Checked out a beehive today that went from 4 frames on April 21st to 10 extra full frames today.. they are in growth mode right now here in my part of Southern California. Producing honey, too. #bees#beekeeping
"There’s [a] downside of resuming mowing after May. #Bees are... clever creatures that can learn where flowers are in their environment (your garden). This...is called “flower constancy”, & is critical to how #honeybees & bumblebees survive. When the wild patches are cut...all the energy & effort the bees have put in to learning where to find these #flowers is wasted."
Turns out bee are like livestock: humans breed them at a rate proportional to how much money they can make from it. We move billions of bees to California to pollinate almonds every year, and about half die from it.
Wealthy Wall St. investors own a lot of CA almond farms: they took their money out of stock during the 2008 financial crisis, bought land in California, and paid people to plant almond trees.
With that much money on the line, there's a strong financial incentive to breed more #bees
Butterflies, bees, bugs and more: The summer of insect-counting gets underway in Germany.
AP reports on the country's "'insect summer,' now in its seventh year, organized by the country’s Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union, or NABU."
“Risks vary from country to country but they can include diseases or pests that might negatively impact the #Canadian#bee population including tropilaelaps mites, killer bees, small hive beetles, amitraz-resistant varroa mites & oxytetracycline-resistant American foulbrood,”.
Because of this, Olthof said there is pressure from federal & provincial governments for #beekeepers to reduce their reliance on foreign #QueenBees.
The hornet has landed: Scientists combat new honeybee killer in the U.S.
@KnowableMag reports: "An invasive yellow-legged wasp has been decimating beehives in Europe — and bedeviling Georgia since last summer. Researchers are working nest by nest to limit the threat while developing better eradication methods."