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The bee that everyone wants to save
- JumpCrisscross 6mo agoTL; DR Honeybees aren’t native to the Americas. Bumblebees are. And bumblebees get outcompeted by honeybees. That’s terrible, because bumblebees promote plant biodiversity in a way generalist honeybees do not. Putting a honeybee hive in your yard or on your balcony is fine. But it’s agriculture, not conservation.
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- Joel_Mckay 6mo agoThere are lots of native bees getting wiped out by Varroa destructor carried viral infections. The imported hybrids used in agriculture are more productive, and are currently being bred to have the desirable trait of cleaning/nibbling the legs off mites. Bumblebees do just fine in most places, as they go after my geraniums like a fool with a hole-punch every year. We have several local variety, and they are an important part of the ecosystem. The mite & foulbrood damage means most agriculture businesses euthanize hives when a problem becomes obvious. Hence why they also over-produce queens, as people know most colonies will not make it right now. The beekeeper community are some of the kindest folk you will ever meet, and people are doing their best given the situation. Have a wonderful day. =3
- cachius 6mo agoWhat's with geraniums? I remember they look nice but don’t smell.
- Joel_Mckay 6mo agoGeraniums do well controlling invasive beetles, and local humming birds also seem pleased. Some of the smaller flower variety are pleasantly scented, and easy to clone. However, it is not a good plant choice for people with pets. Mustard (Sinapis alba) is nice if you like pleasant smelling little yellow flowers, low-effort resilient plants, and spicy food. =3
- devilbunny 6mo agoThey smell like carrots when you break the fading blooms off, they tolerate high heat and full sun, and they are pretty. Flowers for gardens, not arrangements.
- JumpCrisscross 6mo agoOh, to be clear, I have nothing against beekeepers. As I said, it’s fine to have a backyard apiary. But it’s also important to know that it’s having an impact on the local bumblebee population. Depending on where you are, that could be fine or it could be stressing an endangered species. (I’m in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. We’re advised to avoid honeybees.)
- DeathArrow 6mo agoThe author is Hungarian, he isn't talking especially about the Americas, but he has a more general stance.
- nelsondev 6mo agoSome carpenter bees moved into my roof overhang. Last year it was two, this year it’s closer to 10. I like them, the only problem is they burrow into my house and leave little piles of sawdust behind. There is plenty of old fencing, a stack of logs, but they like my house.
- adzm 6mo agoI actually just put some wood in the backyard for them so they can chill out there and they stopped burrowing in my house and porch etc. I'm still not sure why they stopped rather than just do both, but I kept patching up their holes so maybe we have an understanding somehow.
- Findecanor 6mo agoIn my neighbourhood it has become popular to build "bee hotels" to have in the garden. They are commonly built by cutting logs into lengths, stacking them up and drilling multiple holes in one end of each log, each hole sized just enough for a wild bee to enter. However, the holes need to be deep enough for the bees to be safe from bee-eating birds. Otherwise, the log will instead function as a bee trap, allowing a bird to pick off one helpless bee after the other.
- doodlebugging 6mo agoGive them another option after they vacate the nest in the fall. You likely have the materials that they would use but they are not in prime locations for carpenter bee nests so they choose your home with a nice morning sun exposure and pre-existing nests. [0] [0]https://gardenbetty.com/carpenter-bees/ https://gardenbetty.com/carpenter-bees/ I have carpenter bees, mason bees, bumblebees, honeybees, wasps, etc including bees of every size. I also have planted my property in native plants and wildflowers to make sure these native insects have a place to hang out. I provide water for insects and wandering animals using washtubs with stacked rocks and solar powered fountains to discourage algae. I think that you could improve your chances of keeping the bees without them destroying your siding or trim if you follow the guidance about bee house placement. You can make a bee house block or buy one that will attract multiple native bees and they will use it for years. Here is one option with additional info about carpenter bees.[1] [1]https://www.thewallednursery.com/do-carpenter-bee-houses-work-guide-on-how-to-home-them/ https://www.thewallednursery.com/do-carpenter-bee-houses-wor... The holes in the bee house need to be about 1/2" (12-13mm) if you are attracting carpenter bees. For mason or orchard bees they should be smaller, 3/16" to 5/16" (5-7mm).
