I've got honey bees

 

In other good news, I have a concord grape arbor in my yard. This morning
I noticed that it was swarming with honey bees. I've had a few bumblebees
in my yard in the spring but in very small numbers, 1 or 2, but I've
never seen honey bees. But this morning I saw hundreds on my grape vines.
Has anyone else noticed an increase in the bee population? I'm in
Massachusetts.

 

I've seem more honey bees this year than in past years..I tend to appreciate
them more now

 




    In what way is that "good" news? You have a problem: Because of
their herding behavior that leads to total domination of food sources,
AWA their spreading of diseases and infestations (mites) against which
native populations have no defenses, European honeybees are decimating
native solitary bee (such as bumblebee) populations; how, one might well
ask, is that a "good" thing?
    The very behavior patterns that make "tame" European honeybees so
highly valuable to commercial, mono-cropping, Earth-damaging
"AGRICULTUREmoneymoneymoney" are the same behavior patterns that, along
with their diseases and parasites, make them so devastating to native
insect populations. The presence of honeybees in the "woodlands" is
always -->100% the fault of negligent beekeepers<--. Allowing honeybees
to roam freely in the "native" or "undeveloped" bush has exactly the
same deleterious effect as does allowing cattle, goats, and sheep (also
alien species) to do so, the scale is just different and we don't _see_
it happening, and the perpetrators deserve jail time, IMO, because it's
absolutely preventable. In my view, herders of domestic beasts do not
have a "right" to inflict them on the native ecosystem but, instead,
have a duty to that system to contain and control their animals.
    I start most of my days killing honey bee scouts in order to
prevent them carrying the news of my garden to their pestiferous
fellows. Not only do I consider bee-killing to be an essential home
gardening activity, I believe it should be a priority of any gardener
who wants to minimize his impact on the native ecosystem and do his
little part in preserving native insect species.
    With an early start each morning, it is easy enough to intercept
and kill the scout bees in order to prevent them from bringing the rest
of the herd to a truck garden but I don't know about grape vine; depends
on how aerial it is, I suppose. As a rule, I certainly don't recommend
any insexticide but, in your case, the thing to do might be to locate
the honeybees' nest and take out the entire hive at night when most of
its inhabitants are present and lethargic or occupied with domestic
duties. The few stragglers that spent the night away from the hive are
not likely to be of sufficient number to maintain it.
--
the Balvenieman
USDA zone 9b, peninsular Florida, U.S.A.
If your neighbor has a cow,
_He_ builds the fence.

 

balvenieman@invalid.net says...



You have to be expert enough to tell the difference between honeybees
and many other species. -- There are a lot of look-enough-alikes on the
flowers in great enough numbers to confuse just about anyone, let alone
the experts who sometimes say that you can't tell some species apart
until you get them under a scope.

Whatever your opinion of escaped millifera, this djinn has left the
bottle and can't be stuffed back in. Apis mellifera in the wild is there
to stay ...and might become part of the solution to CCD.

It seems good practice to call a local beekeeper and try to save a
colony before someone with more fear than good sense wastes it.

The up-front assumption that these bees are from a wild colony is a big
leap into a dark hole. A neighbour could have taken up beekeeping.

 




    You are correct. I inadvertently implied that a "wild" colony was
the most likely source of the bees and that is not so. It is perfectly
plausible -- quite likely, in fact -- that the bees come from the hive
of an irresponsible beekeeper, and more's the pity. You are also correct
that their naturalization is past rectifying. That fact, however, does
not prevent me from protecting _my_ small (± 4-acre) patch of dirt and
garden from them, refraining from buying so-called "wildflower" honey
and exhorting bee herders to restrain and control their livestock. It
can be done. IMO, anyone who can't discern working-class honeybees from
the most commonly seen native bees (and wasps) has vision problems that,
most likely, preclude gardening.
    Personally, I take deliberate steps to encourage proliferation of
indigenous bees and wasps. It is easy enough because I'm in a (rapidly
suburbanizing) rural area. Of this 4+ acres, only less than an acre is
"improved", the balance enjoying virtually no (significant) human
intervention since the early 1960's. Fortunately, I am bordered on three
sides by land that is unimproved or minimally improved. Of course,
aerial power lines must be kept clear, but that's the extent of it and I
attend to that task personally, the utility company's contractor being
banned from here due to incompetence.
--
the Balvenieman
USDA zone 9b, peninsular Florida, U.S.A.