Spoke at length with a beekeeper yesterday afternoon at Top of The Hill about Colony Collapse Disorder.
Brews consumed: Frank Graham Porter, Swim Test Saison
First, he confirmed that whatever it is, it’s not yet appeared in NC. Second, it’s primarily affecting the traveling commercial beekeepers, not the local hobby types. Third, most if not all of the media descriptions of the post-collapse hive are wrong.
The bees are gone, yes, bot not all of them. Typically, a queen and some newbies* remain. It’s almost if (here I veer into my interpretation of the event rather than his opinion) typical swarming behaviour occured as happens when a colony gets too large and a second queen is produced, yet instead of half the colony departing with her and half remaining with the new queen, the whole of the colony left.
Since no one has observed a second queen in these hives prior to the departure, there’s no way to confirm or deny that hypothesis, and it’s kinda far-fetched to begin with, as there are no reports of an unexpectedly high number of swarms this year. The keeper himself leaned towards the idea that a pesticide was affecting the bees’ ability to navigate, disorienting them so that once away from the hive, they were unable to find their way back home.
*I am unsure if he was punning or not. Certainly his presentation of the pun was completely straight-faced.
Probably wasn’t a pun; he really was saying “new bees”, and we’re just so used to the term “newbies” that we hear it that way.
Although it’s interesting to imagine that bees talk like FARKers. “in ur flowerz, stealin ur pollinz”
An open letter to scientists studying Colony Collapse Disorder, beekeepers and farmers
Earlier this year the scientists who did studies on Climate Change/Global Warming were asked to “negotiate” their findings.
One report said, “There was little doubt about the science, which was based on 29,000 sets of data, much of it collected in the last five years.’For the first time we are not just arm-waving with models,’ Martin Perry, who conducted the grueling negotiations, told reporters.
The United States, China and Saudi Arabia raised the many of the objections to the phrasing, often seeking to tone down the certainty of some of the more dire projections.”
Another stated, “The climax of five days of negotiations was reached when the delegates removed parts of a key chart highlighting devastating effects of climate change that kick in with every rise of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, and in a tussle over the level of scientific reliability attached to key statements.”
At several points scientists walked out of the conference in protest to the negotiations as reported here – “Some of the world’s best-informed climate change scientists walked out of an all-night drafting session of yesterday’s report on global warming, as tempers flared.”
Please, do not allow your findings to be diluted. Please do not bow to the pressures of government and business. The people impacted by Colony Collapse Disorder have a right to know the truth and all the facts.
Please, do your science and research to the best of your ability and publish with the same sincerity as you have shown in the past. We all depend on and will support you.
Sincerely,
Dan Fowlks