Friday, May 21, 2010

Urban Beekeeping


About 8 years ago, I became friends with a Dutch man named Josh. He was retired and had worked for a Dutch Energy Company and had spent a lot of time in Northwestern Ohio working with the extraction of oil from the old oil belt that extends through the area and still produces around Bowling Green.
Now he lives in the Dordogne and raises fruit trees and is one of the leading authorities on BeeKeeping in this part of France. Through him, I became interested in the discipline and he taught me alot. We have had many discussions regarding the world wide plight of honeybees, their disappearance and the repercussions.
Interestingly enough, the regional wild specie, a smaller black honeybee seems to be resistant to the CCD (colony collapse disorder) that is plaguing the bee population all over the world.
The research into the problem has produced many answers. There are parasitic mites, there are the effects of pesticides, there is the effect of monoculture agibusiness coupled with pesticide use and then there is the problem with the business of breeding bees. Breeders breed bees and produce queens which they sell. The commercial breeding is manipulating the genetic pool of bees. There are many species of bees and subspecies, but the commercial breeding produces stock from a specific breed and the intense proliferation of this breed, which is selected for its honey production and habits has created a bee that is uniformly subject to the same problems on a world wide basis.
Last winter, the United States experienced a die off of over 30% of hives. This is catastrophic and has made it neccessary for the monoculture almond growers in California to import commercial bees from all over the country.
The reasons for CCD are varied, but I believe that they all can be traced to the monoculture commercial agiculture and the commercial large scale bee breeders.
The use of pesticides are a huge factor in the weakening of bee populations. The proliferation of OGM crops with their genetically manipulated resistance to pests have been a factor.
I see it here, in the profound country side. I grow raspberries on a pretty big scale and other fruits as well. I see plenty of the little black bees, but there has been a dramatic decline of honey bees in the last 4 years.
We also have the problem of Asiatic Hornets which were inadvertently introduced here 7 years ago. I try to do my part with hornet traps when the colonies are migrating in the early spring. I make hornet traps out of old liter water bottles, which I cut and invert the tops. I fill the bottom of the traps with sugary water and hang them from tree branches. During the season, I catch about 10 Asiatic bee killing hornets a day. Later in the summer, this number goes astronomic!
So, we are left with the dilemma of how to encourage a healthy bee population. I have assembled my first hives and got 2 queens from Josh and seem to have had success in starting 2 colonies.
But, there is a big movement, world wide, to encourage urban beekeeping. The advantages to Urban Bees are an environment free of industrial agricultural pesticides and an environment free of the mono culture that seems to be a real factor in the weakening of bee colonies.
If done properly, bees are not a nuisance. With a minimum of work, they can provide a really rewarding hobby for an urban naturalist. Then of course, the harvest of honey from the hives.
I realize that this is not an option for many people, but you would be surprised at how many people are doing it on roof tops in urban settings! If you are interested, you could be one more positive influence in keeping our world healthy.

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