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Dan Rather report on bee shortage in Calif almonds

53K views 216 replies 41 participants last post by  Beeslave 
#1 ·
Hope you got a chance to see this report on CBS, from a commercial stand point, what did think positive or negitive?

http://youtu.be/oJ5riRX1_3w
 
#10 ·
Pretty depressing. There were certainly elements of truth, but they were mixed with mass generalizations, with an incomplete story. There were high bee losses and that is true. But, they didn't discuss the fact that there also good bees that came out of those same conditions.

Sunflowers may have saved our summer. There was no sweet clover, the alfalfa was eaten up by weevels early on, and the drought dried up anything else. A late shot of rain caused the sunflowers to kick out a late flow of nectar which was basically the honey crop. The bees that were not near sunflowers had shrunk to small clusters and had high mite loads by the end of the summer, and those hives were the hardest hit this winter. The hives on sunflower nectar were the strongest hives this spring going into and coming out of almonds.

Tina
 
#18 ·
I watched and IMO the show hit the nail on the head as a state of our industry and some of the challenges we all face.

I have personal experience with the situation and know or know of everyone that was interviewed.

One thing I will share is that Lyle Johnson in the past has sounded like some on this site that PPB has been the problem, but reality has caught up with him as with many of us, as the quote goes" these times are a changin"

As to the sunflowers, yes 70% of all my hives that where anywhere near sunflowers died and the hives furthest away agriculture look great.

I personally believe all that was stated on the show is accurate because I have had these conversations with all of the beekeeper interviewed , either first or second hand!
 
#20 ·
One thing I will share is that Lyle Johnson in the past has sounded like some on this site that PPB has been the problem, but reality has caught up with him as with many of us, as the quote goes" these times are a changin"
Lyle was refferring to Kenny Haff, Kenny had trouble because he chase the sunflower all summer, a mono crop wont work as a pollen source.
 
#19 ·
Adee had MITE problems, Lyle & I had a three hour phone call today, & Miller

John Miller called me a couple years ago, he said a freind of his sent him my way, said he was losing 30% over the winter and that my sub would help. So when we spoke I recomended two 5 pound rounds in the fall. John said do you know how much money that is... I said do you know how much there paying for dead outs in the almonds.

Here's the deal Tony Noyes & John Miller run the same places ND summer winter in cellars in ID and almonds CA, but have very different out comes, ones feeds heavy sub & one does not.
 
#65 ·
Adee had MITE problems,
Keith.....Brett and I met for dinner a couple of times during almonds and I spoke with him again about an hour ago. He says that attributing all of his loses to mites would not be an accurate characterization of this winters losses. He believes about 25% would be directly attributable to mites but that his greatest loses (by far) were bees that were on sunflower. Now....is that poor pollen, no pollen, no nectar, chemicals, stresses that exacerbate mite problems.......there's the sixty four thousand dollar question. The rest he believed were related to stresses directly due to poor forage.....a subject that has been discussed here ad nauseam. I'm not defending or supporting anyone on this issue......also.....some where in one of these threads someone stated that Adee built those numbers after the price of almonds went up....I would disagree with that statement also as they had those numbers long before almond prices jumped. The almond price DID, however draw them to Cali. As it has many others.
 
#66 ·
He says that attributing all of his loses to mites would not be an accurate characterization of this winters losses. He believes about 25% would be directly attributable to mites but that his greatest loses (by far) were bees that were on sunflower.
I have heard from more than one ND beekeeper that their worst losses were bees on sunflowers.
 
#26 ·
i'd like to order about 5 lbs keith, do you have free shipping? :)

i think the nutrition angle is right on. mine have been on virtually 100% natural forage for almost two years, and are surviving without mite treatments.

the locations in and around monoculture ag just couldn't have the forage diversity that is necessary to get all those necessary amino acids.

the fact that well nutritioned bees do well in these areas suggests it's more a question of diet that exposure to insecticides.

keith, you may have saved the world as we know it. too bad it's a proprietary secret.
 
#29 ·
Reading this is just redicolous. I mean this isnt a new thing. its not just bees. cant you see it??? its a trend, i suppose you can explain why there are not any pheasants left or why every other specie is in decline. Dont you see the big picture?There is no good forage land left for anything.
How could you begin to say these people in this video are wrong? They have been living it for many years. Its obvious these chemicals are having a negative effect on the bees.

And you cannot make a honey crop on fake man made pollen SUBSTITUTE. It is still a SUBSTITUTE for the real thing. I want real honey from bees and if there is no natural pollen left then there is no nectal either. People are so happy to have good raw honey and there is no substitute for that.
 
#31 ·
There is no good forage land left for anything.
Ben, forage area is shrinking that's the main problem, I agree 100%. Most are running more bees with last pasture an this is showing up in high winter loss rates. To combat this some keeper's are on a feed program with great success. Corn & soy beans are all over the place, so if they were blaming that I would understand, but there not.
 
#30 ·
It sure is quite out their......... perhaps it is a "silent spring" Keith , ItS been a dam cold one here ,if fact its still what I call winter. I though the video was pretty realistic to what has occurred, from what I can ascertain. Lye Johnson is probably right, plant walnuts.The 4.1 count of bees on the grading system in that yard,orchard, would not be your typical grade or average grade of all California bees this year , would it? I know Mr Blue boxes would be double or triple that.I find it incredible that we can put a man on the moon but can't find out whats killing the honeybee.Some disastrous losses in Canada too, and as this winter continues mine climb as well.I wonder what percentage of commercial keepers do not go to almonds
 
#32 ·
I thought the report was a "cry wolf " as loud as you can. I am not very happy that this is what the bee industry has become.


Keith you better jump on that crying band wagon....how else you going to get $250/ hive next year for almonds

Is it all about money Keith? OR is the industry suffering
 
#33 ·
There is a myth that a healthy hive can resist mites. Mites actually do well on healthy bees, assuming they are a non resistant strain, course the bees won't stay healthy too long.

Mites weaken the bees directly by sucking the blood out of them during larval development. Also, mites vector all kinds of viruses. Of course, to bees weakened in such a way, chemical poisons and poor nutrition can be the coup de grass.

But mostly, keep mites out of the hives, and they can handle everything else way better. Why did all those guys lose hives? In my opinion if the truth gets out, it will in large part have to do with mites. There are reasons why this is sometimes not fully discussed, though.

In deference to Keith though, I've heard some good things about his feed, and if bees are indeed lacking something and Keith's product can supply it, then this will boost, or save, the hive, in proportion to the need. But from where I am, I don't see a food supplement alone saving a hive from mites.
 
#39 ·
well, I thought Dan Rather did a good job
Same. In that his job is to present an interesting and entertaining article for the non beekeeping public.

It was well researched, kinda. The scope of the article was not to do an in depth analysis of exactly what went wrong with the hives that died, and it's probably asking too much from such a reporter, to expect that.
 
#37 ·
ot, i'm guessing that good nutrition doesn't directly suppress mites, but it makes the bees stronger so that they can afford the extra energy expended with hygenic behavior, plus it boosts their immune system to better handle the viral infections.
 
#40 ·
I seem to recall that 57% of all US keepers income came from pollination, only the remainder came from honey production, this from what I know is a given gold mine...if you got bees and strong healthy bees .What your saying Keith is that this is relatively easy, the facts and figures are not saying this. PPB is it Keith?
 
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