Posted on 02/06/2011 2:45:11 PM PST by DeaconBenjamin
I don’t let carpenter bees on the property unless they show proof of coverage.
1) Bees do very little grain pollinating.
2) Food prices are rising in the US due more to devalued dollars and 30-40% more ag land being planted in corn for ethanol production with subsidized energy policies.
3) In the midwest, bee colonie mortality often hits 30-40% ranges during the frequent cold and long winters.
4) CCD is the latest horror rage among environazis. Yes, it’s a problem, but it’s one we (beekeepers) have been struggling with for close to two decades (CCD hit the press only 3 years back).
5) It’s the sky that is falling.
Carpenter bees need killing.
I’m very territorial, and anything that tries to occupy my premises without paying rent, must die. Birds, flies, spiders, bees, no quarter and no mercy.
There are some good videos on youtube about dealing with carpenter bees, but after I saw a little pile of sawdust on my porch, I called a professional hitman and he poisoned them well and truly. That was three years ago, they never returned.
Outdoors, I don’t care what they do, they can drill every tree along the river, not my problem. But inside, no transients allowed. I don’t care if it’s a honey bee or a homing pigeon, they either git, or life forfeit.
No, that’s the rain forest.
Ethanol doesn’t and never has taken food out of the food chain. The only part of the corn kernel used for ethanol is the carbohydrate, the fat and protein are processed in to DDGS which are used for both animal and human feed.
A badminton racket works well.
Aren’t there resistant species of bees, albeit non-indigenous, that could be used in many of these areas?
Couldn't hand pollination be done en masse to save species and crops until resistant bees are bred or engineered?
Our garden has been suffering for lack of pollination; and we do have some honey bees in our area - they just don’t come over to our place. Husband bought some Mason Bees (they aren’t honey bees, but do pollinate) and is going to try them this year. They’re in my refrigerator right now awaiting the time to put them out.
Quick—build squirrel boxes...2 ft X 2 ft X 2.5 ft deep. 1 inch boards. lol
The bees just love ours. They took this one away from the squirrels 3 years ago.
The box is about 20 ft up in a tree and there have been many swarms.
I think they are raising lots of baby bees.
The sky is falling, run for it!!!
Actually bumble bees probably do more than honey bees, and then you have the king of the birds, hummingbirds,
Seriously, how much of this is CCD and how much is ethanol? I suspect the tendency to blame the former (CCD) is because of the left’s complicity in the latter (ethanol).
And what pesticide is that, pray tell. Unfortunately for your theory, the causes of hive collapse have already been identified, and its not a pesticide. But my guess is that the bees themselves will solve the problem using that much-maligned concept....evolution.
“And what pesticide is that, pray tell. Unfortunately for your theory, the causes of hive collapse have already been identified,”
Yes its due to neonicotinoid pesticides which have now been banned in Britain.
To ‘evolve’ a surviving population is required. At the present rate of decline that may be an issue.
But since you are so smart perhaps you can tell us all what the real cause is.
Complete and total baloney. The fraction of the US corn crop that goes to produce ethanol (4 billion bushels out of a total of 13 billion bushels) has pretty much zero effect on corn products on the shelves. And the simple fact is that the use of corn in ethanol does NOT reduce the total food supply.
Farmers produce more EXTRA corn than they normally would for normal food usage for the ethanol market, which, when used, does NOT disappear from the food chain. The only part that does is the carbohydrate fraction. The fat and protein fractions remain (distillers dry grain) and are excellent cattle feed.
Here's the USDA statistics. See the third chart chart down:
http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/baseline/crops.htm
Already posted upthread.
LOL. Read the article. Two-thirds of colonies survive. I read an article just yesterday about weeds that had developed resistance to "Roundup-type" herbicides in ten years or less. I suspect that the time cycle of evolutionary change in honeybees is about the same as for weeds.
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