clutchslip
Not as fast as I look.
Why does two Giant Cricket Chirpers for six bucks not have the same appeal as two Whoppers for six bucks? Am I just a disgusting carnivorous waster-of-water that could go to growing Almonds to kill more bees?
Colony Collapse = California's Fault
- Thread starter Yakoo752
- Start date
Snaggy
Well-known member
I keep backyard bees here in Almond County. It’s hard to keep them alive in the winter but more because of Varroa than directly because of insecticides I think. It’s almost almond monoculture here, and it’s a desert for bees most of the year. Mine go through HF corn syrup like a basement full of Fortnite addicts. Farmers are supposed to notify apiarists before they spray and spray at night. Entomologists have been studying neo-nicotinoids for years and their effects on bees are more subtle than outright kills.
Still, beekeepers from Bangor to Bakersfield and Tampa to Tacoma strap 500 hives to a flatbed and bring 2 million hives to the Valley for almonds. After that, maybe it’s north for alfalfa or east for blueberries. Winter kill is high everywhere, and beekeeps work hard splitting established hives. A new package of bees costs $150, a queen up to $35. The going orchard rate for a hive of healthy bees for almond time is about $200, not far from a penny per bee. A thriving hive is worth several hundred dollars over a season, including honey, if any.
Still, beekeepers from Bangor to Bakersfield and Tampa to Tacoma strap 500 hives to a flatbed and bring 2 million hives to the Valley for almonds. After that, maybe it’s north for alfalfa or east for blueberries. Winter kill is high everywhere, and beekeeps work hard splitting established hives. A new package of bees costs $150, a queen up to $35. The going orchard rate for a hive of healthy bees for almond time is about $200, not far from a penny per bee. A thriving hive is worth several hundred dollars over a season, including honey, if any.
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boney
Miles > Posts
The Sonoma County Beekeepers Association is working really hard on keeping local queens and drones in the area and is asking people to skip out on buying bees altogether. Splits and swarms come free if you are ready and on the list. There is a huge amount of help up here for people who want to keep bees, from one hive to many. Even though there's a big push to help the "local" bee stock that is accustomed to the climate to continue to thrive, it doesn't stop the bee companies from selling "foreign" bees, which bring in mites, varroa and other issues. Nor does it stop my neighbors from covering their plants in chemicals that will kill them.
I think that the article does a nice job of bringing awareness to the problem of chemicals and bees, but it's not necessarily the smoking-gun we're looking for when we investigate colony collapse. Most bees in California never get near an almond orchard.
I would imagine that keeping bees near an entire industry based around importing "travelling" bees that are kept as livestock would mean increased incidences of parasites and disease, as well as lots of chemicals and miticies finding their way into the local hives.
Snaggy
Well-known member
Realistically, I have zero chance of keeping local stock considering how promiscuous queens are, and like you said, I get every mutt genome in the country spending the spring here, carrying battle hardened Varroa and viruses. One of my supercedure queens was scary hot, just not safe for the neighborhood. I might as well get a queen in the spring, and want to try the new hygienic.