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Colony Collapse Disorder
By Jim O | April 26, 2008
Heard of it? Thought not. Honey bee colonies are collapsing and dying all over the US and elsewhere. No one knows why but there are lots of theories ranging from pesticides to genetic issues to infectious causes. Feral honey bees are rare to non-existent in many areas. This is important as we need honey bees to pollinate crops. Migratory beekeeping is important for agribusiness. They’re also important for backyard gardeners for their flowers, fruits, and vegetables.
The average person can actually do something about this by keeping a hive or two in their backyards. Most honey bees are fairly docile (unlike wasps and hornets who can be plain old nasty) although Africanized honey bees can be more aggressive. This will help your fruit trees, your vegetable garden, and your flowers, and those of your neighbors. If done right it won’t be a huge bother.
A decent first book on the subject is:
Topics: Shtuff |
May 19th, 2008 at 3:38 am
[...] from pesticides to genetic issues to infectious causes. Feral honey bees are rare to non-existenthttp://ohlstein.org/2008/04/26/colony-collapse-disorder/Secret lives of bees Cape Cod Times Our friend Dina invited us to an extraction party last November. [...]