- Joined
- Feb 15, 2015
- Messages
- 3,465
- Reaction score
- 4,102
- Location
- Dorset
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- Five
The fields adjacent to my apiary are used for intensive grass production for silage and for a digester to produce energy. The fields are regularly blitzed with Roundup and reseeded, then after each cut, the slop from the digester and slurry gets dumped on the fields. (Four times last year).I think trying to make a living with honey bees is most certainly getting more difficult.
When I started 50 years ago, the worst thing that could happen was AFB. Very little
of that ever. No real issue burning a few hives. Now, I never see the disease. Of course Acarine and Varroa changed everything.
I deal with that. Lose a little bit, gain a little bit. But in recent years, the annual losses are getting scary. 2014-2015 2% loss. 2015-2016 6% loss.
2016-2017 40% loss. 2022-2023 60% loss. My oldest apiaries that used to be the best for production are no longer so.
Maize everywhere. Pesticide level in trapped pollen is deadly. Trapped pollen in 2023 had 10.75 ppb of clothianadin maize neonic. 1 % is high enough to see measurable damage. This pollen was trapped in May when maize is just up 6". No maize pollen. It's coming from the surrounding fields that have been poisoned by maize planter dust, and migration through the soil into wildflowers in adjoining fields and meadows. The Dandelion pollen had 4.5 ppb...at 5 ppb the researchers say we lose half of our queens.
350 ppb of Metolachlor...a pre-emergent herbicide for grasses. Seriously?? And why is it that I can hardly keep my bees alive?
If you believe the propaganda that honey bees and beekeeping haven't suffered severe setbacks in the last 10 years, I have a bridge in Brooklyn
for sale. Sorry for the rant but my bees are dwindling before my very eyes, and I see their life force slipping away.
Here’s a pic showing the dandelion opportunity for my bees this year….
![83110B7E-2F36-49BC-B0E7-92D784AEA546.jpeg 83110B7E-2F36-49BC-B0E7-92D784AEA546.jpeg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/beekeepingforum/data/attachments/27/27610-77266117afb335ad6a8c20fa9d34f881.jpg)