Life finds a way. I think in some ways, CCD has probably "pruned" the bee population in a good way. Beekeeping allowed weaker hives that would have normally died off in the wild to continue to spawn new hives. CCD has reversed that trend, and may have improved the overall strength of the bee population genetics.
U.S. honeybee colonies hit a 20-year high
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Re: U.S. honeybee colonies hit a 20-year high
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
> but it doesn't explain where they come from. Sure it does. They come from the Internet, it explicitly stated that. Joking aside, from my understanding, the issue with bees is a combination of multiple factors, such as pesticides, disease, parasites, etc. Those are primarily local issues. So it's perfectly feasible to find some isolated spot in the US, grow a ton of bees, and ship them across the country to wherever…
It's mostly pesticides.
Re: U.S. honeybee colonies hit a 20-year high
#23Why was this downvoted? Does CCD selection pressure help or hinder bee genetics?
Re: U.S. honeybee colonies hit a 20-year high
#24If that's the case, it seems like a mountain was made out of a mole hill in the media. I read multiple times that I may never eat a pollinated fruit or vegetable again.
Re: U.S. honeybee colonies hit a 20-year high
#25So the solution is to... buy more bees of the internet? Thank god we solved CCD
CCD is an economic problem. The varroa mite wiped out feral North American honey bees --- which are not native to North America --- a long time ago. Supposedly, any honey bee you've seen in the wild for the past decade has been part of a proprietary hive. So, ordering more honey bee queens off the Internet seems to be a pretty reasonable response to the problem of a 10-20% increase in overwintering hive failures.
Re: U.S. honeybee colonies hit a 20-year high
#26So was that the solution all along? Just breed more bees to replace the ones that die? If that's the case, it seems like a mountain was made out of a mole hill in the media. I read multiple times that I may never eat a pollinated fruit or vegetable again.
Re: U.S. honeybee colonies hit a 20-year high
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
CCD is an economic problem. The varroa mite wiped out feral North American honey bees --- which are not native to North America --- a long time ago. Supposedly, any honey bee you've seen in the wild for the past decade has been part of a proprietary hive. So, ordering more honey bee queens off the Internet seems to be a pretty reasonable response to the problem of a 10-20% increase in overwintering hive failures.
I might be missing something, but surely that's not a sustainable solution?
So, no, I don't see how this is unsustainable.
Re: U.S. honeybee colonies hit a 20-year high
#28So was that the solution all along? Just breed more bees to replace the ones that die? If that's the case, it seems like a mountain was made out of a mole hill in the media. I read multiple times that I may never eat a pollinated fruit or vegetable again.
It really was. Colony collapse disorder was bad for the colonies and breeders that experienced it, yes. But the honeybee industry has been going strong, contradicting all the apocalyptic warnings.
Re: U.S. honeybee colonies hit a 20-year high
#29Also interesting that you can buy a queen bee online for $25.
Re: U.S. honeybee colonies hit a 20-year high
#30For example, I've spent $1600 on bees and equipment, I've harvested 3 gallons of honey. I would have to sell that honey at $44/Pound to break even. Now hopefully over the long term this goes down a lot as the upfront capital investments spread out over the years.
My bee losses have been huge though. The first year I had 3 hives, lost 2. The second year I had 5 hives and lost 3, last year I had 5 hives and lost 4. Buying bees at $130/hive isn't sustainable (except through my charity) if I wanted to actually make any money at this, especially on a small scale.