81–90 of 148 posts
IIRC the Asian honey bee is more resilient to mites
But since European honey bees produce much more honey, the are the prefered species and used worldwide
The hard truth these days is that the work of bee keeping is like 80% keeping the mites in check. Plus all current treatments render the honey inedible so you can only do it at the end of the season.
To add, varroa quickly gains immunity to the pharmaceutical treatment we have, so the same medication cannot be used 2 years in a row. Most popular treatment from late 90s that used to kill 99% of varroa is now completely ineffective. It was explained to me this is well planned and solved in Czechia. Varroa treatment is refunded my the government, but only one type of medication every 6 months. It's cheaper for beeke…
One day bees will evolve to produce spider venom
I was rather thinking of bees developing the ability to shoot tiny lasers to cook the mites off like popcorn. Or maybe a static discharge from their wings rubbing together, like a natural taser.
The hard truth these days is that the work of bee keeping is like 80% keeping the mites in check. Plus all current treatments render the honey inedible so you can only do it at the end of the season.
I did some light research on the topic. Wiki page about the specific parasite that affects honey bees: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varroa_destructor On that page there mention of "honey bee genetics" as a form of parasite control. It is called "Varroa sensitive hygiene". Wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varroa_sensitive_hygiene > Varroa sensitive hygiene (VSH) is a behavioral trait of honey bees (Apis melli…
Powdered sugar is the standard treatment for removing varroa mites that have emerged from capped cells. "The peptides killed only the mites, while the bees survived." What benefits do these new treatments offer? They certainly won't be cheaper. https://www.honeybeesuite.com/can-powdered-sugar-control-var... Edit: "Treatments every week killed more mites than treatments every two weeks, which killed more mites than tr…
There currently isn't a effective treatment for varroa that doesn't also kill the hive. It is not a solved problem, and there is certainly room for more research in this space.
I grew up on a farm on which the apiary and all connected with it was a major part of the farm's output. Honey, beeswax, nukes (a queen and 10K or so worker bees as a starter colony, sold to other apiaries in the spring if they'd had too many winter losses), fertilizing services (drop a couple colonies off at a berry farm after dark, pick the colonies up two weeks later, profit!) and other products. It's been over te…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Why should I do anything but take your anonymous comment with a huge grain of salt. Is the irony completely lost here?
Compared to an actual mycologist like Gary Lincoff (rip), I think you'll see the contrast to be sharp.
Or don't. No skin off my back.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A quite similar horse species went extinct in North America ~10,000 years ago likely due to humans. The horse ancestor species come from the Americas and migrated to Eurasia over the bearing land bridge. Horses were only missing from North America for 10,000 of the last 50 million years.
I was about to say the same: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_horse#Equus Of all the examples to pick from, seeing GP picked horse made me wonder if GP was doing it for gits and shiggles.
Honeybees are not native to North America. It is great and currently necessary we use them the way we do. It makes one wonder in the age of AI and evolving farm practices, can we start finding ways to cultivate already-climate-adapted native bees to do the work? Can we leverage adaptations for specific crops? I get it that honeybees work great at pollinating monoculture fields, etc., but that does not change the fact…
I suppose honey bees are not native in North America pretty much the same way as the human species? I don’t quite understand why there seems to be a pretty persistent thread around “honey bees are invasive and harm the ecosystem by stealing all the food from the native bees and doing all their pollination; that’s why they decline” - when at the same time the use of pesticides is so rampant that insects are literally…