Save the bees? Think again.

[viridens]

Yet another person has told me that they want to start beekeeping to "help save the bees". If this is what is motivating you to start beekeeping and visit this forum, please look at this article then do some further reading if you need to check facts. Article

It's a great hobby, but there is a lot to learn in the early years (and ever after!) Unfortunately, too many new beeks lose their enthusiasm when they hit snags or find that they can't tolerate stings. Like any hobby, you should enjoy what you are doing and not just soldier on because you feel obliged or because of what you have spent.

 

[Boston Bees]

Broken link?

EDIT: works now

 

[hemo]

For a lot of these do-gooders with the intentions as described, they are best off placing bee houses with various size holes in the gardens or anywhere that sees morning sun for solitary species of bees.
Secondly they should refrain from using any pesticide in the garden, instead resorting to hands/knees weeding and manual control of pests.
Plant more unusual plants and create a wildlife area.

Over the last 3 weeks with good weather I have cleared my garden manually of most weeds and generally had a good tidy up, three trips to the recycling centre/local tip to take the garden waste. Noticed a couple of Q bumbles going under ground in to likely old mice/rat holes or under some larger bits of rock that are placed around the garden.

 

[Apiarisnt]

at the risk of bringing facts into the matter, the number of beehives has been increasing:


but there are data showing a decline in honey bees, at least in Europe to 2005:
Simon G Potts, Stuart P M Roberts, Robin Dean, Gay Marris, Mike A Brown,Richard Jones, Peter Neumann & Josef Settele (2010) Declines of managed honey bees andbeekeepers in Europe, Journal of Apicultural Research, 49:1, 15-22,
and "The number of honey bees is decreasing showing a trend towards future pollinator shortage"
Bauer, D. M., & Wing, I. S. (2010). Economic consequences of pollinator declines: A synthesis. Agr. Resource
Econ. Rev., 39, 368-383.
Also worth looking at Paudel et al Honey Bees (Apis mellifera L.) and Pollination Issues: Current status, impacts and potential drivers of decline. Journal of Agricultural Science; Vol. 7, No. 6; 2015

and if you are in a town, then keeping honey bees may well be bad for other pollinators: Ropars L, Dajoz I, Fontaine C, Muratet A, Geslin B (2019) Wild pollinator activity negatively related to honey bee colony densities in urban context. PLoS ONE 14(9):

Discuss...

 

[hemo]

Bee colonies amongst beeks ebb and flow during the year and are manageable and fairly sustainable, the same can't be said of other pollinators so they need more help from gardeners and the like treating their gardens as conservation habitats rathe then neat prim and proper immaculate looking.

My garden if fairly tidy but not prim and proper immaculate looking, plenty of opportunities are available to encourage all pollinators and bugs.

 

[Earthboy]

at the risk of bringing facts into the matter, the number of beehives has been increasing:

Love this jewel of wry humor/sarcasm, but then I was quickly reminded of :

"There is no fact but interpretations."

In America, it's nigh impossible to gauge the increase or decrease of feral population. To say the obvious, who will be doing the counting? And at what cost? I can only tell, anecdotally, they are in decline--given the number of reduced swarm calls I get each year, from a dozen to three. But then perhaps other beeks are getting more calls. Hard to tell.

 

[Earthboy]

It's a great hobby, but there is a lot to learn in the early years (and ever after!) Unfortunately, too many new beeks lose their enthusiasm when they hit snags or find that they can't tolerate stings. Like any hobby, you should enjoy what you are doing and not just soldier on because you feel obliged or because of what you have spent.
[/QUOTE]

Hitting snags is not always a bad thing, though, for I get to inherit lots of bee-related items for free. I believe in a win/win situation.

 

[madasafish]

Most hobbies are blessed with an influx of new members every year with high fall out rates once the newcomers realise that to succeed you need lots of hard work and practise.

I have practised yoga for some 20 years and - covid allowing - attend classes twice a week , Every January 10-20 newcomers join the classes I attend. I can guarantee within 10 weeks half those who join stop coming. The realisation that you need to work hard at yoga to be any good and your body will not become as supple as those lithe young ladies (!) on YouTube without hours of practise makes the initial enthusiasm of many beginners vanish.

Beekeeping is no different.

You need to learn a lot and it does not happen by watching a few videos.

Life's like that. You rarely get something for no effort: a message many fail to realise.

 

[Amari]

I have practised yoga for some 20 years and - covid allowing - attend classes twice a week , Every January 10-20 newcomers join the classes I attend. I can guarantee within 10 weeks half those who join stop coming. The realisation that you need to work hard at yoga to be any good and your body will not become as supple as those lithe young ladies (!) on YouTube without hours of practise makes the initial enthusiasm of many beginners vanish.

It would be good to see a pic of you in action. Better still, a vid....

 

[madasafish]

It would be good to see a pic of you in action. Better still, a vid....

X rated: unsuitable for those who are easily distressed.

 

[milkermel]

And this is the first thing potential new beeks see . Not the most welcoming. I understand what you are saying, but I had similar experience when interested years ago all negative overcomplicated jargon, rather than honesty of the life of a beekeeper

 

[Pembroke]

For a lot of these do-gooders with the intentions as described, they are best off placing bee houses with various size holes in the gardens or anywhere that sees morning sun for solitary species of bees.
Secondly they should refrain from using any pesticide in the garden, instead resorting to hands/knees weeding and manual control of pests.
Plant more unusual plants and create a wildlife area.

Over the last 3 weeks with good weather I have cleared my garden manually of most weeds and generally had a good tidy up, three trips to the recycling centre/local tip to take the garden waste. Noticed a couple of Q bumbles going under ground in to likely old mice/rat holes or under some larger bits of rock that are placed around the garden.

My suggestion would be get rid of that barren wasteland of a lawn and plant a wild flower meadow, or a miniature version of same. Might be a bit too far for some gardeners though.

When you're clearing look out for rolled up leaves, one year I came across a few in a flower pot and it turned out to be a leaf cutter solitary's nest. Ooops.

On the subject of having bees to save them that's usually accompanied by "oh I won't take honey, they should keep it for themselves". Well in my experience that lasts about the first season, after that if they carry on it's "how much can I get for my honey".

 

[Earthboy]

My suggestion would be get rid of that barren wasteland of a lawn and plant a wild flower meadow, or a miniature version of same.

To save the bees, globally, we must rethink our "lawn care," indeed, the disappearing bee habitat, the idle lands, being the number one issue bees' facing. David H. the US beek who first identified CCD said, in part, "[in US] we waste million gallons of water, thousand gallons of herbicide, insecticide, pesticide for our lawn each year--let alone all the CO2 we weekly add to the air via mowing.

Yet, not a darn crop comes out of it for us to eat through this "3rd agricultural activity."

Vanity is killing us; forget the short-term realestae value for a long-term sustainability. I have NEVER seen any afternoon tea party held in any manicured and pedicured lawns in America. Mowing only close to home will save lots of wild flowers for pollinators and the bees. Simple, elegant, and effective.

 

[pargyle]

And this is the first thing potential new beeks see . Not the most welcoming. I understand what you are saying, but I had similar experience when interested years ago all negative overcomplicated jargon, rather than honesty of the life of a beekeeper

I think the problem is that we have all seen people who come to beekeeping as a result of the oft put forward false premise that 'bees need saving'. Yes - bees do need saving but it's not HONEY bees that are in trouble it's the scores of other types of bees that are in danger ...

What then happens is that the hapless new beekeeper - wishing to 'save the bees' plummets headlong into an experience of which they have little advance knowledge or cognisance of what it entails, lack the time or the commitment to devote to the craft and the result is often:

1. Neglected colonies .. left to swarm, become a nuisance or worse have undetected disease.
2. The new beekeeper gives up
3. They struggle to make it work for them and become a bee-haver ... and back to 1. above

We've all seen it ... I love to see new blood into the craft and I always encourage those who show interest - lets face it - a lot of beekeepers are getting on a bit ... but let's have people coming into the craft who want to become beekeepers not just because they think they are helping to save the bees.

Anyone who tells me that they would like to become a beekeeper to 'save the bees' gets a gentle reality check ... if they continue to show interest after some explanation of what is really required I will nail their feet to the ground to get them to join up ... but, much of the time, they go away with a greater understanding of the craft and with a commitment to bee friendly planting and building bug hotels ...

 

[viridens]

Hear Hear! I was going to write an expanded follow-up to my original message, but you have done it for me. Thanks.

 

[hemo]

My lawn would make a lot of gardeners cry esp the prim an proper mob, mostly it is uneven /bumpy with self seeding primulas, muscari's and the odd dandy,

 

[Fiona in South View]

My suggestion would be get rid of that barren wasteland of a lawn and plant a wild flower meadow, or a miniature version of same. Might be a bit too far for some gardeners though.

Exactly what I did. Put up a trellis cutting off a third of our lawn. Moved my hives there and sowed wild flower seeds. Get cut once at the end of the summer and may be in early spring. We mow around the edge when cutting the lawn and it looks really beautiful! Remaining lawn now cut every four weeks and on a high cut, not scalped. Planted odd plug plants in it last year of clover etc.

 

[madasafish]

Exactly what I did. Put up a trellis cutting off a third of our lawn. Moved my hives there and sowed wild flower seeds. Get cut once at the end of the summer and may be in early spring. We mow around the edge when cutting the lawn and it looks really beautiful! Remaining lawn now cut every four weeks and on a high cut, not scalped. Planted odd plug plants in it last year of clover etc.

That sounds lovely.

 

[Earthboy]

To help save the bees, one can plant flowering, bee-friendly trees as they typically produce more nectar than plants. Don't know if your climate will grow, say, Vitex ( (Vitex agnus-castus), for instance. If not, how about chestnut trees? I have planted hundreds of Vitedx on my 10 acre for the following reasons:

1. Trees offer reliable annual flowering: trees are better than plants with deep roots against drought.
2. Trees do not take up much space as they occupy the vertical space; you can plant lots of them in your small acreage home.
3. Due to disappearing habitat, a beekeeper cannot always harvest surplus honey by relying on neighborhood plants any more.
4. Trees attract all types of pollinators, thus helping out your home garden pollination, as well.
5. Unlike flowering plants, trees, once established, do not require watering or spraying at all.
6. A row of Vitex forms a wonderful hedge against any prying eye from outside.
7. Vitex bloom offers an excellent aesthetic addition to your landscape.
8. Vitex sapling will bloom the very first year you planted.

 

[Murox]

As fast growing shrubs go Vitex agnus castus is a good one, although it is a mediterranean native and I might have difficulty getting it to grow up here. Trees are generally planted for your children (they take a long time to be useful), at least seven or more years for sweet chestnut for example. I have planted some shrubs and trees at every apiary site I have used, but the most recent are only four years old, (one only a few months) so the trees have yet to really become useful, although some of the early "pollen" trees are beginning to bear fruit, mainly some goat willow and also some alder.