This might be interesting to some…
Anyone seen Black mirror (hated in the nation)? The stuff of nightmares…
Cowgirl,
Hope I don’t see those man-made options in action. If so we are truely in DEEP SH-T ! I’ve seen the fettered bee B.S. before… Interest how man tries to replace the real thing. I’ll stay with the real Bees n Real Honey ! I keep watching the fixes (drug) coming out but often the WARNINGs seem to out weigh the benefits.
Sure glad I grew up seeing a varroa mite free day n age n no Africanized bees here Ya ! We had EFB n AFB but never had much issues with that my 8 to 10 years as a kid beekeeper. Hate to be so negative but I really don’t see all this DOOMs Day junk flying for real … One plus with the reteatered bugs … They don’t come with stinger !! 
Loving my real 
’s
Gerald
It will never happen. It’s just hype. Every hive had 50-100 thousand bees working together to pollinate. That’s one hive. They would have to make BILLIONS if not TRILLIONS of these to come close IF they could make them as efficient as a honeybee, which I’m quite sure they cannot. It will never happen.
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Cowgirl,
Yes ! I have read about the hand pollenating in China … I was having to somewhat do that with my garden n few small fruits trees. Used a Q-tip. Ladder n hummed, “Flight of the Bumble Bee” as best I could. My Sweetheart was afraid I was going to take a fall/dump off my ladders. Thus I started looking seriously into beekeeping summer of 2015, Autumn 2015 studying n action (bought hive body(s), Winter 2015-16 I was assembling my first hive setup n cutting out more. Nov 2015 I ordered 3 Nuc’s (as this sounded better than 3 lbs packages I was use to back in the 1950’s n 60’s)… Now one season under my belt once again.
Yah ! I believe using lots of chemical n pesticides has great damaged their honeybee population. That’s really SAD ! I hoping we can learn n change out practices so we can continue letting the Busy Bees do their thing !!! It’s a shaking balance. I’m glad I’m onboard … Raising honeybees sure beats climbing that ladder n singing, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz ! 
I’m with you Michael … Duping bees isn’t practical even if they get it right n really doubt that one 
I’m totally for the Real Thing ! Living, stinging, buzzing, honey making 
’s … Now I have two new hive setups to build maybe today !
Cheers all,
Gerald
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This year we have some of the largest crops on our fruit trees that I have seen for years. We have lived in this house for 19 years. Last spring was the first time we put a hive in our back garden. Our avocado probably has over 150 fruit on it. Our navel orange tree is heavily laden with many branches carrying 6+ fruit.
Our Ponderosa lemon tree had no fruit on it last year. This year is a very different story, which is great as they are delicious lemons.
It may just be a good year, but I like to give all of the credit to our bees. 
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I saw this article 
Man trying to re-create something, rather than looking into the underlying cause of why we should need them in the first place! Aaahhhh!!!
Michael mentioned it impossible, but I can’t help thinking negatively, and that the big companies would of course like to kill off the bees with their pesticides, and then sell these man-made pollinators to make more money.
Lets hope not…
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@ Faroe n others.
Yah ! Got to keep a watchful eye on Big Brother Chemical !! Every Spring our paper fliers n advertisements for Gallons n Gallons n Gallons of “Round Up” vegetation killer, insecticides, n more … Being a Vietnam vet I’ve seen the results of some of those chemicals. Got a lot of dead buddies from that stuff. I don’t use much anymore of any of it. Can’t trust the labels n those who wrote those label.
Now I try to manually pull all my weeds just like when I was a kid. I’ve gone a full circle now on weed control. It’s a lot more physical work for me but I need the exercise I guess.
I use a insectcide soap n plant oils like “Neem” to combat fungus n bugs. I try to use my brain too to prevent my bees from getting in contact with even those products too.
. I can’t believe I’m still alive as we use to use DDT n 2-4-D on everything to kill weeds n bugs as a kid.
Guess I’m just thankful to be alive, well n able to raise my buzzy bees !!
Ta Ta,
Gerald
P.s. To Dawn.
Love your awesome fruit trees production. Guessing my cherries, Asian pears, plums, n more sound benefit a heck more from my bees this season. Not having to wait until mid April for bees this Spring. Should have 2 n just maybe 3 hives to pollenate. Also have four more coming (Nucs) mid-April as well. Hoping to get to next winter 6 colonies strong. Just to keep those mites down ! Oh I put my red Vn dress back in the closet …
Gerald
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The man made drones might be a winner. They might be able to program then to only visit a flower once. They might only need one drone per tree. That will stop billions of bees from being semi trailered from one side of the country to the other.
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