# Whatâs killing the honeybees?



## copperkid3 (Mar 18, 2005)

BIG THREAT TO OHIO CROPS 
Honeybee disaster 
The latest crisis facing the stateâs beekeepers: What caused their colonies to simply disappear? 

Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Spencer Hunt 
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH 

A single dead bee remains in an otherwise empty hive at White Star Farm in Stoutsville in Fairfield County. 

Joe Blair, a commercial beekeeper who was checking to see how his honeybees survived the winter, is perplexed to find half of his 2,000 hives empty. After the bees left this hive, mice ate away the honeycomb. 


Millions of highly skilled agricultural workers are disappearing nationwide, putting crops and the economy in jeopardy. 

Honeybees are vanishing from their hives, and experts are scrambling to find a cause before the insects and the crops they pollinate are wiped out. 

Whatâs at stake? Nationwide, the value of honeybees to U.S. agriculture is more than $14 billion a year, the federal government says. 

Officials say "colony collapse disorder," in which bees are not returning to their hives, is being reported in 24 states. As temperatures in Ohio climb, beekeepers are just now peeking into their hives and finding that this newest threat hasnât spared their colonies. 

"Theyâre all gone," said Joe Blair, a commercial beekeeper who opened some of his boxes last week at a Fairfield County farm. 

"Iâve never seen anything like it. Itâs devastating. Totally devastating." 

Blair said that although beekeepers across the country have been talking about the mysterious malady that is wiping out colonies, he was shocked to find half of his 2,000 hives empty. 

More than 70 crops in Ohio â from apples to alfalfa â depend on honeybees. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that about one-third of the food we eat comes from insect-pollinated plants. 

"You canât just go out and find something else to do that pollination work," said Steve Hirsch, co-owner of the Hirsch Fruit Farm near Chillicothe, which uses Blairâs bees. 

Hirsch grows apples, peaches, nectarines, plums, pears, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries on his 80-acre farm. 

"Iâm hoping Joe has enough," he said. 

Bee researchers are stumped. Because bees simply are not returning to the hives, there are few if any clues. 

"Itâs like trying to identify who committed the murder and you donât have a corpse," said Thomas Webster, a honeybee researcher at Kentucky State University. 

There are so many threats to bees that researchers are scrambling to see whether they are facing something new, or a combination of problems. 

Pesticides, parasites, viruses and urban sprawl are a few of beesâ enemies. 

Bee experts in Ohio say they hope the newest threat is not as widespread here as it is in other states, such as California and Florida. 

Jim Tew, a beekeeping specialist at Ohio State Universityâs research center in Wooster, said wet springs that follow frigid winters hurt many hives. 

"Itâs kind of a one-two punch," Tew said. 

Dana Stahlman, a retired commercial beekeeper, said Januaryâs bitter cold killed all but three of the 20 hives he keeps in Blacklick. 

"My bees were alive up until the cold snap," he said. 

John Grafton, apiary program supervisor for the Ohio Department of Agriculture, said the state will have a clearer picture in coming weeks as more beekeepers check their hives. 

Blair, who keeps bees at farms across central and southern Ohio, said heâs looking at spending at least $60,000 to replace his losses, which are more than monetary. 

"You love your bees, or you canât be a beekeeper," Blair said. "Itâs sad. It almost makes you want to cry." 

[email protected]


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Old news.

Attended the Michigan Beekeepers Association ANR week in East Lansing 3-9 & 3-10-07
Much talk about CCD there. 
Zachery Haung gave us a web site where we can look up the lattest finding on the problem, plus many other things of intrest.
http://www.cyberbee.net/ 

 Al


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## copperkid3 (Mar 18, 2005)

Aware that it is "old" news, but figured that there might be some; either newbies or otherwise that might not have seen it and felt that it pays to keep it out front so that we can be informed. Some of us don't have the time or opportunity to go to those bee meetings at the university settings. :shrug:


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## Timber (Jun 15, 2003)

Copperkid, yes the news media is picking this up and they are double stating what is known. But it doesn't hurt to rekindle it. I just talked to a beekeeper near here that lost 100 out of 150 hives. Talked to the local inspector this week about the last meeting (I've missed) No one has omitted loses yet but they all seem to be in disgust.

For what I see, my own experience they aren't coming back. Meaning they leave never to return. Queen is still there brood downsized no foragers. 

I'll forward a part of an email what is known. 

Quote:-

Yesterday, a group of us formalized a working group and named thecurrent bee loss syndrome being seen in the U.S. As of this time, I have reports that major losses have been seen in theU.S.,starting in the spring in places like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Itis still ongoing in Florida, with major losses occurring inOklahoma,and a number of reports from Californiaover the last few days. 

We are no longer calling this FallDwindle Disease -- its not a fall phenomenon when looked at across thenation, its a rapid collapse(often in less than 2-3 weeks), and it mayor may not be a disease in the strictest sense. So,we're terming itColony Collapse Disorder (CCD). 

We, a group of researchers, extensionagents, and regulatory officials have formed a group to investigatethis problem and will call ourselves the CCD 

Working Group. This group represents a diverse number of institutions 

including Bee Alert Technology, Inc. (a bee technology transfercompany affiliated with the Universityof Montana), The Pennsylvania State University,the USDA/ARS, the Florida Department of Agriculture, and thePennsylvania Department of Agriculture. We're planning on adding EricMussen to the group to represent California. 

