USA Colony Losses

[Firefly]

It seems that, once again, USA is suffering unprecedented colony losses

Does anyone have any insight that is not in the public domain? The authorities seem to be just as perplexed as they always have been by CCD

 

[Murox]

Insights... no. However the first sentences talk about commercial farmers, moving bees around and Almond pollination. Its occurs to me that the more stresses you place on any living creature isn't going to be beneficial. The whole process of Almond crop pollination seems to involve artificially readying bees and then transporting them to pretty much a single source food/forgage source, it isn't doing them any favours at all. Then they are transported somewhere else......probably. Like most industrialised farm practices its a numbers game.

 

[Moobee]

Several US beekeepers I chat with online said it’s the commercial bee farmers with almond contracts who are suffering upwards of 70% and in some cases 100% losses.
A lot of people are blaming it on varroa….
Trucking hundreds of colonies, thousands of miles to pollinate a monocrop which has previously been sprayed with pesticides, completely stressing the bees….. what could possibly go wrong

 

[Dodge]

I see / read plenty of articals shared on FB and the like, often by the BBKA. When you delve into these articals / studies many are not from the UK, often the states and never, certainly at first glance break down the research into commercial, honey or ferrel / wild colonies and if they are also migratory.

This causes confusion and does not help. Western the US does have an issue with colony collapse seems very murky. Research needs to be done on wild colonies and hobbyists who don't move their bees amd are outside of the Almond areas and such like where the data could be muddied by migratory colonies to get a good picture.

I do wonder whether the policy of using Antibiotics as a matter of course means AFB causes a good number of issues in colonies without manifesting it's self perhaps.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Almond crop pollination seems to involve artificially readying bees and then transporting them to pretty much a single source food/forgage source,

not even a food source I believe, very little nectar just pollen, and as they've turned the plantations into barren wastelands - no other food source, many of them don't even feed bees sugar syrup, just the far inferior corn syrup - no wonder their colonies collapse, but instead of addressing the problem they invent things like CCD to try and shift the blame.
Try reading 'The beekeepers lament' even some commercial beekeepers are realising it's a problem they themselves created.

 

[Moobee]

not even a food source I believe, very little nectar just pollen, and as they've turned the plantations into barren wastelands - no other food source, many of them don't even feed bees sugar syrup, just the far inferior corn syrup - no wonder their colonies collapse, but instead of addressing the problem they invent things like CCD to try and shift the blame.
Try reading 'The beekeepers lament' even some commercial beekeepers are realising it's a problem they themselves created.

 

[rolande]

Some interesting points raised in this video:

 

[Erichalfbee]

No other food source

Terribly sad. Almonds are banned in my house. My daughter used to drink almond milk till I opened her eyes.
So much food is poorly produced.
I read just yesterday that the makers of Cathedral City cheese have cancelled their contracts with a number of small farmers who supply only them. What madness is that? Cheese made from factory farmed milk so we can buy it cheaply?
I used to make my own cheese from unpasteurised milk from my neighbour. I think it’s time to start again.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Some interesting points raised in this video:

too much inane blather to wade through before any discussions on bees I'm afraid.

 

[Bettenham]

Terribly sad. Almonds are banned in my house. My daughter used to drink almond milk till I opened her eyes.
So much food is poorly produced.
I read just yesterday that the makers of Cathedral City cheese have cancelled their contracts with a number of small farmers who supply only them. What madness is that? Cheese made from factory farmed milk so we can buy it cheaply?
I used to make my own cheese from unpasteurised milk from my neighbour. I think it’s time to start again.

My farming friends still run a small dairy herd and we buy some of our milk directly from them. Their cows still roam the fields most of the year unlike the next door dairy farm which houses the milkers all year and the grass is cut and brought to them. What a life!
So, as I can get the milk, how do I go about making cheese???

 

[Murox]

Must be time to boycott Cathedral City and shout very loudly why.

 

[Dodge]

too much inane blather to wade through before any discussions on bees I'm afraid.

15 minutes in is where the chat starts on colony losses.

 

[Dodge]

Must be time to boycott Cathedral City and shout very loudly why.

Brits never do though do we. Too States like. We want everything as cheap as possible in large quantities these days. Majority of consumers couldn't give a flip. Look at the major Puzza chains for delivery. All artificially made cheese and still we buy

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Must be time to boycott Cathedral City and shout very loudly why.

haven't bought that plastic sh!te for years

15 minutes in is where the chat starts on colony losses.

Thanks, I'll wait for the next sherry to kick in before having another crack at it.

 

[Erichalfbee]

My farming friends still run a small dairy herd and we buy some of our milk directly from them. Their cows still roam the fields most of the year unlike the next door dairy farm which houses the milkers all year and the grass is cut and brought to them. What a life!
So, as I can get the milk, how do I go about making cheese???

There are lots of simple beginner guides on Amazon and eBay. It’s simple. One year I made round cheeses and covered them in my own beeswax.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Must be time to boycott Cathedral City and shout very loudly why.

This is the culprit. Canadian and asset management owned
https://www.saputo.com/en/our-products/europe-sector

 

[Parsonage Bees]

A post on our beginners WhatsApp group got me looking at Youtube videos about this major loss of colonies the other evening. Mr Shook in that video linked above was on Dr Humberto Boncristiani Youtube channel @InsidetheHiveTV. He worked on the CCD losses in 2006/7 as a virologist for USDA, and he couldn't find anything. Suspects pesticides.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

trouble is, the states look upon livestock, not as living, breathing animals but as industrial production units - and they treat them accordingly. I live within a stone's throw of one of the most productive dairy areas of Wales (the Towy valley) and I remember, not that long ago, the presentations and 'fact finding' seminars pushed out, mainly featuring American dairy companies pushing their systems and ethos. Not that long ago, even the larger dairy farms in that area were still producing milk in the traditional manner of open grazing but under cover wintering to save pressure on the fields and grazing - albeit on an almost industrial scale. Nowadays it's all factory farms with dairy cows enclosed in sheds around the year and milked on a 24 hour rotation, high yield dairy cows,silage in, milk and slurry out - with all the high nitrate/phosphate effect on the riparian environment.

 

[rolande]

A post on our beginners WhatsApp group got me looking at Youtube videos about this major loss of colonies the other evening. Mr Shook in that video linked above was on Dr Humberto Boncristiani Youtube channel @InsidetheHiveTV. He worked on the CCD losses in 2006/7 as a virologist for USDA, and he couldn't find anything. Suspects pesticides.

Blake Shook offers an interesting perspective as both a first generation commercial beekeeper (30000 colonies) and a bee broker in the almonds with access to a wide range of other operations. His own thinking appears to be along the broad lines of multifactorial issues much as was generally agreed on after the ccd years.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

half an hour in and still waiting for some insightful data when I hear 'I think people need the answer now'.
somewhat interesting, trying to stay with it, but I'm losing the will to live