----- Original Message ----- 
From: "randy oliver" <[log in to unmask]>

> Thanks, Dave.  This is an issue that I suspect may be causing me problems,
> since I get bee kills when corn is cut for silage.  I had a buddy
> beekeeper
> in the same area check for bee foraging on the sap, but he didn't see any.
> I will have to check for myself.  I will also take samples next year.


One suggestion - which is what I plan to implement myself whenever possible 
in the
future - a method which just doesn't seem to be done anywhere, because it's 
hard
to do.

When bees turn up missing - FIND the dead bees. This is what I'm looking for
in real life research. They may not be seen foraging, because of very rapid 
toxicity.

They may be lying dead in the rows.

I did somthing like this and reported on it one time - on a very informal 
basis, because I
did not have the resources to do more at:
http://gardenbees.com/cotton%20spray/cottonspray.htm

I know this is a crude start, but it's a start, and I think this is where we
need to be going. Once we find the bees that die in the field, we will have
a lot better chance of  getting a real analysis of what goes on in the real
world.

In clean cultivated fields, it's hard, but not as hard as you would think.
I've walked fields before. When you can see a couple dead bees every square
yard, you have a really serious loss - and you are only going to see a
portion of the total.

Let's put the issue in more understandable terms. This is the way I explain 
it to non-beekeepers.

A good dairyman, who knows his cows better than many men know their best 
friends, turns out 200 cows to pasture after the morning milking. Only 150 
return for the evening milking - and the missing cows are never found. His 
cows are staggering and obviously not normal. Over the next couple weeks 
quite a few abort their calves, and milk production drops by half. The 
production from the missing cows is also lost of course.

The chemical company representative says, "The chemical in question has been 
thoroughly tested in our labs and shown to be safe. Furthermore, the farmer 
still has his herd, so there is no "appreciable cow kill."

This is to clarify the kind of doublespeak that we get in regard to the 
bees.

There is a middle ground - the pesticide advocates instantly conclude that 
all is fine and the material is safe. But other beekeepers are convinced 
this is a killer.

The best route is to acknowledge that there is significant evidence that 
there is a hazard to bees (and not just domestic honeybees - they are a 
marker for many more bee species), and there needs to be some serious (not 
pesticide company sponsored) research done on the subject.

Dave, retired beekeeper

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