CCD Symptoms 

Based on initial visits to affectedbeeyards, the CCD drew up a list of the following symptoms, typical ofthe disorder: 

1)In collapsed colonies, 

a.The complete absence of adult bees incolonies, with no or little build up of dead bees in the colonies or infront of those colonies. 

b. The presence of capped brood incolonies, 

c. The presence of food stores, bothhoney and bee bread 

which is not robbed by other bees, and 

ii. when attacked by hive pests such aswax moth and small hive
beetle, the attack is noticeably delayed (days, weeks) 

2) In cases where the colony appear tobe actively collapsing 

a. An insufficient workforce to maintainthe brood that is
present 

b. The workforce seems to be made up ofyoung adult bees 

c. The queen is present 

d. The cluster is reluctant to consumeprovided feed, such as 

sugar syrup and protein supplement 

Initial results from the online survey (_www.beesurvey.com_ 

(http://www.beesurvey.com)) has revealed that beekeepers think that 

this started at least 1-2 years ago,in its present form. As this listhas mentioned, similar syndromes have been reported in the U.S.,dating back to 1896. It certainly looks identical to the disorderreported by Oertel in 1965 (from bee losses in 63-64). 

Finally, if you've experienced this, please fill out the survey - 

Regardless of how convinced you are that you know what caused it inyour bees. 

Too many factors, too few returns to sort this out without the help of
The nation's beekeepers. 

Thanks 

Jerry
P.S. We'd like to hear from beekeepers who have not ever had thisproblem. Where are your bees, what are you doing different? So, again,fill out the survey, just be sure we know that your bees haven't hadthe disorder.

Timber
Now I have my own theories but it could be too far fetch from the main stream thinkers.


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## copperkid3 (Mar 18, 2005)

Timber
*Now I have my own theories but it could be too far fetch from the main stream thinkers*.[/QUOTE]

Timber:
I'm sure that we'd like to hear some of them; at this point I'd be surprised if the mainstream has a clue that hasn't been thrown around the block a time or two already. I've heard a few myself and nothings out-of-line in my book......all of them have distinct possibilities. This countrys' beekeepers need all the :help: they can get........and if it is going to get fixed, we'll have to do it ourselves!!!


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## suburbanite (Jul 27, 2006)

My potted orange tree is flowering.

And there are no bees.

If anything is a bee-magnet, it is citrus in flower.

This is Not Good. And I'm actually frightened by it.


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

My neighbor opened his hives and had bees in only 2 out of over 200 hives. He said it's some kind of mite that is killing them. I don't know anything about hives or bees, just passing on what he told me. I didn't have very many apples or peaches on my trees last year. Would the lack of bees cause that?


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## suburbanite (Jul 27, 2006)

Spinner--

Yes, lack of bees would do that to the fruit crop.

One of the threads around here has a link to a government website that is tracking hive losses this year. You should dig for it and give the link to your friend. If beekeepers fail to report their losses then finding and fixing the cause will be much harder. 

It may be that more than one thing is going on in different regions, but without beekeepers making reports, we'll never be able to find out.

The mites have been around a couple of years now and the losses this year exceed what you'd expect from the mites alone. If your friend's hives had dead bees in them, then it is probably cold or mites that killed them. But if the hive was empty of adult bees except the queen, then it was the new mystery syndrome that is spreading like wildfire and decimating hives--and that is what the emergency reporting system thingie is trying to find.

I am among those who thinks that there is a new pesticide at fault. Possibly there is a problem with pollen which has become toxic to bees due to GMO tampering.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

http://www.cyberbee.net/ 
CCD up date site.

 Al


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## Sherrynboo (Mar 19, 2005)

I came across this on a site I get information on regularly. I had been wondering if there might be a connection.

http://www.mercola.com/2007/mar/22/are-gm-crops-killing-honeybees.htm


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## Guest (Mar 25, 2007)

Another article:

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/032307EA.shtml


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

ttt


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

ttt again :shrug:


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## Woodroe (Oct 28, 2005)

Yet another article

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2007/100407beesdying.htm


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## Timber (Jun 15, 2003)

copperkid, I know it's been over a month, I was hesitant and still holding off on posting as its seems that my off the wall MS thinking is not as far fetch as I thought. Like with the cell towers as one went up here late last summer. I also see magnetic was mention. This is good because I'm sorta leaning into this theory. It could be the factor along with some fuels that could be affecting the UV as I'm convinced it is a navigation problem. I've been researching into the problem but, the field is ever widening. It seems composing a post with some research into each thought... the info is surfacing faster than my put to print ink has dried. 

Timber


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## suburbanite (Jul 27, 2006)

Timber, I'm not understanding you. Do you think that it is a combination of the cell phone towers and the weakening and break up of the earth's magnetic field that is being observed in advance of a pole-swap (a natural event that occurs ever 10,000-20,000 years or so and is not associated with any known extinctions)?


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

The cell phone tower thing doesn't seem to worry our local bees. They are kept just outside the city limits on what's left of a small farm. They are at one end of about a 2 acre field which has been planted to pumpkins for the past 10-15 years. There's a cell phone tower at the other end of the field and has been there about as long! Those bees have always been able to find me, about 2 miles away, and then find their way back home. They've been busy competing with little native bees for the bloodroot blossoms the past few days.

Martin


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