Honey Bee's-Good news?

[creekside-angie]

I just recently visited with a relative of mine than I don't see often, She told me the story of her Honey bees that have been living in her barn for the last 12 years.
Apparently they could not get rid of them so finially decided that when they swarm they would put them in regular hives. The gentelman that came to help is very expeirenced in keeping bee's, over 25-30 years. Anyway, her bee's swarm 2 or 3 times a year, I guess thats more than the normal amount? After they got a few hives going the guy helping them was very amazed at the speed they built the comb and they also produced about 2 1/2 times the regular amount of honey expected for a first year hive.
I guess the good news to all this is that their thinking that these bee's are immune to this colony collapse disorder and are (or have sent) queens to one of the state universities for testing.
I thought this was pretty good news and wanted to share as I know many of us are very concerned about the state of our honey bee population.
I will try to keep you all updated as I find out more.

[Southern_Gent]

Just out of curiosity, these bees aren't africanized honey bees are they? Considering that they swarm more often than regular honey bees, it would seem to suggest that. Are they any more aggressive than ordinary bees?

[creekside-angie]

No, their not more aggressive than any other ones.
I don't think they are africanized.
Do we get those in Mi. ??? I don't know very much about african bees.
I've been in their barn a few times over the years and really didn't know they had the bees in there.
They cover a large area in the wall, and the kids have a game area at the other end of the barn.
I'll have to ask her if It's a possibility.

[Southern_Gent]

If you're that far North, then I'd say no. I don't think the africanized bees have made it that far yet. Last I heard, they'd made it as far as Texas.

[CarolAnn]

There's a great article in this month's BWH about the Bee thing that we've been seeing, and I was very glad to read it. I didn't know, for instance, that bee populations have gone way down in past years, so it might be a natural cycle.

I also didn't know that most of those having problems are the commercial bee keepers that move the hives. Seems like moving the hives added to whatever is stressing them is just more than they could take.

I didn't know that the honey bees we know aren't even native to this continent, but were brought over with Europeans.

So while it might mean something bad that many bees are dieing off, it also might not.

Nice to hear good news from someone who's got those little honey makers! :D

[DavidOH]

No a bad read.

Bee Not Afraid

http://www.slate.com/id/2170305/fr/flyout

science: The state of the universe.
Bee Not Afraid
The disappearance of the honeybees isn't the end of the world.
By Heather Smith
Posted Friday, July 13, 2007, at 3:55 PM ET
When the honeybees disappeared this winter, the thought of losing such a fuzzy and adorable animal inspired dismay. The fact that bees might also be useful drove us to despair. The first official reports of "colony collapse disorder" began to surface in October of 2006; seven months later, USDA officials were calling CCD "the biggest general threat to our food supply," and newspaper columnists nervously joked about the impending "bloody wars not for oil or land or God but over asparagus and avocados."

[Plains_Scout]

I heard on CBC that some scientists believe that the problem is related to a beetle that mimics the distress sound of bees and secretes an enzyme that together triggers a response from the colony that the threat to the hive is so great the only way to survive is swarm. Which they do and the remaining larvae become a feast for the beetles.

I am not a scientist but having keep bees in very small number of hives I always had less problems with disease than commercial bee keepers as my hives were isolated and not the target of many the the problems that come to and infest large groups of hives. Sort of like wheat before they breed rust resistant varieties. Wheat in the bronze age was not a monoculture vast acreage planting where disease such as rust could wipe out an entire crop. It might get one small field but not find its way to the isolated miles away small field over the hills.

Just a thought anyway about this whole problem.

[DaNgEr_KiTtY]

there was a local man stung to death the other day mowing his lawn.