How Are Honey Bees Doing this 2015?

Honey bees worldwide have been dying in great numbers. In late 2006, this phenomenon was called "Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD." The situation was so bad that in a place in China, farmers were hand-pollinating plants.

I have been following this news and have changed some of my outdoor plants into bee-friendly plants to help the wild bees. I also have containers of water for them. It is a joy to see them buzzing about my garden.  At some point, I considered raising bee hives and looked into it but I still feel intimidated. It's supposed to be fairly easy, but one has to lift heavy boxes, and more important we have a neighbor who's a biddy and I'm certain she'll go into hysterics if we have bees. So for now that project is on hold.

I tried to find news about how bees are doing this 2015, but I didn't find much. It's still very cold in large parts of the US and bees are still in their hives. I read that the cold weather will be tough on the bees; they use up a lot of energy hunkering down and flapping their wings to keep their hive warm.


More importantly, I read official statements saying neonicotinoid pesticides "are responsible for drastic reductions in bee populations in (Ontario province)."

Insecticide companies such as Bayer and Monsanto have been fighting this issue ever since Bees Colony Collapse Disorder was diagnosed. They blamed virus, mites, diet as the cause for the die-offs. In general they obfuscated the issue. But insectides were considered the main culprit.  European countries banned the use of neocotinoid before the US did, and even before definitive studies were made.

Well, now, finally studies show that neonicotinoids are responsible for the large numbers of bee die-off.

The government of Ontario, Canada, has moved to limit the use of neonicotinoid.

According to this article, the US will phase out genetically-engineered crops and neonicotinoids by 2016.

About time.

Hopefully, there will still be enough bees to save once they wake up this spring.

On the upside however, last year, the percentage of bee die-off was less than the year before, indicating some improvement.

Now, there are many cities and communities that encourage beekeeping and the planting of bee-friendly plants. But the majority of the bees dying are the domesticated ones, and hopefully, their condition will improve with the banning of neonicotinoid.

While it is debatable as to whether or not Albert Einstein said this, this quote is attributed to him:

"If the bees disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

Read also
Sub-lethal exposure to neonicotinoids impaired honey bees winterization before proceeding to colony collapse disorder
How are the Honey Bees Doing this 2013?
What Kind of Bees Are These?
CCD Disorder - The Bees Are Dying!
Bees and My Pride of Madeira Bush
Honey Bees in my Chimney!

Tags: honey bees, bees, CCD, Colony Collapse Disorder, Bees dying, neonicotinoid, Bayer, Monsanto, die-off

This is all for now,
Cecilia