Do you have any honey bees this year?

[lspencer534]

I have seen none, and I haven't for the last several years. I'm relying on mason (carpenter) bees to pollinate my garden and fruit trees, but they don't seem to be as nearly as industrious as honey bees. I see a few of them (mason bees) at various times of the day, not hundreds or thousands as I did with honey bees.

It's been at least 10 years since I've seen a swarm of honey bees around the house, and that was a very small colony that camped on a tree for a few hours before they disappeared. I read that a very few States are offering incentives for people to keep honey bees, but Virginia, for example, is eliminating its program due to budget cuts.

Most of you are familiar with something called "Colony Collapse Disorder", caused by a bacteria or virus that kills the bee colony. It's estimated that we've lost over 60% of our bees. Without honey bees we can't grow fruits and vegetables...simple as that.

[OddBall]

Start a hive.

[mrvette]

Wooden surprise ME one damn bit but that some commie/terrorist groups have figgered out some way to kill off the bees.....

and us too.....


introduce some crap from overseas....maybe some chem, or maybe some home grown virus....

[carlton_fritz]

Spring finally arrived and already seen some.

[Jeff '79]

Originally Posted by mrvette

Wooden surprise ME one damn bit but that some commie/terrorist groups have figgered out some way to kill off the bees.....

and us too.....


introduce some crap from overseas....maybe some chem, or maybe some home grown virus....

[Jeff '79]

I have as many as you need. Come and get 'em.... They are now officially eradicated from my barn...
Little bastards can suck eggs for all I care.
The north has plenty of bees and honey...
We won the Civil War too !!! Suckas !!!

[lspencer534]

Originally Posted by Jeff '79

I have as many as you need. Come and get 'em.... They are now officially eradicated from my barn...
Little bastards can suck eggs for all I care.
The north has plenty of bees and honey...
We won the Civil War too !!! Suckas !!!

25+ years ago I felt the same as you do about honey bees: A colony built a nest in the eaves of my house on the second floor, and the little bastards got everywhere inside my house; their favorite room was the master bathroom. I finally got a beekeeper to move them...and I had a great supply of honey that the beekeeper found.

Now, though, I wish I still had some bees. I worry that they'll become extinct...then we'll be in a helluva mess. Bumble bees are supposedly better pollinators, but they have never been plentiful.

Honey here is very expensive, like $6.00 for 6 ounces. You used to be able to choose which type of honey you wanted: Made by bees who frequented lavender bushes, wildflowers, honeysuckle, etc. Now it's just..."Honey".

Oh...congrats on winning the Civil War. You, too, now have to share in paying for the South's illiteracy rate, obesity, infant mortality, poverty, diabetes, and on and on.

[LisaJohn]

I've seen the big carpenter bees this year. I'll watch closer for the honey bees. The man that had 3 hives on the back of our property moved them a few weeks ago. I have about half a quart jar of honey left from those hives. I wish he would have left them on our property.

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by lspencer534

25+ years ago I felt the same as you do about honey bees: A colony built a nest in the eaves of my house on the second floor, and the little bastards got everywhere inside my house; their favorite room was the master bathroom. I finally got a beekeeper to move them...and I had a great supply of honey that the beekeeper found.

Now, though, I wish I still had some bees. I worry that they'll become extinct...then we'll be in a helluva mess. Bumble bees are supposedly better pollinators, but they have never been plentiful.

Honey here is very expensive, like $6.00 for 6 ounces. You used to be able to choose which type of honey you wanted: Made by bees who frequented lavender bushes, wildflowers, honeysuckle, etc. Now it's just..."Honey".

Oh...congrats on winning the Civil War. You, too, now have to share in paying for the South's illiteracy rate, obesity, infant mortality, poverty, diabetes, and on and on.

You forgot about the elephant medical expenses
the one that got shot in a driveby shooting

[Jeff '79]

Originally Posted by lspencer534

Oh...congrats on winning the Civil War. You, too, now have to share in paying for the South's illiteracy rate, obesity, infant mortality, poverty, diabetes, and on and on.

Ya, what a bunch of poor, dumb, fat, unhealthy bastards they are, south of the Mason Dixon line.
BTW...A bunch of us were sitting around at work today mocking southerners out because we kicked their asses so bad in the Civil War.
We do this almost daily because we are so proud of ourselves...

[Jeff '79]

Originally Posted by LisaJohn

I've seen the big carpenter bees this year. I'll watch closer for the honey bees. The man that had 3 hives on the back of our property moved them a few weeks ago. I have about half a quart jar of honey left from those hives. I wish he would have left them on our property.

The guy next door has bee hives in boxes on our property line...
We get a large canning jar of great honey for $8.00..

[LisaJohn]

We got free honey. And it was local.

[Jeff '79]

Originally Posted by LisaJohn

We got free honey. And it was local.

Free is good ! Ours is local too...

[LisaJohn]

Honey is supposed to help with allergies when it's local. I hate that he moved the hives.

[Jeff '79]

Originally Posted by LisaJohn

Honey is supposed to help with allergies when it's local. I hate that he moved the hives.

I never heard of that....Interesting.

[LisaJohn]

Supposed to help build up immunity to the pollens. That's why local honey is better.

[lspencer534]

Originally Posted by LisaJohn

Honey is supposed to help with allergies when it's local. I hate that he moved the hives.

True. Honey has great healing power. Plus, it's the only food that never "goes bad". It's sterile, and it keeps forever. Even honey found in the tombs of Pharaohs can be eaten. Watch out for the scarabs, though.

[Bill]

I saw a sign advertising local honey for sale. They looked at me funny when I asked what she looked like.

[Bingo Fuel]

I've noticed a big decline around here in the last several years.

A local guy had 7 live hives through the fall and harvested 300 lbs of honey last year.
He is currently down to 3 hives.
The State dept of Agriculture is going to investigate to see if they can
determine whether the die-off was caused by suspected garden insecticides
or mites.

[onedef92]

They seem to be as scarce as hen's teeth locally, too. A lot of our seasonal wild bird residents like Brown Thrashers and Catbirds seem to be on the wane, too.