Colony Collapse Disorder

Bad, bad kitty.

That's true, honey. ;-p

Many other insects are being wiped out too. We probably don't notice it as much because we don't steal their food.

With bees though, a lot of factors are at work, including loss of habitat, mono-cropping, mites, mis-handing, keeping them in boxes (instead of trees), pesticides, over-medicating, starvation in their hives over winter, changing climate, being shipped around the country to pollinate crops, malnutrition from sugar-water swapped for their honey, not enough local flowers and trees, etc... the list goes on.

Other insects suffer from many of the same issues. Looks like bad news for the future.

if all the insects die, i will both be a curse and a blessing. pros: no mosquito bites, no infections, con: the world will slowly tear apart and the plants will die, without plants, everything will tear apart and die.

it* i just made a typo

Um, yeah, but only kinda,,,

HONEY bees - an invasive species in America that has crowded out native bees and other pollinators partly because of sheer numbers but also because they are attracted to younger flowers before natives would be, thus robbing them, are the subject of who's in trouble.

In addition to much of the stresses you mentioned (they aren't starved, just given nutritionally poor sugary substitute for nectar when not on the job. Changing climate? They're called Italian honeybees for a reason. Anywhere not in their southern Italiaa range is climate change to them), anything from cell phone tower microwaves (eh, maybe) to good ol' Mon(ster)santo nicotine perticides (definitely) have been cited, but a major factor is inbreeding, since all of them in commercial use stem from 6 females. I think a resistant line (or two?) has been discovered, but breeding that up in numbers is gonna take a whole long time.

Solutions?
1. Stop kiling everything with pesticides.
2. The heck with these invasives, find ways of utilizing natives. May not be as convenient as transporting some boxes, but it can be done. Plus native lives matter.

Orchard Mason bees are much more effective pollinators.

Btw, bees do starve in their hives - it is a common occurrence. If interested, check Google images. It's easy to tell when they starve, because they die with their heads facing in the comb and their butts facing out.

Also, resistant strains are available,some by Marla Spivak. The problem is not many people are aware, and other breeders don't want them to be widely available. They want you to keep buying inferior bees every year.

Good luck with your bees, and best wishes! :-)

I had forgotten the name, but it was Orchard Masons I saw for sale in some plant catalog I used to get years ago. I think a problem with them is they don't build hives and they don't continue onto the next year and so forth? But otherwise good pollinators.

The starving makes sense, I guess they don't want to publicise it much, wanting to come across as keepers benefitting the bees they utilize.

That's so messed up wiht the wanting to keep selling susceptiable bees.

Sorry about the delay in responding,,,

susceptible*

publicize*

with*

aaaargh, haha

Italian*

:)-

I just heard it's not as bad as previously thought

Nature never used to need our help.

if all the insects die, i will both be a curse and a blessing. pros: no mosquito bites, no infections, con: the world will slowly tear apart and the plants will die, without plants, everything will tear apart and die.