Share The Seeds
Gardening Area => Beekeeping => Topic started by: sylvatica on June 15, 2013, 11:27:34 PM
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As has been widely reported on in the press, it's rather shocking to actually experience this decline of the honeybee population in situ. and in real time, Virtually no honeybees to be seen here in central Europe. A sober reminder that all is not well with our unatural methods of pest control. The recent polemic about the neonicotinoid insecticides has actually prompted EU legislators to do something constructive for a change, in imposing a provisional (2yr.) ban on the use of these chemicals as seed treatments. ( UK abstained) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEf-h3xcbvQ
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Wow, That is not good. Not good at all.
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I do not like getting stung, but bees are probably my favorite helpers..
Stinging on melons is great for flavor and we all know on pollinating.
Let alone, I love honey..
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Stinging on melons helps flavor!? That's crazy. I didn't know this.
It's crazy how most life would die out without bees. Unless me make little robots that go around pollinating everything.
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“If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live.”
-Albert Einstein
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The problem is not just about the honeybee. It is about also about all the wild bees and bumble bees. There are serveral hundred species of them in central europe and a good population of all kinds of different bees will ensure a pollination of all kinds of different plants under different conditions (some species or for example more tollerant to cold or warm weather, to long winters, don't have trouble with varoa mites etc.) and you also need an active beekeeper in close proximation. Of couse you need an intact ecosystem to have a diverse population of wild bees and the pestcides are a big issue for them too.
While we are at the topic: The honey bee native to central europe, from france to scandinavia and russia is the euopean dark honey bee Apis melifera melifera. It is very hardy to cold temperatures, probably pretty hardy to the varoa mite all the bee keepers have problems with and also don't swarm that much. However you rarely find this subspecie any more and mostly just in very cold climates like scandinavia, or in high altitudes. They were replaced by the supposedly more productive Apis melifera carnica subspecies or the "buckfast" hybrid. Since they are adapted to the climate south and east of the alps, they have more problems in the central european climate and or more vulnerable to any stressor, including pests and poisson.
Starting beekeeping is not that hard and does not need to be expensive. You don't have to buy all that professional equipment. Look for a "Top bar hive". It can be easily made from a few wooden boards and is therefore very cheap. Smaller quantities of honey can be extracted by mashing the honey comb up and letting the honey run off through a fine sieve. So no need for an expensive extractor also. Other important things you need is a protetive suit, a smoker (get a good one, you want to always have smoke ready when working with the bees), a flexible knife and of couse the bees. If you go to the local be keepers club you will get some very cheap, if not for free and also a great deal of knowledge. There are mostly old people in there and they are usually very happy about interested people asking questions. ;D The northern honey bee will of couse cost you a bit, because it is so rare and there a very few people breeding them. But it is a worthwhile investment, because you promote the native bee and therefore help to reestablish a healthy bee population.
If you have some free space (a small spot in the garden or even at a balcony or a roof is sufficient), the time and the interest to keep some bees, please think about it!
And if there any questions about this, ask them! ;)
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I never see bee hives here anymore. All that I see is wasps and hornets. The occasional bumble bee too.
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Thank you for posting this. I have been contemplating keeping bees for a few years now, after watching the video my decision was made. Currently we do have a very large wild honey bee population but the local elders say it is much smaller than when they were kids, fortunately the gov't has a country wide honey bee program in place to help.
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Check this out:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/illinois-illegally-seizes-bees-resistant-to-monsantos-roundup-kills-remaining-queens/5336210 (http://www.globalresearch.ca/illinois-illegally-seizes-bees-resistant-to-monsantos-roundup-kills-remaining-queens/5336210)
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Wow. This makes me sad. Monsanto has all of us by the balls.
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Links to a story about honey bees and pesticides, first link is for the study the story references.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0070182#authcontrib (http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0070182#authcontrib)
http://rt.com/usa/bee-pesticide-scientist-research-600/ (http://rt.com/usa/bee-pesticide-scientist-research-600/)
It´s not like no one knows, the govts just don´t care.
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This is heartbreaking.. and that link about the seized bees is downright frightening! I'm glad to see that the EU at least is taking steps in the right direction with banning the use of certain pesticides...
My wife and I have been keeping a hive of Italian honey bees for the past 2 years. So far we haven't harvested any honey from them (had some trouble with varroa mites and hive beetles and lost our queen last year - they're doing better this year. yay!). We love just watching them. I think I'd be happy even if we never harvest any honey, though I do hope to this year.
How many bee keepers do we have here? If there are more than a couple, maybe we could have a section of the forum dedicated to beekeeping?
I'd love to plant a bunch Monarda didyma and other flowers that bees like around the hive for next year
Here's a picture of our girls hard at work=)
(http://i41.tinypic.com/300qmuh.jpg)
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How many bee keepers do we have here? If there are more than a couple, maybe we could have a section of the forum dedicated to beekeeping?
I am not a beekeeper, but I like the idea of a section on STS dedicated to beekeeping. I recommend starting a poll on "Do you keep bees/ever kept bees?".
I might do some beekeeping in the future after doing reading on how to do it well (which I haven't done).
If a beekeeping and/or pollinators section is made, I will definitely look at it.
I live in a rural area of Alabama that has a good amount of biodiversity; it would likely do nature well to care for some bees (maybe other pollinators, as well).
Nice pic by the way.
