The Bee Crisis

[Blue Frost]

I have seen a lot of bees sleeping in flowers, wasp, and spiders also.
Been stung a few times deadheading flowers in the early morning.

[Gary Oak]

For all interested in beekeeping this video shows some bee behaviour that I think reading about just can’t match seeing.

[Blue Frost]

Cool video, I wish I could have some hives, they are so cool, and honey on top of it all

There is someone who bought an old church near here that started some hives, and selling honey now.

[Gary Oak]

I haven’t heard anything about killer bees for years but I believe that this case of thousands of bees attacking this ( who survived ) is a case of killer bees . https://www.westernjournal.com/man-ends ... fd7232ad57

[Blue Frost]

Poor guy, I wonder how many times he was stung.
I'm allergic to them so I would blow up like a puffer fish being stung a lot.

California, and a few other places in the south have killer bees, a lot of times people will call the police, and then the pest guy comes out, and collects them.

[Gary Oak]

I kill yellow jackets whenever I can as they are vicious little bastards. I was stung a few weeks ago by one for the first time in decades and not only did it swell up it really hurt. A few years ago on the other hand I was stung by a huge yellow bumblebee queen and it didn’t hurt hardly at all. They must have a different variation and amount of poison in their stings.

[Blue Frost]

I killed a yellow jacket yesterday buzzing around me, they are a nuance.
Also speaking of Honey Bees I put some maple syrup out because i didn't like it, the bees loved it, and had it gone in short time.
My guess the sugars from it will do them good this winter, and likely more than they could collect in months in the wild.

[Gary Oak]

I will have to keep that maple syrup idea in mind if I ever come across a bumblebee nest again. Bumblebee’s are in serious decline in the USA for some reason. Especially in the east. Could it be roundup and/or GMO plants pollen and nectar ? I certainly don’t see the number of bees now as when I was a kid. https://www.newsweek.com/population-ame ... ys-1636758

[Blue Frost]

I used to see yards filled with clover years back, and it's a bee favorite here.
Maybe people have killed off so much of it it's hurt the bees a lot.
I don't mind clover in the yard, it adds nitrogen to the soil which is good.

[Gary Oak]

Apparently these high elevation largest bees in the world are severely in decline too. Their honey is hallucinagenic due to the rhododendron flowers that the bees get some of their nectar and pollen from. The demand for what is apparently called mad honey has increased so I would imagine that it tastes wonderful. That mix of wild flowers up high in the Himalayas must have a different flavour. These Nepalese beekeepers don’t have the best safety regulations but they don’t have that bad a record of deaths from hanging on a rope ladder so high off of cliffs.

[Gary Oak]

This short video covers the veroa mite that’s devastated North American bee hives.

[Blue Frost]

WOW, very interesting, they should find something they can get rid of those things in the smokers they use.
I have to wonder what else they are doing with the bees, those who fund them likely are not totally for our interest, or the bees.

[Gary Oak]

After looking after a couple of hives ten years ago using fifty or more year old beekeeping gear. I used an old smoker. It doesn’t harm the bees. It just makes them less aggressive. I never got stung once.

[Blue Frost]

It's the type of bees also, but most are less angered when smoking is involved.
The average American Honey bee is pretty tolerant of us considering we run them over with mowers, and spray bad things on them.

As for me personally I hate being around smokers, smokers need to stay in their own space, and smell it up.
Talking about cigarettes of course, I go to the grocery, and who is always standing at the door before I go in, a damn stinking smoker.