anyone familiar with apiaries (hey i didnt win the spelling bee)?

Question

any1 hear of a bee shortage in central california this yr?any1 know who will have bees? pops bee guy said no bees this yr. gotta have bees to keep this world in nuts.

Answer 1

Very clever pun

As for familiarity ... sadly, no

Answer 2

I'm not familiar with California's problem, but it's true that bees have had great difficulty surviving the Varroa mite, pesticide use, reduced natural food sources (flowers) and other things that weaken or kill bee colonies. Here in the midwest, there's an increasing number of hives that die off every year (including some of my own hives).

In terms of stopping the decrease in population, beekeepers are working to breed stronger strains of bees -- those that can resist Varroa mites. They're also trying to preserve more natural habitat, plant more food sources, and do other things that help bees find the food they need -- like not mowing off the dandelions in your yard. Farmers are also encouraged to spray insecticides only at night, when bees are back in the hive and will have less exposure to them.

There are also attempts to encourage other species for pollination -- there are several kinds of 'wild' bees that do a good job at pollinating, even if they don't produce honey like domesticated honeybees do.

If you're interested in more information, look up your state's beekeeping federation, or contact the national one. That should help to keep you in nuts! :)

Answer 3

Some years back, maybe ten or fifteen, the
parasitic mite Verroa was accidentally introduced
into the United States. It has almost wiped out
wild honeybees and, according to reports I have
seen, it has reduced the number of domestic bees
in apiaries (you spelled it correctly) by about 50%.
I don't know whether any means of controlling the
parasite has been discovered. So far as I know it
has never been eliminated from any area it has
got into. The difficulty, of course, is in finding any
pesticide that would kill the mites without killing the
bees. Mites are usually more difiicult to kill than
insects are. Failing this, it is conceivable that the
bees might be somehow bred to be able to attack
and remove the mites themselves.