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I have no idea how difficult/easy it is to care for a bee hive, and being in an apartment I can't exactly start one either.... However I can easily see the benefit of STS having a Beekeeping section, seeing how plants and bees go together like two peas in a pod, it might even motivate others to start their own hives, thus helping keep the bee populations up :) It would be nice to care for a beehive one day
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How much does it cost to start up a hive? I am very interested in starting one. I looked into it a while back but never took the leap.
I wonder if the poppy field owners in aus have hives. It sure would make for some interesting honey. :)
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I have seen a hive in what looks like shoeboxes selling on the internet; IDK if those work well... I don't have any experience at all.
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Haha, I had actually thought about planting poppies around and looked into whether or not it would affect the honey. Here's the link to another forum where someone asked the same question (http://"http://www.beesource.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-194299.html")... not a definitive yes or no, but it sounds like it would not contain any opium, but the bees do like the flowers... so if I got more sun in the area where my hive is located I'd probably plant a bunch of poppies for them as well:)
I'm pretty sure we got started with this beginner's kit ($275) (http://"http://www.draperbee.com/beesupplies/Beginner's%20Kit.htm") or something very close to it. It took a good afternoon of assembly but none of it was very difficult.
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^ It would not let me edit/modify my previous post; I've just been told that "top bar bee hives are better for the bees than the ecobeebox type" and would be less likely to get infection.
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[off-topic]
^ It would not let me edit/modify my previous post; I've just been told that "top bar bee hives are better for the bees than the ecobeebox type" and would be less likely to get infection.
You should be able to edit your own posts now, no matter how much time has passed since you wrote them. Sorry about that.
Thank you,
Mandrake
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Crop Pollination Exposes Honey Bees to Pesticides Which Alters Their Susceptibility to the Gut Pathogen (http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0070182)
So according to this study from the University of Maryland, during their life the bees come into contact with several pesticides and fungicides. And those chemicals impair the bees’ ability to fight off a potentially lethal parasite.
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It's not expensive... a couple hundred bucks will get you going. That's if you're buying everything pre-assembled and painted etc. The frugal human could do it for much less.
It is super rewarding. While I have no bees right now, I will again in the spring :) .
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Is the return worth the initial investment?
If it costs 200-300$ to start up will you make it back in honey?
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With the current situation with honeybees? Hard to say. A partner and I did it for 8 years on a little larger scale we peaked out at about 50 hives in 5 or 6 bee yards. We were breeding queens, selling hive products, and honey. We made a little bread, but it's hard work and one won't get rich doing it.
I would say to have a few hives in your backyard shouldn't be looked at as a money-maker per-se, but as an investment in your whole agricultural plan. Pollination... in my opinion... is worth A LOT.
I can say it's rewarding, having your own honey is fantastic especially if you try to avoid processed sweeteners like me and buy a lot of local honey anyway. Not to mention that its just plain fascinating learning about them and seeing how they work.
With the decline in world wild honeybee populations... anyone keeping bees is really doing a great service to humanity IMHO.
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Starting beekeeping is not that hard and does not need to be expensive. You don't have to buy all that professional equipment. Look for a "Top bar hive". It can be easily made from a few wooden boards and is therefore very cheap.
First off, I'm not a professional bee keeper. I've done some research because my family has a bee hive. We wanted bees for our orchard, various gardens, and for the bees themselves. Honey isn't really our primary concern.
If you're considering starting a bee hive, there's good reason to look into Top Bar bee hives.
In our research we found that the standard type of hive, langstroth hives, are really for the manufacture of honey. They come with wax imprints of honeycomb cells on multiple frames to help the bees get started.
The problem with these hives is that the honeycomb is reused after collecting the honey. Yes, this is more efficient because it takes a colony approximately 20 lbs of honey to make a pound of wax. What can, happen is that these cells can be infected with various mites or bacterias. So when the infected frame is replaced into the hive, it can cause serious damage to the hive.
Top-bar hives, on the other hand, are designed to allow the bees to build hanging honey combs. The whole honey comb is removed from the individual top bars. The bees must rebuild the honeycomb completely through.
Happy hives,
Hcc
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Beekeeping is definitely worth every penny!
Pollination
Healthy honey
A nice hobby
Beeswax
Propolis
Pollen
Awesome stuff!
Also, one could build, say a top bar hive for practically nothing. And possibly catch some wild bees, but thats iffy. All adding up to probably $10, or $0 if you got the wood
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I beleive the decline in bee population is due to a combination of:
Large scale fertilizer/biocide use
GMO fields (eewwwwwiieee)
Refined sugar/high fructose corn syrup feeding (gross)
And last, but not least, babying bees so they depend completley on humans. Let them do their thing and adapt
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Oh also, from one hive this season, we got i think like 3.5ish gallons of grade a local honey. And this was dissappointing for one hive, to my dad at least.
There are also such things as pollen traps that catch a percentage of pollen. Very high in plant based protein and a great allergy and immunity builder.
Also propolis is the main reason why bee hives are called the most sterile place in nature. Anti fungal, anti bacterial, etc etc
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3.5 gallons of honey for one hive in a year and that's on the low end? That's still a lot more than I thought you could get per hive every year
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Yep :)
And then a few weeks later we took them up high in the appalachians for the sourwood flow, and got slightly less than 3.5 again! Only one of the 2 produced enough to extract from
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So yea
Id recommend everyone to get into organic beekeeping
:)