaviours that are possible candidates for bees being able to infer nest conductivity, but as Tom Seeley related, the experiments to detect this haven't been done yet

 

[drumgerry]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the eco credentials of wood are much over-rated. Where do you think your western red cedar hives are coming from? How are they being transported? What is fuelling that transport? Utter hypocrisy to decry poly hives when the felling and processing of timber hives is not exactly an operation with a low carbon footprint.

 

[Ely]

Dung hives! Cheap, sustainable, biodegradable. Problem is, they're sh!t!

Sent from my XT615 using Tapatalk 2

 

[mbc]

Dung hives! Cheap, sustainable, biodegradable. Problem is, they're sh!t!

Sent from my XT615 using Tapatalk 2

Lol.

 

[Into the lions den]

The only difference "between a single-use polystyrene cup and a beehive that is supposed to last at least 20 years." is twenty years..... and the "supposed" is also rather telling, I wonder how many will genuinely still be service in 10 ?

Our first poly hives are now 17 years old............number of items from a total of 120 no longer in service..........1...a roof run over by the truck, crumbled up by my father for drainage chips for hs potplants.

3000 units put into service in 1999 and 2000. Number itof items no longer in service....estimated at about 30..........three broken roofs, one floor with hole eaten by rats, a couple with corners knocked off when clipped by the bee trucks. The balance were destryed in 2011 when a gamekeeper lost control of a heather burn and took out 14 hives, completely destroyed.

A handful of more recent ones lost, in same incident.

Rotted boxes nil.
Bee eaten or worn away boxes nil.
Boxes that look as if the will wear out in the next 20 years? Nil. Even the first ones will see me out. They were said to be good for 30 years. Looks more like they are good for a lifetime.

Not to mention production up 20 to 30% in poly as opposed to the same in wood, and far lower winter losses. (This year its amazing the difference.........looking at a loss rate of a third or less of that in the wooden hives.)

They are just brilliant, and soon we will be selling off all our wooden hives bar a small unit of Smiths that are part of our heritage that I will keep as a personal act of romantic folly.

 

[Into the lions den]

Oh, and if the article were true, that every time you used a styrofoam container for hot food you got a dose of carcinogens they would have been banned long long ago. Its yet more anti everything campaigning tripe.

The rules about food containers are very severe, they even banned the flowedin material in the caps of jars not so long ago and it had to be changed for another compound because the original one released tiny traces of semicarbazide into the product, and semicarbazide has since (after a campaign scare to the contrary) been shown to be pretty well harmless.

The reckless disposal of used poly based materials and them floating about for generations is another matter altogether, but that is because we are a truly messy lot and its those dumping it that need dealing with rather than the material itself.

The carbon footprint of a poly hive over its lifespan is going to be negligible. The bees in them produce more honey and eat less bought in sugar, plus the colonies die less frequently.

 

[Bob Bee]

Not to mention production up 20 to 30%

Same argument used by farmers to continue with Neonics ......

 

[Into the lions den]

Not to mention production up 20 to 30%

Same argument used by farmers to continue with Neonics ......

Fine. Its up to you. Nobble your bees, nobble your production. Suits me fine.

Our hive products are analysed to within an inch of their lives for a vast array of things. The nature of the beast being a chosen supplier to very large clients.

The things your scaremongering cut and paste article mentions are NOT there. Ditto neonics, all of which are looked for to their limit of detectability.

 

[user 6228]

Not to mention production up 20 to 30%

Same argument used by farmers to continue with Neonics ......

Outrageous.
Poly used in hives is about the greenest use of petroleum products you can come up with. The permanance of the product is matched by the longevity of use. The performance of the material is difficult to match, in terms of Lamda value, lightness and durability. If you had one piece of plastic in your life then you would still be justifed in it being a polyhive.

UNSEEN CO2 of wooden hives.
The unseen CO2 footprint of wooden hives is the vast quantitiy of wasted nectar. That production loss is directly converted to CO2 and water. The nectar loss means more bees are needed and their lifetime efforts wasted.

 

[Finman]

Not to mention production up 20 to 30%

Same argument used by farmers to continue with Neonics ......

Good heavens!!! What a child!

CO2 foot prints of hive boxes............second Good heavens!! Do you really have any problems in your life!



.

 

[REDWOOD]

Do you think the government should give us a grant to convert our wooden hives to poly, if the whole intent and purpose is to maintain a healthy bee population and with less losses I think this would be a good idea

 

[Bob Bee]

Good heavens!!! What a child!

CO2 foot prints of hive boxes............second Good heavens!! Do you really have any problems in your life!



.

Finman, shame on you.
Interestingly I do actually have a life.