Amid bee die-off, healthy hives thrive in cities

xchrom

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Fri Jul-29-11 06:06 AM
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Amid bee die-off, healthy hives thrive in cities

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FOOD_AND_FARM_URBAN_BEEKEEPING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-07-29-06-45-47

CHICAGO (AP) -- Among the wildflowers and native grasses in the garden atop Chicago's City Hall stand two beehives where more than 100,000 bees come and go in patterns more graceful, but just as busy, as the traffic on the street 11 stories below.

The bees are storing honey that will sustain them through the bitter winter and be sold in a gift shop just blocks away.

"Already this season, one hive has produced 200 pounds of surplus honey, which is really a huge amount of honey," said beekeeper Michael Thompson after checking the hives one July morning. "The state average is 40 pounds of surplus honey per hive."

The Chicago bees' success could be due to the city's abundant and mostly pesticide-free flowers. Many bee experts believe city bees have a leg up on country bees these days because of a longer nectar flow, with people planting flowers that bloom from spring to fall, and organic gardening practices. Not to mention the urban residents who are building hives at a brisk pace.

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LuvNewcastle

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Fri Jul-29-11 07:21 AM
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1. I would like to have some hives out on my balcony.

We can't have pets here, but I don't think bees would count as pets. I really don't use that balcony, anyway. It's too hot out there, especially this time of year.

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FBaggins

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Fri Jul-29-11 07:47 AM
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2. Probably means that cell phones aren't the cause of the die-off. n/t

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dbackjon

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Fri Jul-29-11 10:33 AM
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3. no massive over use of pesticides/herbicides in the city

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hatrack

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Fri Jul-29-11 12:02 PM
Response to Reply #3

4. Well, there's plenty of Better Living Through Chemistry in cities . . .

But I suspect that there's far less.

Also, city bees are reaping the benefits of polyculture vs. monoculture - my city hives have always produced more than my country hives.

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dbackjon

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Fri Jul-29-11 12:55 PM
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5. Good point - the variety of pollen in a city far outweighs most farmed areas

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CJvR

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Fri Jul-29-11 02:05 PM
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6. Actually...

...many animals are better off in a city. Strangely enough there often is greater bio diversity in a city than in the modern countryside with it's vast monoculture fields and industrial agriculture. Compared to that the gardens, parks and trash of the city is not a bad choise for many creatures.

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txlibdem

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Fri Jul-29-11 06:14 PM
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7. City dwellers: help the bees out. Build a bee hive.

http://www.beesource.com/build-it-yourself/

http://www.renovation-headquarters.com/plans-beehive.html

Einstein noted long ago that if all the bee colonies would dissappear that we would be the next species to follow. No more bees, no more pollination... no more food. Find out how the dying bee colonies are impacting our food supply and what we can do to save them.

What happens to our food when the bee's die?
Bees are essential to the entire ecosystem. Plus, they give us honey, a superfood with antibiotic characteristics, not to mention a healthful way to sweeten foods without resorting to toxic, refined sugar. The problem is that the bees are disappearing, which is a major threat to our entire planet and food production The disappearance of bees was a mystery until independent groups figured out that pesticides are killing them off.

A conservation organization has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to release information about a pesticide linked to dramatic declines in honeybee populations. The pesticide was approved on the condition that the manufacturer study the effects of the chemical on the bee species. The EPA has received the studies but refuses to release them to the public, even though a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was filed.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which made the FOIA request, sued EPA on Aug. 18 for withholding the information. The pesticide, known as clothianidin and sold under the brand name Poncho, is in a class of chemicals linked to collapses of thousands of bee colonies.

http://www.foodmatters.tv/_webapp/newsletter%20-%20what%20happens%20to%20our%20food%20when%20the%20bees%20die

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IDemo

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Fri Jul-29-11 07:35 PM
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8. We've got a ton of them in the backyard since the Hollyhocks bloomed

Had none at all in the yard and now it's teeming with honeybees and bumblebees both. I took this shot a few years ago:

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txlibdem

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Sat Jul-30-11 09:20 AM
Response to Reply #8

9. I love to see bees in my yard

We don't get very many because all our neighbors have a pest company out every month to spray, spray, spray. The stench from the petrochemicals they spray is nauseating.

I had an "environmentally friendly" company doing our pest control so we see geckos, dragon flies, and I'm pretty sure I saw a preying mantis last year (but haven't seen him again). Just yesterday I saw a dragon fly land on the lower limb of our tree in the back yard... he was carrying a bug that was nearly as big as his body. I thought about running for the camera but he flew off when I moved. That would have been a cool picture. This morning I opened the garage door and saw a baby gecko skitter away from me and behind some boxes stored in the garage.

Some times of the year we get bats as well. I think they're just flying through because I don't see them all year long. I used to buy lady bugs and dump them on our flower beds but they fly off to who knows where by the next day so I haven't done that for a couple of years.

My point is: we need the "good bugs" to keep the "bad bugs" under control. It works far better than spraying toxic crap that kills everything, good or bad. Bees are like the canary in the coal mine, telling us that our overuse of pesticides and herbicides is destroying the environment.

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