The bee that everyone wants to save • Hacker News Board

Re: The bee that everyone wants to save

#31

Post by Flook » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 11:03 AM UTC

apricot13 wrote: post #29

Flook wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, I'm the author. I'm indeed writing from Hungary, Europe, and here dandelions are native, and they are one of the main sources of early food, especially for the bumblebee queens and the mining bees. My lawn is littered with dandelions and there is so much activity on them. The other main food source at this moment is plum blossoms, but those are a favorite of the honey bees and they often aggressively chase away…

does this apply in the UK as well? I'm a fan of dandelions but everyone is determined to pull them out of our lawn but me! but then I've also been told by a local bee keeper that the whole plant flowers for the bees policy isn't a good idea since that's how mites and other nasties can be transferred between hives?

Yes, there are about 250 native species of dandelions in the UK. That is how the mites are transferred. They hitch a ride when a bee leaves the hive, drop off at a flower and wait for another bee to be taken to that hive. But the thing is, there are about a 1000 different kinds of mites (that we know off) and most of them are beneficial to the bees, not harmful. There are 3 big groups. The ones like the Varroa who will feed on the bees, there is a group that will neither harm nor help the bees, and is only after stealing the food the bees bring in, and there is a group who will clean the hives, eating the waste and harmful organisms. A healthy nest of bees isn't really at risk of the harmful mites. It's only when they get stressed or sick that there is the risk of the Varroa mites to wipe out the colony. So it comes down to human intervention for the most part. When a bee-keeper sees a Varroa mite, he will treat the hive, and by doing so, also kills off the mites that keep the hive healthy and disturbing the balance. As a result, the bees, who are already living in an unnatural population density, get even more weak, since there is nothing left to keep the nest clean. The Varroa mites, if they find their way into the hive again, have now an easy prey and can easily wipe out an entire hive.

Re: The bee that everyone wants to save

#32

Post by bregma » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 11:12 AM UTC

moebrowne wrote: post #20

> The honeybee is not endangered. It never was. There are several severe threats to honey bees which without human intervention would cause a significant number of hives to be lost. There's the varroa mite and the things it carries like deformed wing virus, then there is the increasingly prevalent Asian hornet which European honey bees are unable to deal with, and colony collapse disorder where the bees literally dis…

Honeybees are livestock. They're no more endangered than chickens or cows. If we need more, we just breed more.

In most places honeybees are raised they couldn't even survive in the wild. Just like cows and chickens and pigs. As with most livestock, without human intervention they would probably be wiped out.

Re: The bee that everyone wants to save

#33

Post by Joel_Mckay » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 11:13 AM UTC

cachius wrote: post #28

Joel_Mckay wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are lots of native bees getting wiped out by Varroa destructor carried viral infections. The imported hybrids used in agriculture are more productive, and are currently being bred to have the desirable trait of cleaning/nibbling the legs off mites. Bumblebees do just fine in most places, as they go after my geraniums like a fool with a hole-punch every year. We have several local variety, and they are an import…

What's with geraniums? I remember they look nice but don’t smell.

Geraniums do well controlling invasive beetles, and local humming birds also seem pleased. Some of the smaller flower variety are pleasantly scented, and easy to clone. However, it is not a good plant choice for people with pets.

Mustard (Sinapis alba) is nice if you like pleasant smelling little yellow flowers, low-effort resilient plants, and spicy food. =3

Re: The bee that everyone wants to save

#34

Post by bregma » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 11:16 AM UTC

MostlyStable wrote: post #9

My wife and I had wanted honey bees for a long time, but when we finally moved to a place that we could have had them, we noticed that we regularly saw at least 5 native bee species. We decided not to get a hive since they compete for resources and can spread disease. Given that there are neighbors that have them within about a mile, and that either those or feral colonies are close enough that we also see honey bees…

There's not as much crossover as you might think. In North America the native pollinators are adapted to the native plants and can't even pollinate the introduced eurasian ones. And it goes the other way: honeybees can't pollinate the native plants, only the introduced eurasian ones.

If course, if you're in Europe, honeybees are the native pollinators. At least around the Mediterranean.

