>   - *The European Commission identifies disease and viruses such as Varroa
   destructor, American foulbrood, European foulbrood, Nosema spp., and honey
   bee viruses as the main cause of the decline in bee health.*
  

The head of the USDA/ARS Dr, Jeff Pettis made the statement the winter of 2012/2013 so far has had losses in the over 50% range.

Half the hives dead in the U.S.? 

Am I the only person concerned?

To add there are beekeepers with 75 to 100% losses.(personal communication)

Many commercial beekeepers have been controlling all of the above for decades.

To say PPB (PISS POOR BEEKEEPING)  is what is going on in my opinion is laughable.


Does not the last paragraph of what Juanse posted imply PPB?

PPB has been the view of the chemical industry since the start.

Serious problems started in Florida (prior to CCD) in orange groves treated with the systemic temik. I traveled to Florida for a look. talked to beekeepers(in archives)

temik was pulled from use on orange because was being found in oranges and orange juice and ground water. 

Since 2006/2007 yearly losses remain at a level I have NEVER  saw before in my decades of beekeeping.

The CCD team says CCD has gone away and all losses are called CCD.
 
Ok . Screw CCD. What is killing all these hives?

surveys only show what is going on with those filling out the surveys. 
Bee informed goal ( ABJ article )is to get 300 beekeepers to fill out surveys. To be honest mostly hobby and really represents a small number of beekeepers. 

Surveys are fine but not a solution to problems.

50% losses??????

The new normal?

To researchers I say: 

Quit patting yourselves on the back. Millions of dollars have been sent your way. Beating the PPB drum is getting old.

Another 5 million through bee informed. 

Figure out what is killing bee hives!


Maybe all beekeepers should set a date to put all their dead hives in their front yard and all call the news media.

Possible news headline?
"Half the Hives in the U.S. dead over the winter of 2012/2013"

To be fair:
Possibly the neonics was the last brick added to the stack of issues bees were tolerating. However the bees had been tolerating all the above for many years.

To me most of the the ideas presented in juanse post are PR. 

In other words. 

The chemical giants contend the neonics (other than dust) pose no problem for bees but the chemical giants will help you find ways to control varroa ( Bayer coumaphos /checkmite) , nosema , AFB, EFB etc.

Would these chemical giants be putting forth these proposal's if not for current pressure? I do not know but why now and not when bees were dying from the older pesticides?

I was keeping bees in the days of DDT & Penncap M.

Food for thought

 My bees look good with around 20% loss but should have been 0%. The one common denominator of those with high losses is they expect all beekeepers to be seeing losses in the 50-100% range. About the only thing I see most with high losses is keeping bees in areas of agriculture. Range colonies do better but even those seem to have problems which wait to show up a few months later after being in Ag zones.

This is the first year reports are coming from beekeepers with problems in city settings.


What Kirk is seeing is common with hives coming out of almonds. Fungicides most beekeepers think are causing the problem. The hives usually straighten up (as Kirk said) but there is a cost to the beekeeper. Why should the beekeeper take the cost. Raise the pollination fees for those *problem* almond growers! 

I could care less if almond growers get their trees pollinated but like most beekeepers would do my part to provide strong hives for a reasonable price if I entered into a contract. 

For some reason *people* think if you are a beekeeper its your duty to pollinate crops, buy old bee equipment etc.

If your bees come out of almonds in poor shape your first call should be to the broker or the grower.

Further:
Don't let the almond grower/broker set the price. Figure your costs plus a percent of profit. economics 101. 

Why are the bees dying?

Will the problem get better in the future? Or worse?

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
retiring but concerned beekeeper over the future of commercial beekeeping in the U.S..

Midwest U.S.A.

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