Honey Bee Die Off
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I personally don't believe it. Just like global warming they've been saying this crap for decades now, and yet SOMEHOW honey production INCREASES every year in the US. Bees are kind of odd. Even if you "own" a hive or multiple hives you can't really control where they go or what they go after in terms of pollen. And often they'll have a radius of 5-10 miles (sometimes more, up to 50 miles in some cases) of where they'll go looking for plants. So more often than not "wild" honey bees have to compete with "domesticated" honey bees for the same plants. So while "wild" populations may be down, "domesticated" populations are perpetually increasing. To be honest, even that may or may not be true, because as I said, bees wander for MILES around their hive to look for plants, so it's impossible to distinguish between "wild" bees and "domesticated" bees. But overall, honey bee populations are actually UP compared to most other bee populations.
But beyond that like u/UnderCoverTrumper pointed out, honey bees aren't even really native to the US and we have dozens of other pollinators that're native to North America. Likewise, even the "wild bees" aren't all dying out. It's mainly just specific subspecies of bumble bees, but there's over 250 types of bumble bees and only like 5-10 are having problems.
The whole argument is thrown out of whack by alarmism.
Don't panic until there is something to panic about!
Almost all these panic generating projections come from poor use of unsuitable computer models. All computer models are wrong, the secret is to find a model that proves the lie that you want to push.
No honey production doesn't increase. Every year my husband buys bees for about 5 hives. Every year we lose at least 4, if not all five hives. So, please tell me how our "domesticated" honey bee population is increasing. And no, they are not flying off. I've cleaned thousands of dead bees out of the hives so they are not flying off for better hunting grounds.
Oh and most of the honey you buy in the supermarket is NOT honey.
Its the pesticides, the white and yellow butterflies are almost extinct. In my youth you could see them everywhere, looking across a meadow you could see hundreds of them. Last summer I could see none. Monsanto pesticides are killing the pollinators. To kill pests it also kills the desired insects. SAD but chemical companies have got to make profit. Fuck the food web.
Your personal experience does not speak for the experience of every bee keeper in North America. Ever consider it's your technique or area? A simple google search will tell you that honey production is increasing. Your logic is like someone saying the trucking industry is dying because their specific trucking company has had 9 out 10 of their trucks crash every year because of incompetent drivers.
And yes, supermarket honey more often than not IS honey. It's just processed honey. Which admittedly is much worse than non processed honey. But nearly every supermarket on planet earth will sell both processed and unprocessed honey in the exact same aisle so you just have read.
As for dead bees, the fact you're trying to use that as evidence tells me you don't know what you're doing as a bee keeper. That is COMMON. Drone bees only have a life span of about 20-30 days AT MAXIMUM and they reproduce like few other creatures on planet earth. So having thousands of dead bees inside the hive is EXTREMELY common. Especially if you don't clean them frequently and only do it once every so often
I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were the see-all, know-all and tell-all of bee wisdom and your vast experience and knowledge speaks for every beekeeper in America.
Your misinformation and ignorance are based on your what? Your infinite knowledge of all things bees? Stop peddling bullshit and pretending that you know more than people who have been doing this for decades.
Nice ad hominem argument. Notice how you didn’t refute a single point I made. Especially how a simple google search proves I’m correct. Devolving into name calling immediately after being told something that counteracts your point of view doesn’t help your case much.
Besides not once did I claim to be an “all knowing bee seer”. I, like everyone else on planet earth, just spent 10 minutes researching it on google to come to my conclusion.
If anything, you’re the one trying to pretend to be all knowing. Basing an entire continent spanning industry, with the single most varied set of geography and climates on planet earth, on your single localized experience.
I suppose the orange industry is also dying off because Florida is growing slightly fewer oranges while California is growing more than ever as well? Just because something is one way in one area, doesn’t mean it’s that way EVERYWHERE in the country. It may very well be as you say where you live, I don’t doubt your word of where you live. But to claim it’s a nation wide phenomenon when all the evidence and fats is contrary to the fact is simply wrong