Sad news from America’s apiculturists: nearly a third of domestic bees in the United States did not survive the winter of 2012/2013. Before 2005 the winter loss rate was between 5% and 10%, but after that year, colony collapse disorder, a mysterious affliction which caused domestic bees to fly away and never return, ravaged the poor honeybees. Losses of 30% became common. Beekeepers were somewhat hopeful that the worst of the scourge was passing after the winter of 2011/2012 (when losses fell to 22%) however apparently that year was anomalous. At least it seems that this winter’s losses were not the result of classic colony collapse disorder–rather than flying away to nowhere the bees stayed put in their hives. Yet the insects they were sadly weakened and diminished and the attenuated hives proved unable to start new broods in the spring and just withered away.
WHY? (No seriously–why?)
This is a huge and perplexing problem. At least a third of our food supply is dependent on the hard-working yellow and black pollinators. Hundreds of billions of dollars are at stake—as are our favorite fruits, vegetables, and nuts. This past year a number of studies indicated that neonicotinoid insecticides were partly to blame for bee losses (along with vampiric varroa mites, a decline of wild flowering plants, greedy beekeepers who overextend their hives, and a bacterial disease horrifyingly named “European foulbrood”) but the compounds are non-toxic to other animals and immensely lucrative to big chemical companies. In Europe the compounds were banned this year, so comparing European bee hives with American ones in coming years should at least help us understand the problem.
Some scientists have also suggested that a lack of genetic diversity in domestic bee populations is also contributing to the problem. Maybe we need to go online and find some new life partners from around the globe for our hymenopteran friends. The infamous Africanized killer bees seem like they have some immunity to some of the issues behind bee die-offs. Maybe we need to come up with a better name for those guys and see what they are up to this summer.
Sigh…so, um, what do you gentlemen do?
ferrebeekeeper 
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May 15, 2013 at 12:31 PM
Beatrix
Is that Elliott Gould sporting the hipster porn’stache?
European foulbrood? That does sound nasty.
Well, I have a suggestion for a ‘life partner’ and potential ‘soulmate’ for our domestic hymenopteran friends-
Apis dorsata laboriosa, the Himalayan honey bee!
Also the world’s largest honey bee.
And if the ‘chemistry’ ain’t happening there we have 3 more types of honey bees in the Himalayas-
Apis cerana
Apis dorsata
Apis florea
Yes, it is me the kooky lady the always goes on about the Himalayas again.
We used to have 2 beehives on our roof here in Nepal that we bought from a local beekeeper who was trained by Sir Edmund Hilary himself’
I sold them when our sons were old enough to do stupid boy things. I decided not to replace them when our sons were old enough not to do stupid boy things because of all the native bees that started showing up when the domestic bees left.
Glad you survived the Elvis film fest. I wouldn’t have.