The Vanishing Bees

THE VANISHING BEES

From the dawn of human society, the nature and origin of the honeybee has awakened the curiosity and interest of man. For the past five million years, this furry insect has been a creature of special sanctity, representing many things such as the human soul, industry, cooperation and the sacred feminine. Our relationship with bees also denotes the most ancient form of agriculture. Pre-historic petroglyphs depict women on honey hunts and Ancient Egyptian farmers floated beehives on rafts down the Nile to pollinate their crops.

And yet today, we live in a state of disconnect. The average consumer has no idea where things originally come from, not even something as vital as our food. They think edibles come naturally shrink-wrapped on a shelf and that the bees are merely stinging insects that make honey, when in fact these prime pollinators are responsible for one third of the food we eat, including most of the fruits, vegetables, nuts and even alfalfa used to feed livestock. In America, this amounts to about $18 billion in annual sales.

Imagine half a million adults skipping town and leaving their children behind. Picture an opened suitcase filled with bundles of cash at a bus stop and yet no robber wants to snatch it. The apiary science mystery known as “Colony Collapse Disorder” displays these very symptoms. Not only do the bees abandon their hive, but the queen and the brood as well. Unnatural. Unheard of. Even the predators that usually raid the hive for honey stay far away. At first, this occurrence sounds like an urban legend or an exaggerated tale. Except it’s not. The situation is both dire and all too real. Bees are disappearing all over the planet and no one knows why.

CCD – Colony Collapse Disorder…what is it?  It is disappearing hives, not just dead bees…but, what causes it?  Is it from the habits of commercial beekeepers & the overuse of agricultural chemicals?  If so – why does a thriving hive in a backyard in our area – with no ag & no hive stress suddenly experience this…

A new movie is addressing this pressing subject – in a very engaging way too!

Scroll down for  trailer of “The Vanishing Bees”

Here is one story…from my Bee Journal…

June 13^th 2010 – Seasonal Hive Checks

I was making the rounds that day of our hives…and, eerily got a call…

David Partch’s hive is dead – gone – disappeared!  A thriving colony reduced to several frames of comb with bits if pollen & some uncapped nectar.  How weird.  Was it the cold, rainy spring – they ate everything & then starved to death?  If so – wouldn’t there be bodies in the hive? Is that hive the “swarm” that was caught in my neighbor’s yard, not so unlikely – only a couple of blocks away.   The hive was a stack of ready frames, about 20 frames showing comb development, many with pollen stores, some uncapped nectar, the bottom deep box & first shallow box had been brood chamber for awhile – well developed black comb with lots of old cocoons, pollen & yet – now – with a spotty brood pattern of only a few dozen capped cells, & no queen cells.

By the time I saw it today – the wax moths are already at work in one section.  Partch puts the exodus at after May 31^st, last time they can remember seeing bees making regular forage entrances.  David says he saw lots of fighting around the entrance before then, and it appeared that they were using the top as an entrance also.  Some aggressive behavior toward him as well. .. I have taken the boxes home to expose them or freeze to rid the wax moths, and will create a storage until they are needed or David wants to try again.  Too sad.  I have taken pictures of the odd white stuff I found on several frames, in most boxes.  I thought it was the cappings from the upper boxes, as they were robbed empty.  Will I ever know?

See the movie, I am going to as soon as it is out!

And – here is a word on CCD – a short film from Burt’s Bees…

They are a corporation also wanting to help save the bees!  I think we are all in this together..the bees are collapsing our culture & economy is collapsing…grow borage for the bees & a garden to feed yourself..NOW!

And – if you need more reasons to support the bees & use honey – here is another video (NPR) about honey – as medicine…

Honey is all right with me! In fact, I am going to open a hive this afternoon…hope I see some extra honey… I might just have a taste…
Bee well,
Annie

A Spring Swarm! A Beekeepers Journal

Sunday – April 26th – today is swarm day…

I caught a swarm from the Brooktrails hive today!
Easiest swarm catch ever – let’s hope they stay in their new home…

Last hive check,about 10 days ago – the hive was super healthy & stuffed
with bees, so good to see after the worries of last summer with our small
colony, minimal stores and spotty brood patterns.
I had noted a large supercedure cell on the bottom of a central frame with
about 7 nurse bees busily surrounding it, and lots of new capped brood
cells – both workers and drone, and happily “frame heavy” with tons of
honey & pollen!
Certainly it seemed like a swarm was imminent – so we prepared a swarm box
(a deep box nailed to a screen bottom with 7 frames of slightly drawn comb
surrounding a central open space)…how many days until this new queen
would emerge?
Karina out of town,both of us with busy schedules, and May Day weekend
coming up…

Today, just as I finished cleaning after the Grange pancake breakfast,
Lanny called – a swarm had begun, and within an hour had made a huge
elongated knot on  the branch of an apple tree just a few feet in front of
the old hive!

I took a vial of “swarm lure” (queen pheromone)out of the freezer, washed
up, changed my clothes to a fresh light colored shirt & pants, sprayed my
hair and body with lavender water…and took my beekeepers bag up the hill
to Karina’s hive. We prepared a spray bottle with sugar syrup, and I
immediately sprayed the swarm with some, then tipped some of the lure into
the swarm box, on the top of a frame,  into the middle “hole” and a bit on
the front landing. I sprayed inside the new box with sugar as well.

John Wagenet & Lanny were very helpful as we carefully repositioned the
box right under the swarm, leveled it and finally – after more sugar
spaying, a few scouts came into the box. I was concerned as we kept
fiddling with the box to get it level, and the frames were sometimes
knocking around, and I felt the scouts might think this box was not a very
stable new home!

We observed for another 20 minutes, occasionally spraying the swarm and
the new box with sugar. Their branch was very old, thick and would be hard
to cut and lower into the box, so I decided to knock them down into the
box, rather than wait much longer. One large shake of the branch, & most
of the swarm fell – “thonk” – into the box, a few minutes later I did it
again,after spraying with the syrup several times.  After 3-4 swift shakes
of the branch, only a few were left lagging  behind on the branch.  The
Virgin Queen must have been captured!
We left the lid off to be closed in a few hours before the day cools off.
I hope the bees naturally choose this new home.  Last year I forced the
swarm into a box, and taped it shut for 24 hours,  but this time I want
them to choose their future more naturally.
I do hope the swarm stays put and after a few days I will move it into my
“Food Forest”. Finally – I will have a hive in my own Garden…how
wonderful!