What Is Happening To Our Honeybees

Reports beginning in early 2007 told of massive colony losses from Pennsylvania. Within weeks, 22 states were reporting very high rates of honeybee colony disappearances. Most of the articles stated that hives were simply empty - the bees gone from one day to the next. Other reports said that the queen and a few drones were present, along with brood, but the field and house bees were completely gone. Some have suggested that bees were upset over cell phone radiation, others blamed Wi-Fi signals, and one report found that satellite radio was to blame. The fact is, we do not know what has caused Colony Collapse Disorder (the newest catch-all name for the syndrome).

Those who watch honeybees intensely know that something has been effecting our honeybees for a decade. In 1997 I wrote the following in the forward of my book, The Honey Factory.

"Honeybees are extinct--the world just doesn't know it yet. The introduction of Varroa and tracheal mites to our honeybees (apis mellifera) means that feral colonies are no longer viable in nature. Without the devotion of beekeepers and their medication of these mite infestations, honeybees will soon disappear from the face of the earth."

In March, 2000, I added the following update to the introduction of The Honey Factory.

"Tragically, with the onslaught of the tracheal and Varroa mites, all untreated colonies will die...to the last bee. Inexorably, the feral colonies are disappearing from field and forest, and now very few remain as viable "natural" pollinators. This is not a theory--it is fact! Feral colonies in many parts of America--including the Pacific Northwest--are virtually extinct!

"The lack of feral honeybees is an ecological disaster, making the spotted owl controversy almost insignificant in comparison. We do not yet know how the instincts of our bees, so trustworthy in the past, will betray us in the future. What nectar source, previously the domain of feral colonies, will now be so attractive to the remaining bees that they ignore other crops? Our only way to neutralize that problem is to raise honeybees ourselves, keep several colonies near our orchards and gardens, ensuring enough honeybees close by to pollinate our crops.

"But there are other environmental disasters affecting bees...gravity and the sun. For 200 million years, honeybees have been using gravitational fields (lines of gravity), time (in relation to the sun) and distance to tell other field bees where to find the best floral sources for nectar and pollen, using what is called the "bee dance" or "wiggle dance," where they communicate the direction to the floral source on a vertical plane (the honeycomb) at the time the bees will be leaving the hive in relation to the sun, and how far to go to the floral source. Very complicated, but it worked - until 1998. By the fall of 1999 I was convinced, so I did tests which proved my hypothesis: the field bees could find a honey super only 40 feet from their hives but hidden from view, but could not report its location to the hive bees. Moving the super only five feet into view resulted in normal robbing activity.

"I believe the increased solar flare activity is causing at least part of the problem. Honeybees see colors in the ultraviolet spectrum, and those colors are changing. CME's (Coronal Mass Ejections) certainly have been proven to have an effect upon gravity fields on earth. Ed Dames predicted in 1997 that bees would be "blind:" They are not, but what they see and how they communicate has been radically altered!

"What we can do is to make sure our hives are visible to the bees from as great a distance as possible, and follow the guidelines in this book for maximum honey production. We may not receive the average of 200 pounds of honey per hive as shown in this book, but certainly we will get more than the 45 pound nationwide average - and the bees will harvest enough honey for themselves to overwinter well.

"In the winter of 1998/1999 I relocated some of my hives from narrow confines or valleys to vista hilltops so the bees could see the hives visually from a further distance, and I left an extra super of honey on each hive. It worked. With a little extra care, our honeybees will survive until this crisis passes and nature returns to normal."

And now Colony Collapse Disorder is here in full force.

(To be continued....)