The Poojer Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 anyone know? have they begun to repopulate and repollinate? I havent heard much lately. I got thinking about it after getting stung by one of its bastard cousin hornets this morning.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Avenger Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 anyone know? have they begun to repopulate and repollinate? I havent heard much lately. I got thinking about it after getting stung by one of its bastard cousin hornets this morning.... I'll answer as posibly TBD's only resident beekeeper.... Colonly Collapse Disorder (CCD) is, unfortunately, still hitting commercial beekeepers hard. They still have not found a root cause - the "smoking gun". CCD happens when you have a hive that appears to be healthy, but the field bees fly off to do their pollen/nectar gathering and never come back. As a beekeeper you open up your hive and find almost nothing is left - just the queen and a small number or workers. Unlike other hive maladies, there are no sick bees to gather up and analyze - the bees simply aren't there. Current thought is that CCD is a factor of set of factors that push a stressed out colony over the edge - the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. It is quite possible that the same factor or factors are hitting hives under less stress and it doesn't push them over the edge - they can withstand the additional stress on the colony. Commercial beekeepers are hit hard because their bees are under lots of stress to begin with - they are put on trucks and transported from crop to crop where they are used to pollinate commercial crops. In addition to the grueling travel, their diet gets no variety as they work a single crop and are often fed high fructose corn syrup to keep them going. The life of a bee in a migratory commercial hive has been compared to that of a marathon runner existing on a diet of candy bars. Anyway, the big migratory commercial guys are taking immense losses - 80%+ and many may go bankrupt (unlike other forms of agriculture, there is nothing like crop insurance available to beekeepers). The economic impact is huge. Growers have to pay more for bees to pollinate their crops as fewer are available. Few bees also mean less crop yields. In both instances the law of supply and demand means what you pay for almonds is going way up. Hobbyists like me and people who don't truck their bees around the country have seen some instances of CCD, but not nearly like the big guys. Thankfully my hives are doing well (in fact this afternoon I'm going to pull about 100lbs of honey off of one of my hives). Bees will survive CCD - they always have. In the sort term it will mean higher prices for many things, and it may change the model of how commercial crops are pollinated - migratory beekeeping may die out or become just too costly - growers may have to start keeping hives on their own fields and running their own bee operations. Hobbyists like me can help, especially since as a hoby we are growing by leaps and bounds (see Friday's WSJ or an interesting piece on the issues our new popularity has caused). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 Thanks for the update A. Big problem that has received scant coverage. Gotta love this board...you can find someone with experience in just about anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLiveRalph Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 Good question Poojer and thanks for the info Avenger. I was talking about this with my father over July 4th weekend, but both us had a very limited understanding of CCD and like Poojer, neither of us had heard any recent updates in about six months. I did watch a doc on the commercial bee keepers a few years ago. It was very compelling and was an industry I was completely oblivous to. It's so crazy to think about all of the "end result" products we expect to be available everyday without ever once considering the process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Poojer Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 100 lbs from one hive?????? wow!!!!! (in fact this afternoon I'm going to pull about 100lbs of honey off of one of my hives). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Avenger Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 100 lbs from one hive?????? wow!!!!! Yeah - and that's only my early harvest - in late summer I'll be able to pull some more off. Right now I have 3 honey supers on, and each will give about 50 pounds, but the third isn't full so I'm leaving it on. Unfortunately, there's a nectar dearth around this time of the year in these parts meaning that honey production slows way down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mead107 Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 How many people eat honey ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drnykterstein Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 How many people eat honey ? <------ me me me me. I lourve honey. Eat it on everything I can. Raw honey too, when it's not pressed or whatever.. it's so freeking tasty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 How many people eat honey ? <------ me me me me. I lourve honey. Eat it on everything I can. Raw honey too, when it's not pressed or whatever.. it's so freeking tasty. There was an episode of Dirty Jobs I caught recently while channel surfing. Mike Rowe was working with a guy and they were pulling the siding off a house to remove a bees nest inside. Towards the end, the guy had Mike try some of the honey straight off the comb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in San Diego Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 I'll answer as posibly TBD's only resident beekeeper.... Colonly Collapse Disorder (CCD) is, unfortunately, still hitting commercial beekeepers hard. They still have not found a root cause - the "smoking gun". CCD happens when you have a hive that appears to be healthy, but the field bees fly off to do their pollen/nectar gathering and never come back. As a beekeeper you open up your hive and find almost nothing is left - just the queen and a small number or workers. Unlike other hive maladies, there are no sick bees to gather up and analyze - the bees simply aren't there. Current thought is that CCD is a factor of set of factors that push a stressed out colony over the edge - the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. It is quite possible that the same factor or factors are hitting hives under less stress and it doesn't push them over the edge - they can withstand the additional stress on the colony. Commercial beekeepers are hit hard because their