- skyberrys 6mo agoMy garden is full of fleabane flowers in heaping piles. I wonder if that helps native pollinators or if I am providing flowers for honey bees instead.
- Joel_Mckay 6mo agoPlanting a variety of local wild flowers that bloom at different times over summer is the best assistance people can offer the little creatures. Best regards, =3
- skyberrys 6mo agoI actually plant local wildflowers all around the public paths near me, those get much better sunlight than my own garden. I've managed to plant so many golden poppies now that I frequently see strangers stopping to photograph them, I feel so happy when I see it. I had a great patch of lupines going too but some sort of aphid got loose in the thick patch and killed them all. I was so sad. I try to plant other types of flowers in my own garden, it's just that I have 1000's of fleabane and like 200 others, my little corner seems to be perfect for fleabane to thrive.
- MostlyStable 6mo agoMy wife and I had wanted honey bees for a long time, but when we finally moved to a place that we could have had them, we noticed that we regularly saw at least 5 native bee species. We decided not to get a hive since they compete for resources and can spread disease. Given that there are neighbors that have them within about a mile, and that either those or feral colonies are close enough that we also see honey bees around, I'm not sure how much difference it makes, but we don't regret the decision.
- Joel_Mckay 6mo agoThe mite has already hit most wild populations hard, and tending hives requires quite a bit of time to learn. Planting local wild flowers is often helpful, and requires just a few minutes. =3
- 2muchcoffeeman 6mo agoCan you “build colonies” for native species?
- chongli 6mo agoYou just need to supply the native plants they prefer to pollinate, they’ll do the rest. If you’re wondering about whether you can harvest honey from them, I don’t think so. Most native pollinator species don’t produce honey. Bumblebees do produce a kind of honey, but it’s much thinner and less concentrated than proper honey (which has had most of the water evaporated off by the wing beats of the bees).
- bombcar 6mo agoA thousand years of effort might be able to "domesticate" the bumblebee and make it produce something akin to usable amounts of honey - but unlikely to be worth it.
- gus_massa 6mo agoSomeone domesticated foxes in 20 years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_silver_fox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_silver_fox , so perhaps it's possible to domesticate bumblebee in a few decades - but unlikely to be worth it.
- GiraffeNecktie 6mo agoThe author lost me at the end when they said to stop pulling up dandelions. Dandelions are not a native species (at least in North America) and are not a good food source for native pollinators.
- defrost 6mo agoDandelions are a native species in Europe, the author is blogging from the southwest of Hungary. Hopefully you are now less lost.
- benrutter 6mo agoI think someone else has already pointed out that the author is writing from a non US perspective. But at the risk of being patronising, I wanted to say that we should all try to resist the "the author lost me when" reaction. I catch myself doing this too, but I don't think it's useful. Reading an article isn't a competition where you win if you don't get your mind changed. Someone might have valid thoughts and opinions even if there are details of the article you disagree with. Especially in the current climate, I feel like we could benefit from being a little more charitable.
- borski 6mo agoThank you for saying this. It’s hard, but I’ve learned it’s a lot better to approach new information (and thus, articles) with curiosity, rather than skepticism.
- Flook 6mo agoHey, I'm the author. I'm indeed writing from Hungary, Europe, and here dandelions are native, and they are one of the main sources of early food, especially for the bumblebee queens and the mining bees. My lawn is littered with dandelions and there is so much activity on them. The other main food source at this moment is plum blossoms, but those are a favorite of the honey bees and they often aggressively chase away the native bees. So most of the native bees are therefore forced to keep lower to the ground and make use of the dandelions, daisies and violets. I see all my neighbors pulling out the dandelions, and thereby removing the only really abundant food source the native bees have left. That's why I said to stop pulling up dandelions.
