171–180 of 185 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I built a vaporizing device from a diesel engine glow plug, some scrap aluminum, and an old car battery. Did some practice runs to time how long i needed to apply current to get to vaporization temperature Then i do three sessions 5 days apart (to account for varroa lifecycle) starting mid september
I hope you wear a respirator.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you not concerned that your practices are breeding bees who survive only with medical treatment while empowering the genetics and miticide resistance to reinforce endemic condition of your region? It would seem some others are breeding bees successfully with zero miticide while you're building a Sardaukar force of mites, bred to tough conditions that even the healthiest of bees cannot survive without help.
Not really because of the number of generations (12 months is ~50 generations of mites and the miticide is every 2 years) between treatments and the effectiveness of the treatments. It's like breeding cockroach resistance to stomping with a foot (the kill is almost completely total and I remove the miticide before concentration drops). It would need to be really incremental and this is not. I go over 6 months without…
It has modern orchard management tactics in there, like spraying with lead arsenic to reduce pests, and regular cultivation to destroy all nearby plants so there's no competition.
..of course, this was just before the dustbowl era.
You sound like that book.
There's a lot of weird assumptions in the article. "Normal" beekeepers try to breed varroa resistant bees as well, but still trying to keep the non-resistant ones alive too. It might be faster to just let nature deal with the issue, but that means losing an insane amount of hives. It's basically the same as claiming that hunters don't care about animals or the forrest, or that dairy farms don't care about their cows.…
Strong, no-chemical-treatment hives with "good genetics" in low-pesticide environments have low loss rates. Even the loss rates we see advertised (38% or whatever) are not existential problems for beekeeping because you can split hives (i.e., reproduce) at a higher rate anyways. So the switch to no-chemical-treatment plans is not that hard. Honeybee colonies are mainly stressed by a) pesticides (in the pollen and nec…
Of course, they'll never get rid of varroa without also getting rid of all natural, feral (or wild) hives. That would be an immense natural loss, and it's the direction that commercial beekeepers (and those influenced by commercial practices) are taking things.
Fortunately, there are some sharp people with a solid understanding of bees and bee genetics that are fighting this tendency, breeding bees with new behaviors, and tracking down isolated wild/feral hives that are surviving well because they have adapted characteristics that help them fight varroa. The wild/feral hives have to be pretty far from commercial facilities, because of the massive capacity of these facilities to pump out poor genetics.
So far, there are brood-killing behaviors (checking on the developing bees, sniffing for varroa, and killing the immature bee of it's infected), and mite-biting behaviors (grooming other bees to remove or harm the mites directly).
The sad thing is, that the bees can largely adapt to Varroa. It's the beekeepers that can't let them do it, because it means taking losses.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We acknowledge that the land on which we pollinate is the traditional territory of the plasterer bee, the southeastern blueberry bee, and the ogallalla fruit bat. As we gather the nectar that sustains us all, we honor them and the wasp and placental mammal ancestors who have been stewards of this land for countless generations predating our arrival.
I am OK with beekeeping as long as beekeepers recite land acknowledgements to solitary bee species! I think you know my position on this already though: fuck bees. Imagine getting on a high horse about exactly how people keep a bunch of non-native bugs. That's what this is a thread about! (everybody else: if you live in a locale where honey bees are native, I'm not talking about your bees.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Strong, no-chemical-treatment hives with "good genetics" in low-pesticide environments have low loss rates. Even the loss rates we see advertised (38% or whatever) are not existential problems for beekeeping because you can split hives (i.e., reproduce) at a higher rate anyways. So the switch to no-chemical-treatment plans is not that hard. Honeybee colonies are mainly stressed by a) pesticides (in the pollen and nec…
You're right - and due to panmixia and the strong capacity for beehives to spread and intermingle their genetics, a site treated with 'standard' practices with many hives acts as a genetic bomb, damaging the whole species in the region, while the owner likely complains about natural beekeepers being at fault for distributing varroa. Of course, they'll never get rid of varroa without also getting rid of all natural, f…
> The sad thing is, that the bees can largely adapt to Varroa. It's the beekeepers that can't let them do it, because it means taking losses.