bees are under lots of stress to begin with - they are put on trucks and transported from crop to crop where they are used to pollinate commercial crops. In addition to the grueling travel, their diet gets no variety as they work a single crop and are often fed high fructose corn syrup to keep them going. The life of a bee in a migratory commercial hive has been compared to that of a marathon runner existing on a diet of candy bars. Anyway, the big migratory commercial guys are taking immense losses - 80%+ and many may go bankrupt (unlike other forms of agriculture, there is nothing like crop insurance available to beekeepers). The economic impact is huge. Growers have to pay more for bees to pollinate their crops as fewer are available. Few bees also mean less crop yields. In both instances the law of supply and demand means what you pay for almonds is going way up. Hobbyists like me and people who don't truck their bees around the country have seen some instances of CCD, but not nearly like the big guys. Thankfully my hives are doing well (in fact this afternoon I'm going to pull about 100lbs of honey off of one of my hives). Bees will survive CCD - they always have. In the sort term it will mean higher prices for many things, and it may change the model of how commercial crops are pollinated - migratory beekeeping may die out or become just too costly - growers may have to start keeping hives on their own fields and running their own bee operations. Hobbyists like me can help, especially since as a hoby we are growing by leaps and bounds (see Friday's WSJ or an interesting piece on the issues our new popularity has caused). I have a ranch with a large bee colony. You can hear them buzz all day long in the upper parts of the tree canopy. I thought for sure after the wildfires of 2007 that the bees were doomed and gone forever, but they are back and buzzing louder than ever. Now if I could find the hive I could get some honey ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 How many people eat honey ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanker Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 He said "eat honey", not "eat their honey." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 He said "eat honey", not "eat their honey." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Fong Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 How many people eat honey ? I love honey. It's a versatile ingredient for cooking. My current favorite is a dip that I make for my fried chicken strips. Mix Frank's Red Hot with some honey. Good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Avenger Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 There was an episode of Dirty Jobs I caught recently while channel surfing. Mike Rowe was working with a guy and they were pulling the siding off a house to remove a bees nest inside. Towards the end, the guy had Mike try some of the honey straight off the comb. That's what honey is pretty much - straight out of the comb. My bees store excess honey in combs they build on the frames I give them rames and cap the cells with a bit of wax. You cut off the wax cappings and then put the frame in an extractor which is really just a big centerfuge. When it spins, the honey comes out of the comb. Then you run it through some seives to filter out and small wax particles, etc., you let any air bubble out for a few days and then you bottle it - presto, you have honey! I actually pulled some bridge comb (comb built between frames or between boxes - comb where it really shouldn't be). I put it on a plate and let some of the honey drain out - had it on toast. Then I put the comb back on the hive - within hours the bees had cleaned out all the remaining honey and stored it in a better place. Bees ara amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Avenger Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 I have a ranch with a large bee colony. You can hear them buzz all day long in the upper parts of the tree canopy. I thought for sure after the wildfires of 2007 that the bees were doomed and gone forever, but they are back and buzzing louder than ever. Now if I could find the hive I could get some honey ! In your part of the country I would be very careful about any feral colonies - lots of Africanized honey bees and you do NOT want to mess with a hive of AHB unless you're a professional expereinced in dealing with AHB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmac17 Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 Avenger, How much work are bees? If someone wanted to get started in it as a hobby, with one small hive for example - how much time / money / energy would it take? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Avenger Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 Avenger, How much work are bees? If someone wanted to get started in it as a hobby, with one small hive for example - how much time / money / energy would it take? The time and energy committment isn't too bad - I have 3 year old twins that take plenty of my time and I find I can manage my hives just fine. The good thing is they aren't like keeping other animals - you usually don't have to do anything at a very specific time (i.e. - it doesn't have to be done on Thursday - it can wait until the weekend or maybe even the following weekend). I do most of my work on weekends. The energy is really watching the hive to see how it is behaving and whether it is healthy, managing disases and pests with medications, and feeding them at key times (i.e. - when you start up a hive or are preparing them for winter). Start up for a single hive is probably about $500 once you get the equipment (hive, frames, medications, tools, veil/suit, etc.). Sunsequent hives may cost $100-$200 (obviously you'll already have the tools, veil/suit, etc.). The best thing is to find a local bee club in your area - chances are they run or can refer you to a bee school that will teach you everything you need to know to start (that's what I did - 12 evening sessions with loads of great info). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 anyone know? have they begun to repopulate and repollinate? I havent heard much lately. I got thinking about it after getting stung by one of its bastard cousin hornets this morning.... I was bit by a flying ant the other day. Since when do ants fly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 You cut off the wax cappings and then put the frame in an extractor which is really just a big centerfuge. When it spins, the honey comes out of the comb. Don't the bees get dizzy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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