- malikolivier 6mo agoSuch issues is what brought us to keep native honeybee species where I live, and not the domestic Western bees. The productivity may not be as high as the domestic bee, but we still get honey and it's very good! You would also notice the difference in taste. Apis mellifera honey is usually sweeter than the Asian honeybee, and not as prone to fermentation. A slightly fermented honey is also super good!
- birdfood 6mo agoI have a couple of hives of the local native tetragonula stingless bee in my yard. It does feel quite special to see them foraging and returning laden with various brightly coloured balls of pollen on their legs. I’ve managed to propagate two hives, one I split and gave to my children’s kindy, the other started from a swarm which attacked one of my hives. I read that if you move the hive and put an empty one in its place the swarm might colonise it and that is exactly what happened and a friend now has that one. We also get a lot of blue banded bee and teddy bear bees in our garden. It’s comparatively uncommon to see a honey bee.
- moebrowne 6mo ago> The honeybee is not endangered. It never was. There are several severe threats to honey bees which without human intervention would cause a significant number of hives to be lost. There's the varroa mite and the things it carries like deformed wing virus, then there is the increasingly prevalent Asian hornet which European honey bees are unable to deal with, and colony collapse disorder where the bees literally disappear for reasons we current don't understand, and climate change is causing colonies to starve over the winter. Honey bees are not going extinct tomorrow but they are not doing well.
- cachius 6mo agoNow think of bumble and other wild bees who catch the mites from the blossoms but get no treatment with formic or oxalic acid.
- aziaziazi 6mo agoHumans also face severe treats and are not doing well but are not going extinct tomorrow. Honeybees seems to only decline in North America, especially the USA, but as you said it’s human intervention that keeps their population booming years after years. Perhaps a decline wouldn’t be so problematic it doesn’t go to extinction? A decline in chickens population wouldn’t lead to extinction, to elaborate on the funny authors take: > Promoting honeybee hives to save pollinators is roughly the equivalent to building more chicken farms to save bird biodiversity The other problems you raise are important but are also a treat to others bee species and insects. https://earth.org/data_visualization/bees-are-not-declining-everywhere-a-global-perspective-on-population-trends/ https://earth.org/data_visualization/bees-are-not-declining-...
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- b3ing 6mo agoHoneybees aren’t native to North America
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- danybittel 6mo agoVery well said, also many other non bees are also pollinators, such as butterflies, some beetles.. even ants. Any flower is a hotspot of life. Tangential, have a look at a Gaussian splat of a honeybee I recently captured: https://superspl.at/scene/3ae6a716 https://superspl.at/scene/3ae6a716
- Aboutplants 6mo agoMy wife has planted an over abundance of native plants on our property, eliminating 60-70% of the turf grass. The resulting bee population increase has been phenomenal to watch. Also, using leafs dropped in the fall as mulch provides the habitat for lightning bugs and the population boom experienced in the years after we started doing this has exploded. Summer nights are magical again
- anthonyIPH 6mo agoJust last weekend my kids were climbing the magnolia tree on the side of my house and I noticed dozens of little bees flying along the ground underneath it. My kids were a little freaked out even though I reassured them that the bees almost definitely wouldn't sting them. I also noticed dozens of tiny half centimeter diameter holes in the ground under that magnolia tree which I guessed were little bee burrows. This sent me down a rabbit hole of trying to identify what type of bee these were. Long story short, there are way too many types of bees (30,000+ according to my research) for a non specialist like me to be able to pinpoint a species. But whatever type of bee (miner/sweat) they are going to go absolutely nuts when that magnolia tree blooms in the next couple weeks.