It's not even clear that it means taking losses. It might only mean taking losses for a while.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am OK with beekeeping as long as beekeepers recite land acknowledgements to solitary bee species! I think you know my position on this already though: fuck bees. Imagine getting on a high horse about exactly how people keep a bunch of non-native bugs. That's what this is a thread about! (everybody else: if you live in a locale where honey bees are native, I'm not talking about your bees.)
tptacek - normally I find your commentary insightful, but I'm a bit taken aback by your stance on bees, plus feel its a bit out of step with many beekeepers / researchers. There are commercial and research beekeepers who are also taking steps to protect native bees and pollinator habitats and spread awareness of the same. In my "backyard" there are at least three types of native bees in addition to my hives. Would be…
I like a mason bee. Docile and fuzzy, those guys.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
While their living conditions are better it seems a stretch to say that these farmers "care" much for the beings they imprison, artificially inseminate, and extract resources from. I imagine they aren't providing much care for the males born from their cows.
Most dairy farmers I've met in Australia care about their herds emotionally. Even though they send old cows and bobby calves to the knackers, they still build relationships with individual animals. It can seem paradoxical to anyone who hasn't watched them. If it helps, consider a farmer with a tractor. The tractor is a beloved tool that's integrated into daily life, and yet it's going to end up as scrap metal when it…
and there's no cognitive dissonance
Once you dive deep enough there aren't a whole lot of logically sound ethical theories that allow for one to systematically imprison, enslave, and murder these beings without allowing us to do the same to less intelligent humans (which most agree is horrifying).
It's a horrible thing that humans subject these beings to and we will look back on it with great shame.
If anyone reading this is open minded and interested in reading more, I'd recommend diving into the arguments against speciesism.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
tptacek - normally I find your commentary insightful, but I'm a bit taken aback by your stance on bees, plus feel its a bit out of step with many beekeepers / researchers. There are commercial and research beekeepers who are also taking steps to protect native bees and pollinator habitats and spread awareness of the same. In my "backyard" there are at least three types of native bees in addition to my hives. Would be…
I don't really have a problem with backyard beekeepers; it's just in the US, they've become emblematic of a kind of evangelical and ill-informed faux-environmentalism and I'm fond of pointing out that, here at least, they're essentially the battery-farmed hogs of the insect world. Also I'm scared of them. I like a mason bee. Docile and fuzzy, those guys.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, cattle depends on us, but we definitely don't depend on them; that was the point I was trying to make.
Oh, really? How do you explain wild feral cattle thriving in the Kimberley, Arnhem Land, etc. then? https://news.csu.edu.au/feature/are-feral-cattle-the-brumbie... https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/offtrack/the-banteng-... http://www.windyhills.com.au/wild-cattle/
The way we raise cattle is extremely efficient. Not least in terms of space.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
tptacek - normally I find your commentary insightful, but I'm a bit taken aback by your stance on bees, plus feel its a bit out of step with many beekeepers / researchers. There are commercial and research beekeepers who are also taking steps to protect native bees and pollinator habitats and spread awareness of the same. In my "backyard" there are at least three types of native bees in addition to my hives. Would be…
I don't really have a problem with backyard beekeepers; it's just in the US, they've become emblematic of a kind of evangelical and ill-informed faux-environmentalism and I'm fond of pointing out that, here at least, they're essentially the battery-farmed hogs of the insect world. Also I'm scared of them. I like a mason bee. Docile and fuzzy, those guys.
On the other hand, I think that hobbyists are doing some of the driving towards better mite treatment practices. It's new eyes on the problem. It's also driven some investment in research. Texas A&M's honeybee (and other bee) research budgets have gone up in recent years, and I suspect part of that is that interest in beekeeping is way up, and part of that has to do with Texas allowing beekeeping as a type of ag activity that can earn one an ag exemption on property taxes but also with the rise of beekeeping as a hobby.
> I like a mason bee. Docile and fuzzy, those guys.
Even Apis mellifera is fairly docile if, you know, you don't kill any of them. The bees in my nucs never ever sting -- they don't have that much to protect, but also I never kill any at that stage when I inspect those. The real problem with beekeeping is the bleeping Langstroth hive -- it might as well have been designed to kill lots of bees. Even with lots of practice and patience, and having put a lot of effort into finding ways to avoid killing bees, I still manage to kill one or two when I get into a Langstroth hive -- it's infuriating, to me and my bees.