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0 pointstptacek9y ago0 comments

Do I properly understand your argument, like the one below, to be that despite the increase in beehives, there are fewer live bees in the US?

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Ratufa9y ago

When you talk about "increase in beehives", are you referring to hives that are managed by a beekeeper, or hives created by wild bees, and not managed by a human? When you talk about "fewer live bees", are you referring to wild bees, or bees in a managed hive? In my previous post, I was only referring to managed hives.

tptacekOP9y ago

There are no feral honeybees in the US. They were wiped out, not by neonics, but by the varroa mite, 30 years ago.

(Before we colonized this place, there were no wild honeybees: they're an introduced species).

Honeybees are livestock, not wildlife.

ameliaikeda9y ago

As an amateur beekeeper, I can tell you that honeybees _are_ wild, in a sense. A captured swarm is just a wild colony with the queen trapped in an excluder box in your hive.

They can't be domesticated, and containing them after they swarm involves tricking the bees into thinking they are the ones making a decision (you can turn their hive 90 degrees after they swarm in summer and they will return in most cases, assuming they've found a new spot for a hive).

Also, mites (and foul brood) are still a pain in the ass and I can see why bees need a beekeeper to even stand a chance.

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jly9y ago

No feral honeybees? I can attest from personal experience down here in Texas there are a lot of wild apis melifera and many other honey bee species doing just fine without us. Maybe your definition of 'feral' isn't the same as mine, but this is plain wrong.

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