- mauvehaus 6mo agoHighly recommend the writing of Dave Goulson[0] about bees and meadow ecosystems more broadly. I’ve read A Buzz in the Meadow and A Sting in the Tale and enjoyed them both. [0] https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/323591.Dave_Goulson https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/323591.Dave_Goulson
- QuaArbiter 6mo agoHumble recommendation; https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002t686/my-garden-of-a-thousand-bees https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002t686/my-garden-of... (Wildlife film-maker Martin Dohrn is bee obsessed. He has found over 60 species in his Bristol garden and sets out to film them, with mind-blowing results.)
- jibbit 6mo agoThis was genuinely one of the best bits of TV i've ever seen
- thavalai 6mo agoIn case any one else runs into a "this video is not available outside the UK" message, I'm able to see it here: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/my-garden-thousand-bees-about/26263/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/my-garden-thousand-bees-abou...
- smallstepforman 6mo agoAs with all things commercial, my neighbour keeps 40 hives and extracts too much honey in the autumn, resulting in desperate hungry bees in the spring that get very aggressive. If he left them more honey (less profits), they wouldnt be as hungry or aggressive. The entire neighbourhood suffers due to the antics of a single owner. Legally, he’s within the council regulations so there is nothing we can do … Its impossible to sit outside from 9am-6pm in April and May. Once there is enough food, they calm down.
- j_bum 6mo agoHave you ever talked to him about this?
- mapt 6mo ago"I'm going to start spraying imidacloprid if I keep getting stung"
- ahhhhnoooo 6mo agoGenerally, it's considered pretty unacceptable to destroy someone's livestock. And aggressive honeybees still rarely sting. They typically just charge at you (which is annoying/disruptive)
- cowsandmilk 6mo agoFor livestock other than bees, it is considered unacceptable to starve them or have them attack your neighbors.
- mapt 6mo agoAre they somebody else's livestock when they're on your property and they lack any kind of brand or identifying mark? If they are somebody else's livestock and they're attacking your person en masse, which law enforcement agency does one call? How much self defense is permitted?
- throwaway_7274 6mo agodoes anyone else detect llm tone in this post?
- creantum 6mo ago[dead]
- forinti 6mo agoIn Brazil we have tiny native bees that don't sting. They make wax tunnels and the colonies grow very very slowly. I've been watching one for 20 years and it doesn't even seem to have doubled in size. They have suffered a lot with deforestation.
- ashwinnair99 6mo agoEvery few years there is one species that captures public attention and gets all the conservation energy. Rarely the ones that need it most.
- pruetj 6mo agoAppreciate the write up! I’ve always wanted a hive on my property. I’ve seen some carpenter bees and bumblebees at work around the garden and this is giving me second thoughts about introducing more competition for them via honeybees. I think I’ll let nature take its course here and enjoy the natural wild life.
- datahack 6mo agoI do very much dislike that the concerns of the domesticated bee are brushed aside in this piece, as they are quite legitimate. It, of course, is trying to espouse that we protect the solitary and other wild bees, and I agree with them about that. It’s very, very important. Nevertheless, this is a case of both not either / or being the right position. Why should we be advocating for one and not the other, or really in fact all flying insects, especially given their recent catastrophic declines.
- drzaiusx11 6mo agoBeen beekeeping for a couple decades now, and during that short time period I've watched first hand what we're up against to save polinators and insects in general in the coming decades. Overuse of pesticides, a massive decline in foragable land, the unchecked introduction of various predators and associated pathogens from global trade and a warming planet are just a few that come to mind. I tend to agree that the news cycles put too great a focus on honeybees in particular when discussing the decline of pollinators worldwide. However, I understand why the focus is there; they're an easy to point to example that the average person is familiar with, doubly so since most folks use honeybee byproducts regularly. That said, insect populations are declining at a staggering 1-2% year over year rate. 40% of all insect species are endangered. Rates are declining significantly higher in both North America and Europe, concentrated near agricultual centers. There is some truth in honeybees outcompeting native species for increasingly scarce resources, but putting our blame on the honeybee is missing the forest for the trees.