Why are the Bees Disappearing?
By Writerbob
@Writerbob (572)
United States
April 3, 2007 3:39pm CST
This seems to be a real phenomenon that is happening as we speak. Bees are nowhere near the population levels that they should be at, and experts in apiary (bee-keeping science) are at a loss to explain this. To learn more, you can check out articles on the NY Times or CNN websites.
I have my own opinion about this, but it is uninformed so I would first like to read the ideas of others. I would leave you with the words of Albert Einstein "Man's existence is so fragile that if the bees were to disappear, man himself would disappear in just a few years".
5 responses
@vokey9472 (1486)
• United States
7 Apr 07
It is not so much that the bees are disappearing as it is that they are not seen so much in some parts of the nation. Also, you have to remember that since the introduction of the African Killer Bee to North America, many of our honey bee colonies are becoming Africanized. That means that they are more aggressive and produce less honey. Which is why the cost of honey is going up all the time.
Also, fewer people are going into bee keeping or honey production. So, we are seeing less bee farming. There are still plenty of bees in the world, we are just seeing less of the more common bee varieties. We see lots of bumblebees in Texas in the spring and there are plenty of bees buxxing around my flower garden.
@Writerbob (572)
• United States
7 Apr 07
Most of the answers seem to be like yours, contradicting what beegrowers are seeing, especially in the NE and Western US. I hope that it is a false alarm.
@vokey9472 (1486)
• United States
7 Apr 07
It is entirely possible that some parts of the country are seeing a decline in the bee populations. I am no expert. I am only going based on what I have seen here in Texas and what we are told about the rising cost of honey. I sure hope that our bees ok. I would hate to see them disappear. I am kinda partial to bumble bees. I just love their fat little bodies. :)
@draconess (650)
• Canada
9 Apr 07
I've definately heard concern from apiarists that a lot of commercial honey producing bee colonies are dying off. I haven't found any conclusive reasons why this is happening though. I do know that in the south the africanized 'killer bees' are becoming a bigger problem every year. The weather and various diseases and parasites also affect honey bee colonies, in some areas a particularly cold, harsh winter could have lead to reduced survival of the colonies. But much of the current decline has yet to be explained, it seems.
@easymoney75503 (1702)
• United States
3 Apr 07
bees are no where huh tell them to come to my house. shoot tell them to go south. my daughter got stung today. we have so many bees it is sad. we keep spray just so we can work on things in the yard. the poor telephone guy that came out to my house the other day to fix my phone has been stung 11 times since jan this year. he almost got stung while fixing mine. maybe all the bees are leaving north and coming south cause trust me we have more and more every year. in fact we have a prob with killer bees in the summer.
@songbirdnaimh (1422)
• United States
4 Apr 07
You can have some of the bees we have on our playground at school.....we seem to have so many already! Some of the kids are afraid of them.
@sapphiresage (431)
• United States
4 Apr 07
I don't know what they're talking about, bees disappearing. They have been absolutely -covering- the blossoms on all our trees for the last couple weeks. Not to mention we have a lot of clover in our yard (the house was built on an old pasture) and the yard is blanketed with bees this spring. Seems there are more than ever here.
Maybe they migrated?
