Did Scientists Just Solve The Bee Collapse Mystery?
http://m.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2014/05/smoking-gun-bee-collapse—Tom Philpott on Tue. May 20, 2014 6:00 AM PDT
It's a hard-knock life, scouring the landscape for pollen to sustain a beehive. Alight upon the wrong field, and you might encounter fungicides, increasingly used on corn and soybean crops, and shown to harm honeybees at tiny levels. Get hauled in to pollinate California's vast almond groves, as 60 percent of US honeybees do, and you'll likely make contact with a group of chemicals called adjuvants—allegedly "inert" pesticide additives that have emerged as a prime suspect for a large bee die-off during this year's almond bloom.
The hardest-to-avoid menace of all might be the neonicotinoid class of pesticides, widely used not only on big Midwestern crops like corn and soybeans but also on cotton, sorghum, sugar beets, apples, cherries, peaches, oranges, berries, leafy greens, tomatoes, and potatoes. They're even common in yard and landscaping products. I've written before about the growing weight of science linking these lucrative pesticides, marketed by European agrichemical giants Bayer and Syngenta, to declining bee health, including the annual die-offs known as colony collapse disorder, which began in the winter of 2005-'06.
And now, a new Harvard study fingers neonics as the key driver of colony collapse disorder. The experiment couldn't have been simpler. Working with nearby beekeepers, Harvard researcher Chensheng Lu and his team treated 12 colonies with tiny levels of neonics and kept six control hives free of the popular chemicals. All 18 hives made it through summer without any apparent trouble. Come winter, though, the bees in six of the treated hives vanished, leaving behind empty colonies—the classic behavior of colony collapse disorder. None of the six control hives experienced a CCD-style disappearing act, although one did succumb to a common-to-bees gut pathogen called nosema.
Other studies have shown negative "sublethal" impacts of neonics on bees—that is, that the chemicals harm bees in subtle ways at doses too low to kill the outright. For example, this 2012 Science paper found that that tiny amounts of the chemicals significantly affects bees' ability to find their way back to their hives—"at levels that could put a colony at risk of collapse." Another 2012 study, also published in Science, found that bumblebees exposed to "field-realistic levels" of a neonicotinoid called imidacloprid exhibited a severely diminished capacity to produce new queens. What makes the new Harvard study remarkable is that it actually simulated colony collapse disorder—neonnic-treated bees suddenly abandoned hives that had been healthy all summer, while non-treated bees hung around and repopulated their hives.
In the paper, the authors call the spectacle of abandoned hives "striking and perplexing" because "honeybees normally do not abandon their hives during the winter." More research is needed to identify the mechanism by which neonic pesticides trigger the evacuations, they write, but the results point to "impairment of honeybee neurological functions, specifically memory, cognition, or behavior, as the results from the chronic sublethal neonicotinoid exposure."
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= new reply since forum marked as read
We started two colonies in early 2007.
We don't move the hives.
We don't overcrowd the hives.
We interfere with them as little as possible.
We take Honey in the Spring, but leave plenty for the Bees to OverWinter.
If their stores run short, we will feed them back their honey,
or use a Cane Sugar solution...NEVER Corn Syrup , which is a cheap substitute used by the Commercial Bee Farmers.
We make sure that the natural available forage can support the population of Bees we keep.
We are far from Agri-Business, Industry, Suburbs, or neighbors who use poisons.
All non naturally occurring Pesticides, Herbicides. Fertilizers, and GMO Crops are banned from our little place in the Woods of West Central Arkansas.
We haven't had an occurrence of CCD.
Our Bees are gentle, happy, and expanding, as healthy colonies will.
We know others who keep Honey Bees the same way.
They haven't had CCD either.
We've looked at the Commercial Bee Yards whose populations far exceed the natural forage available.
They feed their Bees Corn Syrup.
The Honey you buy from them is nothing but Corn Syrup processed through a Bee
with the label "100% Pure Natural Honey" slapped on the jar.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1182412
Here are some suggestions we gained from practical experience:
1) Check in with you County Extension.
They are very helpful. There are some regulations concerning transportation, registration, and inspection, and there may be some local ordinances. They are a great resource for latest research and new methods, pest & disease control. They can facilitate state hive inspections.
We generally avoid government agencies where ever possible, and have never voluntarily registered anything, but we make an exception for our bees. The benefits FAR outweigh any downside.
2)Join you local Beekeepers Association.
These are some of the most laid back people you will ever meet. Starkraven and myself are not joiners, but we look forward to our monthly meetings with the "bee people". This is another valuable resource for local information concerning pests, honey flows, equipment and disreputable operators. You can also pick up some hands-on experience working around hives.
Make no mistake...it is scary opening a hive the first time.
You will also be able to pick up some free localized bees from you local bee keepers. (Healthy colonies EXPAND, and many local bee keepers have all they want and are more than happy to give them away).
3)Always use new equipment
There are some very persistent pests and diseases that can be transmitted through the equipment. Used equipment abounds at some very attractive prices.
It is not worth the risk in my opinion. If you join the local association, some will offer you old equipment for FREE, but we always politely turn it down.
New Equipment is very reasonable, and there are many wholesalers and retailers online.
4)Do NOT to use flower scented deodorant or fabric softeners.
You would think this is Common Sense, but we found out the hard way.
5)Do NOT feed your bees Corn Syrup
There is no verifiable science to support this suggestion.
It is our personal preference. Corn is NOT a natural Bee Food.
Many BeeKeepers DO use Corn Syrup. It is cheap, the bees seem to like it, and the chemistry seems OK.
We refuse to use it, and will continue to do so until there is 100% proof that GM contamination absolutely can NOT be transmitted to our Bees through Corn Syrup, or pollen contamination during processing or handling.
We are careful to leave our Bees plenty of stores when taking off honey,
and feed them back their own honey in Winter if necessary.
We like this website, though don't agree with him on everything.
http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm
He pushes Top Bar hives as more natural,
and he is right, but the problem with Top Bar hives is that the honeycomb gets destroyed in the harvest.
We built a small home made honey spinner
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11592698
and can return the spun out honey comb frames to the hives for refills the same day.
Good Luck with your new adventure!
BEES!!!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002712803
[font color=white]...................................[/font][font size=1]photo by bvar22[/font]
Thank you for the encouragement and excellent information. Your picture of our little friend is perfect.
Very good suggestions and this new endeavor may be just the thing for my son and I. He has taken over 'the place' and is interested in doing this. Now we can share another interest. I can't think of anything more awesome.
Is there a sub forum here for bees and such?
You have my gratitude for you warm and informative response. 
Now I'm off to check out the links.....
Oh I forgot to mention that I'm glad you mentioned the down side of the topbar hive as I was looking at them with interest.
Human/Bunny Gene Splice, GMO RU-1Hb40$
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Science, science, dammit!
Since commercial beekeepers have been using pesticides in their hives to control one arthropod (varroa destructor) that is a parasite on another arthropod (apis mellifera aka "honeybee"
, your going to have problems in the hives to begin with.
Throw systemic neonicitinoids on top of that and you have a recipe for disaster!
Fucking "trugreen" ...their reps were trolling around last year, tried to suck me in. When I said NO POISON on my lawn, the shortage said Ohhhh it's as safe as water! You can drink it!
I was so angry, wish I'd thought to say Great, then drink it right here right now and I'll sign up.
60% of all the bees in the country for one crop that isn't even a staple?! 
Yes
and work on attracking our native pollinators.
Native Leaf Cutter Bee
p.m. if you want some simple steps that you can do
