CLOSED: Whats happening to the bees? ...

Don't know if this is the right spot to ask this, But, I'm giving it a shot.... I've been noticing lately that the ( black and yellow) bumble bees have been dying around here, Have seen about 6 or 7 so far, Has anyone else noticed this where they live?

I noticed a few. I noticed one covered with some kind of residue, that it was trying very hard to remove.

maccionoadha, Thanks for your reply, I wonder whats going on? I also noticed a couple honey bees doing the same, I seen one on a sunflower that just seemed like he was fading from life, he kept trying to hang on to the sunflower with his legs but seemed to be struggling. I don't use pestisides here at all and am really starting to wonder whats happening to the bees?

I've found three more Bumbles in the same predicament, as the one I described above. I don't use pesticides either. I'm worried, because I've only seen 2 Honeybees in my garden this year and now the Bumbles are failing.


Aquene,
Moe/WautuckquesSochepo

maccionoadha, I haven't seen a lot of honeybees around either and have also noticed more dead bees, It seems that the Big Bumblers are ok, But, The small/medium bumblers are the ones that are dying off?

Is this happening to anyone else??

I haven't seen any dead or dying bumble bees, but I vaguely recall something about mites. I believe it's speculated that some kind of mite is spreading disease among bee colonies, but it hasn't been proven.

I may or may not have any useful info-but I remember seeing/hearing things on the news/magazines for years-I can't remember how many, it's one of those "I heard somewhere" things about something decimating bees-This is my best attempt at recolection of what I heard/read
--some sort of mite/parasite infects them, sucks on them or something, eventually kills them
--it was worrying the heck out of people who keep bees (apiasts? apiary is where bees are kept...)
--there was some mention of mints (species?) and maybe a few other similar plants being planted near the hive bases, and the bees would crawl on them, which repelled or something the mites...which was helping sort of.


I don't know how much this would help, but maybe you could contact the county extension or something like that. Maybe there are people who have bee hives in the area? Would they be able to help?
Good luck!

I believe it's been in the local papers here that something is killing the honeybees. Swarms are so scarce they are having to share them all over to pollenate the crops.

There are several reasons for bees of any kind dying, mites, insecticides, other insects parasitising such as other bees, wasps, flies, and there are plenty of those.

The main reason you will see them dying now is the time of year, it is only the queens which survive winter to start off a new colony in bumblebees. The first lot she breeds are worker females, they then help with the nest duties of feeding etc, a new lot of queens (which are larger) will emerge mostly in early August, along with males which will fertilise the queens eggs and then die. At this time all the older bees will start to die, trying to survive on what flowers are left but the cold and wet in particular will eventually kill them.

Hives of honey bees kept in captivity will be different, but many of those started to deplete when the vicious Brazilian bee started to work it's way north into the US. It was accidentally realeased by the person who bred it from the African bee, plenty of theories abound on it's influence but here's an article,

http://www.pbs.org/saf/1204/features/bees3.htm

From the next article,

The real danger in the United States lies within American
beekeeping and, indirectly, American agriculture in general. AHB's
often enter European colonies and mingle with them, and mating
results in more hybrid bees where African genes and tendencies
dominate over European ones. The whole colony may suddenly take on
a new behavior. The bees may become more aggressive and short-
tempered: even vibrations from a tractor in the vicinity are
interpreted as threats to the queen, and any persons or livestock
nearby become targets of mass stingings--and these persistent
insects can continue an attack for hours after the original
provocation. Furthermore, unlike European bees, which rarely swarm
away from an apiary to form another in the wild, AHB's are very
quick to abscond and follow their queens elsewhere (explaining the
rapid movement of the bees across the Americas)."

http://www.american.edu/TED/bee.htm




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Just a thought about the bees dieing off...could it be a side effect of our genetic engineering? We know that trees are capable of defending themselves so the other plants might also have defense mechanisms.

That may well be one of the reasons, we have GM trial crops all over here although I couldn't say exactly where. I do know certain insects don't fare well with GM crops, I found an article on both GM engineered and sprayed crops, both use bacteria which can't be good.

http://notexactlyrocketscience.wordpress.com/2007/06/11/the-effect-of-gm-crops-on-local-insect-life/

The popular Messenger uses bacteria, I have my own feelings on that too. Don't believe all you read, very little in fact when many of these researches are done with funding from the companies involved. I found out many truths about the passing by Food & Agriculture Standards of Messenger, i.e. there were no independent studies involved but their word taken from their own studies.

I have noticed that bees will feed on species plants in my garden in preference to others, I grow quite a few species, and I never use any chemicals. It is possible then that insects will not feed on what is not good for them, but nature may not be providing enough for them. Food industries need pollinators.

It may not just be the bees. I haven't been stung once this year by the pigmy wasps that usually make nests in out hedges - usually have run every time I trim them, but nothing this year. Still have some mud daubbers in the breeseway and garage, though.

there is a virus (they think) going around that is killing honeybees all over the u.s. it's been in the papers and on tv all year. i don't know if they've come up with anything yet but there are a lot of beekeepers in my area and they are sending them off to other places to help colonize in places that have seen a rapid decline. i've seen about a fourth of what i usually see this year.

It's awfull, I try to keep up with enviormental news and yet I totally missed the info of a virus killing the honeybees! There is definately a low count in my area! I've noticed that bees pretty much frequent all the plants in my yard and I never use pesticides, I pretty much do all organic, Yet the bees seemed to be dying, More so in the beginning of summer then now, And it was usually the smaller bumblers as opposed to the large ones. I have also noticed that there has been hardly any caterpillars or tree toads this year, It's a good possibility that it's because of the lack of rain here ( Severe drought in my area), But, It just seems so odd! Last year I had catapillars and hornworms and tree toads, Lots of butterflys, This year, Hardly any! All I think of for a reason is the major lack of rain?