Bee mystery

[kwicky]

I have read that whole colonies of bees are disappearing in America and not returning to their hives. Just recently the same is happening in the UK. Has a reason been found for this? If this continues there will be a shortage of honey in the shops leading to increased price rises I suppose.

[Lonnie]

I read about this a few days ago, unfortunatel, I no longer have the paper it was in, but a google brought this up, if its not the one, i'm sure someone else will come up with it.

http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/apiculture/factsheets /230_kashmir.htm

[Clanad]

A number of the symptoms of Kashmir Bee Virus described in Lonnie's post are missing in the loss of American bees. As a long time bee-keeper,(non-commercial) I've been interested in the phenomena since its discovery. Bees are, historically, susceptible to a number of maladies, especially the tracheal mites. These, though, are usually easily contolled with menthol pellets and the virus' by anti-viral medications. The Kashmir Bee Virus (KBV) appears to be transmitted by the mite Varroa destructor... additionally, mite-resistant queen bees are available for colony replacement.
A newly designed crop chemical known as neonicotinoids is highly suspect, in my opinion. Originally designed to be more bee-friendly, they are found to be highly residual. This along with the genetically modified plants (especailly soybeans) are of great concern. Problem is, few, if any dead bees are found in the hive. The queen, in a weakened state and a few worker bees are usually remaining, almost always with an abundance of honey to see them through the winter. The few dead bees found do not seem to be diagnosed with mite infection, or chemical depradation, but do seem to be infected with multiple micro-organisms, sugesting the bees immune systems have been overwhelmed.
A loss of about 15% to 20% over winter is normal, but many commercial growers are seeing losses, within the last few months of 70% to 95%. In fact, scientists have named the phenomena "colony collapse disorder," or CCD.
The implications of bee loss to the suggested magnitude possible could be disastrous and is being studied intently.

Contd.

[Clanad]

Contd.

My own opinion also includes what many bee growers have known for decades; that being, the species of honey bees in the western hemisphere as well as many European bees are not widley genetically diversified and all have a relatively narrow DNA base. This means, as with other types of animals (turkeys, for example) and insects, a disease can have an affect on almost the entire population in a fairly short period of time.
We're hoping the problem can be identified and corrected within the next few months...

[kwicky]

If you are right about the crop chemical neonicotinoids it is amazing that its use has not been withdrawn if only as a precaution. I'm surprised more testing has not been done before the chemical is released. It seems like a case of BSE but with another species.

http://www.publicopiniononline.com/localnews/c i_5553288