> Cruising "New Posts" it seems to me that I am seeing a lot of new beekeepers who know nothing and are looking to social media to teach them how to keep bees. Which causes me to wonder about how much that, unaffiliated and uneducated new beekeepers, contributes to the 40% annual die off reported in the News these days.
This sounds completely plausible.
As far as I can tell, the urban bee-pocalypse has now become self-sustaining, with so many newcomers casually taking up the hobby, but neglecting to take a bee course. They eventually encounter the inevitable difficulties, but lacking the knowledge to properly diagnose, they vocally blame their failures on either "CCD", or "Pesticides". Local newspapers eagerly eat up and publish these stories, leading to others to want to "help" by getting bees. There are so many interests vested in perpetuating the cycle of misunderstanding and misinformation.
Wash, Rise, Repeat.
This is, of course, the same cohort that will be motivated to share their "Learnings" with bee-informed.
Almost my entire neighborhood was wiped out last winter. ~15 hives across ~7 keepers. I reached out to all of the others to see if I could help, and was simply horrified by what I witnessed: Some folks had spread comb from deadouts on their lawn to "Feed the bees". Deadouts were left unsealed. Mice-infested hives had been misdiagnosed as foulbrood and were en route to the dump. I was further horrified to learn that I was the *only single person* in my neighborhood that had taken a bee course. Most had either been "Given a swarm by a friend" (An increasingly common trend), or bought bees from the local bee-entrepreneur. Talking to these folks and listening to theories that bordered on fantasy was simply excruciating.
I used to be of a mindset that different folks have different ways of keeping bees, and that respect and tolerance are a two way street... . But the baseline has fallen too low, and urban hobby-beekeeping has gone completely off the rails. If it's even a hobby anymore. The casual and thoughtless approach being taken by so many newcomers resembles buying hermit crabs at a mall kiosk more than it does the actual art of beekeeping.
Increasingly I find myself wondering if it should be made mandatory to take an extension beekeeping course before being allowed to keep bees.
It's an ugly idea, and difficult to execute and enforce. Universal compliance would be unattainable, but perhaps putting the expectation out there would push folks in the right direction. The cinderblock on my shoulders is providing me with no better solutions.
I'd be eager to hear others' thoughts on this.
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