I found this article to be sending a double message. Why would bees NOT WANT to work ...? I mean that is their job. Maybe they are being doped, just like us.
Harsh weather to be blamed for declining bee population not Colony Collapse Disorder
BY JOHN CHRISTIANSON
The Truro Daily News
Truro Daily News
DEBERT - Blueberry harvesters should not worry about a so-called colony collapse disorder of bee hives that has producers concerned in other parts of North America, says a local bee-keeper.
Tony Phillips of Debert supplies 80-90 hives per year to blueberry producers and he says die-off in local hives can be attributed to a harsh fall and winter.
“I think we’ve had losses that some people have had more than they’re used to but the winter is an explanation for that,” he said. Media reports from central Canada suggest there’s a massive die-off of bees in 27 U.S. states where 90 per cent of the colonies have disappeared. Called Colony Collapse Disorder, reports suggest the mysterious die-off has affected parts of Canada as well.
About 17,000 hives are rented out to blueberry producers in Nova Scotia to help pollinate crops.
Don Johnson, a small blueberry producer in Great Village, hasn’t experienced any die-off, on the scale reported in the United States, on the 10 acres he farms.
Last year he rented four boxes of bees at $75 each to help with his crop.
“My crop personally suffered because of the weather,” he said. “It was rainy and the bees didn’t seem to want to come out. The bees that I had didn’t seem to want to work.”
Phillips said the die-off in the U.S. and in parts of Canada is not as mysterious as some people believe.
He said he hasn’t seen colony collapse himself and said that there is a “strong indication” that some bee keepers are seeing an escalated die-off because of an accumulation of stressors capped off by a virus.
“They think it’s an accumulative thing,” he said
Bees are facing a number of stressors including overcrowding in some areas, chemicals used in agriculture and in the hives themselves for disease control and antibiotics, migratory bee-keeping, trucking from one pollination contract to another and a split to create new hives.
“All of these things can be stress points and it can be one last thing, the tipping point ... I think they have identified a fungus that was the tipping point with these bees.
“No one knows for sure, but they think the tipping point was a fungus.”
George Johnson, a Great Village blueberry producer, said it might be time to think about using the indigenous Alfalfa leafcutter bee to pollinate their crops. The bee is an alternative to the honey bee that is susceptible to disease.
Phillips said local beekeepers shouldn’t be overly concerned about Colony Collapse Disorder.
“I think you’ll be okay in Nova Scotia,” he said.
www.trurodaily.com/index.cfm?sid=301512&sc=68
Harsh weather to be blamed for declining bee population not Colony Collapse Disorder
BY JOHN CHRISTIANSON
The Truro Daily News
Truro Daily News
DEBERT - Blueberry harvesters should not worry about a so-called colony collapse disorder of bee hives that has producers concerned in other parts of North America, says a local bee-keeper.
Tony Phillips of Debert supplies 80-90 hives per year to blueberry producers and he says die-off in local hives can be attributed to a harsh fall and winter.
“I think we’ve had losses that some people have had more than they’re used to but the winter is an explanation for that,” he said. Media reports from central Canada suggest there’s a massive die-off of bees in 27 U.S. states where 90 per cent of the colonies have disappeared. Called Colony Collapse Disorder, reports suggest the mysterious die-off has affected parts of Canada as well.
About 17,000 hives are rented out to blueberry producers in Nova Scotia to help pollinate crops.
Don Johnson, a small blueberry producer in Great Village, hasn’t experienced any die-off, on the scale reported in the United States, on the 10 acres he farms.
Last year he rented four boxes of bees at $75 each to help with his crop.
“My crop personally suffered because of the weather,” he said. “It was rainy and the bees didn’t seem to want to come out. The bees that I had didn’t seem to want to work.”
Phillips said the die-off in the U.S. and in parts of Canada is not as mysterious as some people believe.
He said he hasn’t seen colony collapse himself and said that there is a “strong indication” that some bee keepers are seeing an escalated die-off because of an accumulation of stressors capped off by a virus.
“They think it’s an accumulative thing,” he said
Bees are facing a number of stressors including overcrowding in some areas, chemicals used in agriculture and in the hives themselves for disease control and antibiotics, migratory bee-keeping, trucking from one pollination contract to another and a split to create new hives.
“All of these things can be stress points and it can be one last thing, the tipping point ... I think they have identified a fungus that was the tipping point with these bees.
“No one knows for sure, but they think the tipping point was a fungus.”
George Johnson, a Great Village blueberry producer, said it might be time to think about using the indigenous Alfalfa leafcutter bee to pollinate their crops. The bee is an alternative to the honey bee that is susceptible to disease.
Phillips said local beekeepers shouldn’t be overly concerned about Colony Collapse Disorder.
“I think you’ll be okay in Nova Scotia,” he said.
www.trurodaily.com/index.cfm?sid=301512&sc=68
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