Repost from [mtbakerbees] US Bee Losses - NYT

[Mohan Raj]

para mtbakerbees

"The Bees Are Disappearing Again" NY Times.

An article from April 12th which describes how devastating this winter's loses have been for a small SD migratory bee outfit. 

 

I have a lot of respect for the folks who appear in this article:  beekeepers, researchers and growers. But, instead of referring to this loss, once again, as  colony collapse disorder, a still undefined "maybe-malady,"  why not call it what it really is:  Migratory Beekeeping Disease.

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Cheers, Michael

Michael Jaross
Whatcom Bee Help

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Tim Hiatt via groups.io <spongetim=gmai...@groups.io>

7:03 (hace 8 horas)

para mtbakerbees

Micheal,

I lose a lot less hives by percent than most hobbyists I know. In my first year as the legislative liaison for WASBA, the then-president of WASBA lost >20 of his 27 hives. I was shocked. Losses aren't limited to migratory beekeepers. CCD is experienced by all beekeepers of every type. I see their messages in forums: "Can anyone tell me why my hive died? It has ample stores but only a handful of bees left, and was booming last fall."

Maybe you should gather funds to commission a study with a reputable land grant university to simultaneously study migratory and stationary operations' practices and management and see if there really is a difference in survival, rather than making half-baked assumptions that moving bees is bad. In my lifetime, I've seen annual losses in the mid-1980s of 5% creep to 8% in the early '90s, now to 38% in '24-'25. And this change has occurred with the same migratory route every year.

To really address the "plague" of migratory beekeeping, there's only two solutions: ban migratory beekeeping or use science to address whatever the differences are from 40 years ago and restore hive health for all beekeepers. A ban would make me rich as insect pollination in Washington without migratory beekeeping would allow me to charge 4x or more than I do now. I'd still be migratory, but just in-state. There's a chance that science can find out why hive health isn't what it used to be for everyone. I support the WSU bee program and have lobbied for the federal bee labs. Do you support a ban, or do you support WSU's bee program?

Tim

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scribbl...@yahoo.com via groups.io <Scribblesrebel=yaho...@groups.io>

10:02 (hace 5 horas)

para mtbakerbees

Sorry Tim, this has seemed to hit a nerve.

 

As most people do when someone makes comments on something that we think are aimed personally. Which I'm sure it wasn't.

 

As with all media now a days, everything thing is siloed. Owned by the mega billionaires, there is no deep investigation into all the facts.

 

Everyone wants just the highlights, the flashy click bait news... train wrecks getting the most hits. Or some fluffy bunny, ahwww can't we all save this...

 

Nobody wants to spend the time it takes to do the research to educate themselves on news.

 

Everyone wants news that agrees with what they think.

 

You may know hobbyist that have lost all their hives but obviously there are commercials that have 38% losses. Which as a hobbyist, I can't afford to lose even one.

 

As I'm sure you know there are good hobbyist and bad hobbyist beekeepers, the same can be said about commercial beekeepers.

 

The difference is hobbyist beekeepers can't apply for ELAP funds for losses of hives from the government.

 

The numbers being gathered on losses include individuals that use these funds as part of their business models.

 

Letting certain % die as it's cheaper after gathering honey, than treating for mites and moving to winter sites.

 

So how do those loss numbers  get compiled? One needs to know total numbers of hives to start with to compile what total losses are.

 

Few hobbyist register their hives.

 

I would also like to know if there is anyone actually verifying commercial hive counts? How does that work? Some inspectors visiting every commercial apiary?

 

As we all know you might start the year with 8 hives which could turn into 16 or more, or less... spilts that didn't make it, diease or a queen you need to keep spilting to prevent swarming.

 

The count in my apiary is always expanding and collapsing. I can tell you what my count is in December doing my OAV but that doesn't mean it's going to be the same in January. 

 

There has always and probably always will be disagreements between commercial and hobbyist beekeepers.

 

We are both keeping bees but for totally different reasons and in totally different manners. 

 

As a hobbyist I'm aiming to be sustainable. Buying no bees every year and producing my own bees, honey and wax to cover most of my cost.

 

Unfortunately not always. As a hobbyist, that is in the title, it's a hobby. For the most part I do cover my cost but I'm not employing anyone or paying their health insurance, if commercials even do that. Also I'm not paying myself a wage. 

 

As a commercial you must produce a profit! You must pay wages, fees and taxes. So you must have economy of scale. Losses are part of the budget line. You have livestock so you have dead stock.

 

Moving bees does put stress on them. The same happens in cattle, its called shipping fever.

 

Bees that have been in blueberry pollination fields must go to recover fields afterwards. So called snotty brood has been seen afterwards.

 

Moving bees spreads diease and pest. That's a fact. That's how all these dieases and pest have arrived in the U.S., from the importation of bees from other countries.

 

That's how pest and diseases have spread around the country. The moving of hives in the US to almonds in the California is the largest movement of livestock in the world. 

 

Yes, it's big money but is it sustainable.... maybe not.

 

As for WSU, I don't support any of their research as pretty much all their efforts are aimed at commercial beekeeper issues. Which since they get most of their funding from, is understandable.

 

Over wintering 1000's hives in potato sheds research. Their stance on EFB and SHB beetle not being a big deal based on having 100's of hives to condense if sick and over power diease and pest.

 

EFB will go away with a flow. SHB is coming so deal with it. Does nothing for my apiary.

 

As I'm not storing 1000's of hives and EFB and SHB are big deal for a non moving apiary and not having economy of scale to fix my diease and pest problems by overpowering them.

 

My money can be spent better elsewhere. Like my local io group  meetings helping other hobbyist deal with this issues based on what a hobbyist has in their tool box, not based on what a commercial keeper would do.

 

Again, difference between hobbyist and commercials. 

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