honey bees

[Peasgood]

Anti Monsanto headlines are ten a penny. I take most of them with a pinch of salt as there are some very fanatical anti Monsanto people out there that spout an awful lot of rubbish.

I am not claiming monsanto are angels all the same.

 

I can't think of a reason to breed Roundup resistant bees . What crops/situations are you going to want to kill off plants while in full flower?

If the bees were relying on that crop for food they are knackered anyway.

[Gardenmac]

One of the key issues for our bees last year was that they simply couldn't get out of the hive to feed and collect pollen, the reason being due to it being almost constantly raining. We have fruit trees in the garden and the apples, damson and greengauges all failed to produce fruit simply because few insects could fly in the wet weather therefore no pollination. Combine this with crops coated with potential harmful chems and then a barrage of spraying on top.

Bees will only fly at 8 degrees or above and already this year that temp has not been consistent until the last week or so. So it might not be just the neonicto's but more a case of wider global issues such as the change in our climate

[Goaty]

Im not big on spraying crops, but often the sprayers can be putting fertilizer on. I did a stint in a fruit orchard in Motueka NZ. The owner came past on the tractor spraying away on the row we were thinning fruit. We got a dose and We were outraged. He reckoned it was only lime in suspension. To top up the fruit calcium content. i.e the fruit has to have a specific calcium minium content on the shelf.

 

My thinking was what about the residue from lasts weeks toxic crusade?

The problem is now with EU etc we expect such perfection on the shelf. Look at the top quality carrots they bag as seconds for donkeys and ponys!

 

Clover in orchards and quiet roadsides would probably help the bees, but we dont plan for them. We cut grass as quick as it grows we crop as WE LIKE IT, not the bigger picture.

[Stere]

Just had  a swarm of honey bees airbourne in the garden.

 

Pretty impressive sight never seen anything like it before

 

 

 

 

Seemed about a  30m2 area of dense flying very noisy bees didn't fancy walking  right into the middle denser parts of it.

 

Now they all have  buzzed off somewhere

[htb]

When they are swarming, you are much less likely to be stung as they have gorged on the honey and their sting'S are curled round.