Today I noticed a whole bunch of bees outside one hive looking very lethargic. Maybe 90% of them have large pollen balls. Could they have been poisoned?
There are maybe 50 of them- it’s quite cold and I can’t see why they wouldn’t have immediately headed into the hive with their pollen.
Jack, someone near me had a lot of recent bee deaths. He thinks the bees were feeding of African Tulips which were out in flower at the time.
When I say “near me”. It’s a fair way, too far for my bees to fly to. At a place called Bli Bli.
hey jeff- that’s interesting. I have this nasty weed growing near my house- some kind of deadly nightshade- and it has flowers at the moment. I’ll google that now to see if it can cause issues. The affected bees had two colors of pollen on their legs: orange and a kind of off white. Most had the bright orange.
damn- today a few more bees at another hive are showing the same symptoms. I rang the council but they say they have done no spraying. It’s awful not knowing if or what poison is out there, or where, or why. So far whatever it is is seems to not be having a huge affect- but it’s a worry.
The idea that some moron has been spraying those awful outdoor bug killing products wantonly and for no good reason is infuriating. Such products should be banned if you ask me. There are SUPPOSED to be bugs outside!
I think its orchard spraying time Jack.
I’m in the middle of suburbia- so no orchards near me. But I guess there are a LOT of fruit trees and a LOT of people might all be spraying them around now. I wonder if they realise they might be killing millions of bees?? Which if that’s the case- thanks a lot- here are my bees pollinating their fruit trees and what do they do? Murder them.
I have noticed my oranges are blossoming- and almonds are all flowering 3 or 4 weeks early this year. It forced the commercial beekeepers to move all their hives ahead of time.
People can be ignorant mate. I was told to spray from budding onwards for fruit fly. I now get fruit fly in lemons…
we don’t really get fruit fly here very much luckily.
there is a book called ‘One Straw Revolution’ written by a Japanese man who inherited his fathers citrus orchard, and through a process of trial and error converted it to an organic farm. One of the main points he made in the book was about how modern technology and practices often solve a problem, but in doing so they create new problems. One has to solve them: and in doing so yet more problems are created. In the end- you are doing more work, for less results than when you started. Australians could learn a LOT from that book.
The problem in a case like this- is that when a person sprays pesticides- they create new problems- but they cannot see them- and maybe they do not have to deal with them. So they don’t even realise what they have done. Or they don’t care. Basically the can is just kicked down the road. Well- now all the chickens are starting to come home to roost as we can only turn a blind eye to the affects of our actions for so long. Unfortunately we seem to be slow on the uptake, and by the time we realise the full scope of the problems it may be too late to do anything about them.
Ain’t that the plain and simple truth Jack, and well put… We only have one world, sadly human kind is buggering it up so fast through ignorance and/or profit.
I like a slogan on one of the Adani protestors billboards. “There’s no planet B”.
for anyone who might be interested in ‘One Straw Revolution’ here are the details- It’s an absolutely brilliant book and very popular amongst subsistence farmers in India and Africa. I bought my copy at a farmers market in india… A lot of it’s messages are applicable to many areas- including beekeeping. It’s also a great read:
