Use of Common Pesticide Linked to Bee Colony Collapse

[Equilibrium]

Sorry.... this is another thread I missed... I'm slowly but surely getting through threads but I've actually got quite a few from months ago that I've been trying to find and sometimes.... I've only got 1 day a week to sort through what's piled up. Anywhooo.... I'm from Illinois... lucky me, eh? I'm about an hour north of Chicago and about 45 minutes south of Milwaukee. hava's from Upper Michigan and fishlkmich is from lower Michigan.
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Do you ever feel as if the acronym EPA actually stands for.... the Elite's Protection Agency.

[Staff]

Blamed for Bee Collapse, Monsanto Buys Leading Bee Research Firm
Anthony Gucciardi
NaturalSociety
April 19, 2012

Blamed for Bee Collapse, Monsanto Buys Bee Research Firm
excerpt from above:

Monsanto, the massive biotechnology company being blamed for contributing to the dwindling bee population, has bought up one of the leading bee collapse research organizations. Recently banned from Poland with one of the primary reasons being that the company’s genetically modified corn may be devastating the dying bee population, it is evident that Monsanto is under serious fire for their role in the downfall of the vital insects. It is therefore quite apparent why Monsanto bought one of the largest bee research firms on the planet...

[suunto]

From a recent post on the ENTOMO-L listserve:
Here is what Brian Ames, a Minnesota beekeeper, had to say
about the alleged worldwide bee die offs on the professional
beekeepers mailing list on April 16: LISTSERV 16.0 - BEE-L Archives

"A lot of media noise is made of the so called bee die offs. Our
local paper in Minneapolis recently ran a piece suggesting the
neonics were causing not just hive losses but double the
losses of a few years ago implying things are getting worse.

Here is some data: Honey

USDA colonies (millions)

2011 2.499
2010 2.684
2009 2.498
2008 2.342
2007 2.442
2006 2.393
2005 2.410
2004 2.556
2003 2.599
2002 2.574
2001 2.506
2000 2.634

we had almost the same number of colonies in 2000 as we did as
recently as 2010!

[jack]

Originally Posted by suunto

From a recent post on the ENTOMO-L listserve:
Here is what Brian Ames, a Minnesota beekeeper, had to say
about the alleged worldwide bee die offs on the professional
beekeepers mailing list on April 16: LISTSERV 16.0 - BEE-L Archives

"A lot of media noise is made of the so called bee die offs. Our
local paper in Minneapolis recently ran a piece suggesting the
neonics were causing not just hive losses but double the
losses of a few years ago implying things are getting worse.

Here is some data: Honey

USDA colonies (millions)

2011 2.499
2010 2.684
2009 2.498
2008 2.342
2007 2.442
2006 2.393
2005 2.410
2004 2.556
2003 2.599
2002 2.574
2001 2.506
2000 2.634

we had almost the same number of colonies in 2000 as we did as
recently as 2010!

The info reminds me of a student who last week approached me and said he was convinced that there were aliens pretending to be humans in the school...

[Equilibrium]

I joined a bee keepers group to get a feel for what all was involved in keeping bees. I'd really like to get a hive going because anyone with a registered hive is supposed to be given advance notice when anything's sprayed.... that means I could keep my chickens inside for the day and I'd have enough time to cover up the native plants I've established for my pollinators and my veggies. Just 1 hive would be fine with me. Something that's raising my eyebrow about the "numbers" is hearing all the folk losing whole colonies and having to strip down their hives and buy new nucs and queens. I don't understand it all but.... folk are upset because of the time and costs of keeping their colonies going when they're wiped out and this year more than a third of the group bought more bees yet there were only 6 new members or expanding existing colonies. I have no clue what's responsible for the loss of their bees but I'm thinking that those colony numbers aren't reflecting colonies that were wiped out for what ever reason that had to be replaced. I just found out when you register a colony that a number is placed on each hive. That number is what they use in Illinois to verify whether a colony is active or not and the inspectors don't keep track of whether the bees are the original colony or a replacement... they just document activity in and out of the hives.