Help The Bees

Why are honey bees in decline?

In recent years, honey bee hives have been decreasing due to many different factors. The loss of so many hives in recent years has brought great attention and awareness to this issue. The issue of bees in decline can really affect so many different parts of our life and this is why you may have heard more about this recently. Although we know causes to the decline, scientists and beekeepers are still working to find more information about this issue.

Here are some reasons that are affecting the honey bees to decline:

• Varroa Mites: This is a parasite that invades the beehives when a mated, adult, female Varroa mite goes into the brood cells, which is where baby bees are born in the hive. Before the bees are able to cap the newborn, the Varroa mite gets to them and feeds on them. This results in the honey bees becoming deformed which can include the wings being deformed making them unable to fly. Varroa mites are commonly found in the hives, however, if there are too many that have invaded, it can cause issues to the production and life of the colony.

• Disease: There are many different type of diseases that can infect a beehive including American Foulbrood, Sacbrood, Nosema, and Chalkbrood. When these diseases come into the hive, they can be very serious and some of them may require professional state help to make sure you can get rid of it quickly and safely. These diseases could be bad because it is easy for them to spread from hive to hive especially when bees from different hives are using the same flowers to pollinate and get nectar.

• Predators: There are numerous different insects and animals that will try to come into the hive and steal the resources. Some predators of the hive include bears, skunks, and mice. Although beekeepers can try their best to use fences and different equipment to try and block them out, sometimes it can be hard to control these intruders.

• Pesticides: There are many types of pesticides used for agriculture and landscape that can contribute to the decline of honey bees. To continue, if the bees come into contact with pesticides, it can result in killing the bee directly or can compromise the bees immune system. When bees from a hive come into contact with pesticides, it can make the whole colony suffer. Many bees run into pesticides while pollinating and collecting nectar from crops and plants.

• Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD): Colony Collapse Disorder is mainly responsible for bring all this awareness to honey bees in recent years. CCD occurs when the majority of worker bees abandon their hives leaving everything behind. This is believed to be because of many different factors including pesticides, malnutrition, poor queens, beekeeping practices, and many more. As you can see, all of the factors that affect bees are also tied with the disorder that causes bees to decrease. As CCD was newly discovered within the past years, there is still more information to be found about this!

Some things you can do to help the honey bees

There is still hope to try and solve this issue. Doing simple and easy things on your end will help them out tremendously and get us one step closer to an end goal. Some simple and easy things you can do include:

1. Planting Planting some plants around your house can really help the honey bees out tremendously. Bees collect nectar and pollen from a variety of different trees, flowers, and crops and it is than used to create different resources in the hive. This is a very important part of the honey bee process and can be very useful to them!

2. Protect Existing Plants You can avoid killing existing plants in your yard including dandelions and other weeds. Although you may not realize, bees use these plants as great sources for them everyday.

3. No Pesticides Stay away from using any type of pesticides. This includes using pesticides in your yard, buying products made with pesticides, and not supporting any uses for them. When bees come into contact with pesticides, it can do a lot of damage to the colony and can even result in it to be destroyed.

4. Support Local Beekeepers Buying local honey and bee products can have a huge impact on your local beekeepers and can help them to continue the funding for their bee hives. Honey and bee products are great for gifts and for personal uses. Surprisingly, eating local honey is much healthier for you and can even help you with allergies.

5. Report a Swarm If you see a swarm of bees somewhere, contact your local beekeeping association. There are many different reasons for the colony to abandon their hive and if we can help them relocate, this will help them out!