Re: The bee that everyone wants to save

#35

Post by b3ing » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 11:17 AM UTC

aziaziazi wrote: post #22

moebrowne wrote: post #20

> The honeybee is not endangered. It never was. There are several severe threats to honey bees which without human intervention would cause a significant number of hives to be lost. There's the varroa mite and the things it carries like deformed wing virus, then there is the increasingly prevalent Asian hornet which European honey bees are unable to deal with, and colony collapse disorder where the bees literally dis…

Humans also face severe treats and are not doing well but are not going extinct tomorrow. Honeybees seems to only decline in North America, especially the USA, but as you said it’s human intervention that keeps their population booming years after years. Perhaps a decline wouldn’t be so problematic it doesn’t go to extinction? A decline in chickens population wouldn’t lead to extinction, to elaborate on the funny aut…

Honeybees aren’t native to North America

Re: The bee that everyone wants to save

#36

Post by Aboutplants » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 11:20 AM UTC

My wife has planted an over abundance of native plants on our property, eliminating 60-70% of the turf grass. The resulting bee population increase has been phenomenal to watch. Also, using leafs dropped in the fall as mulch provides the habitat for lightning bugs and the population boom experienced in the years after we started doing this has exploded. Summer nights are magical again

Re: The bee that everyone wants to save

#37

Post by TazeTSchnitzel » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 11:32 AM UTC

moebrowne wrote: post #20

> The honeybee is not endangered. It never was. There are several severe threats to honey bees which without human intervention would cause a significant number of hives to be lost. There's the varroa mite and the things it carries like deformed wing virus, then there is the increasingly prevalent Asian hornet which European honey bees are unable to deal with, and colony collapse disorder where the bees literally dis…

There's also the massive problem of fake honey (i.e. manufactured sugar syrup illegally sold as honey), which is much cheaper than real honey and pushing actual beekeepers out of the market.

Re: The bee that everyone wants to save

#38

Post by dv_dt » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 11:49 AM UTC

bregma wrote: post #32

moebrowne wrote: post #20

> The honeybee is not endangered. It never was. There are several severe threats to honey bees which without human intervention would cause a significant number of hives to be lost. There's the varroa mite and the things it carries like deformed wing virus, then there is the increasingly prevalent Asian hornet which European honey bees are unable to deal with, and colony collapse disorder where the bees literally dis…

Honeybees are livestock. They're no more endangered than chickens or cows. If we need more, we just breed more. In most places honeybees are raised they couldn't even survive in the wild. Just like cows and chickens and pigs. As with most livestock, without human intervention they would probably be wiped out.

If humans didn't manage risks to livestock on an industry scale they would be at risk. It requires a constant investment from both commercial industry and government. Activities like the dept of agriculture and university ag depts have been really so good at what they do. Its like the rest of civilization has forgotten what it takes and the costs involved if we neglect the investment. Agriculture and livestock is just one foundational civilization technology where we have forgotten the significance of

Re: The bee that everyone wants to save

#39

Post by jojobas » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 12:03 PM UTC

moebrowne wrote: post #20

> The honeybee is not endangered. It never was. There are several severe threats to honey bees which without human intervention would cause a significant number of hives to be lost. There's the varroa mite and the things it carries like deformed wing virus, then there is the increasingly prevalent Asian hornet which European honey bees are unable to deal with, and colony collapse disorder where the bees literally dis…

To add, most farming relies precisely on honeybee for pollination, and losing 2/3 of them would be quite devastating.

Of course nobody cars about wild bees, our lives don't depend on them nearly as much.

Re: The bee that everyone wants to save

#40

Post by neonnoodle » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 12:05 PM UTC

bregma wrote: post #32

moebrowne wrote: post #20

> The honeybee is not endangered. It never was. There are several severe threats to honey bees which without human intervention would cause a significant number of hives to be lost. There's the varroa mite and the things it carries like deformed wing virus, then there is the increasingly prevalent Asian hornet which European honey bees are unable to deal with, and colony collapse disorder where the bees literally dis…

Honeybees are livestock. They're no more endangered than chickens or cows. If we need more, we just breed more. In most places honeybees are raised they couldn't even survive in the wild. Just like cows and chickens and pigs. As with most livestock, without human intervention they would probably be wiped out.

“Breeding more” bees is not as trivial as raising other animals, because bee reproduction depends on hive stability. Other animals are kept fully enclosed in captivity and can be artificially inseminated in some cases. Bees are semi-wild and have to be free to leave the hive to forage, and if they don’t return or if the hive collapses, you can’t “breed more.”