I'm a small beekeeper in eastern France, I hear those speeches every year over and over, though I'm having single digit losses for years now .. Those massive losses are largely due to bad practices. You set the scene in the intro ; "going after late honey and high mite counts" = too late mite treatment, colony collapse ...
I’ve known about much of what you’re talking about having kept bees for numerous decades, but this chat brought everything together regarding the industry. Valuable info for hobbyists to commercial and everything in between. Thanks!
#1 I think is the chemicals that are being sprayed on the crops. Even the ones at night. I'm not saying there are other things but I think this is just one the HUGE issues with Bee die offs. The fact that there are resistant plants to Round up, lovely cancer chemicals that big pharma thinks is ok :(
Interesting. I'm a small beekeeper in NC and my loses are very low....single digits. Mr. Heitkam stated his loses are also lower than what he's hearing from many other beekeepers. I think a big difference is in what I call the beekeeper to hive ratio. Us small guys spend much more time/hive than a commercial guy can. But even in a commercial outfit, there is still a ratio based on the # of hives and the # of your crew. I'd like to see a graph comparing this ratio to hive loss. Probably not possible, but I think it would be telling.....IMHO. All hives are NOT created equal. Great video....thank you!!!!
This data was provided in the August edition of American Bee Journal I believe. I know the “Hive Doctor” mentioned it on his video not that long ago and showed the graph.
Thanks for your thoughts. I thought his comments about newer beekeepers being more agile on some of these issues was also interesting. We had a great podcast a long while back on small diversified beekeeping with John Gates that talks about how a smaller operation can also be profitable. Notably Harry also runs less than 1,000 colonies, which is considered small. ua-cam.com/video/aSpPvYhhC_g/v-deo.html
@@coincollector315 A the “Hive Doctor”? Didn't he just loose all his hives? I noticed this summer that we didn't see any strong hives and quite a few of them didn't have been in the boxes. Definitely an iffy source. Stick with commercial Keepers for information. Bob Binnie, Ian Steppler for northern beekeepers. A lot of Kamon Reynolds earlier videos.
Hobbyists and sideliners continue to show great improvement. This is only positive news for the market availability of rigorous and vital queen stocks that can shift the capacity of commercial to adapt better genetics.
I went to a hobby beekeeper from a sideliner. I got hit this summer with we don't what. We're thinking some kind of aerial spray. I lost everything but two colonies. Then the beetles moved in and destroyed what I had left. My two colonies I think will survive winter and I'll be doing heavy splitting in spring if I can. I'll be forced to by queens which I haven't done in years It's frustrating to a point where I may give it up. I need to move my colonies to upstate Pa where the spraying is minimized
I live on the east coast and the bee keepers in our area have had more losses this fall than normal. I think this year is going to be challenging for beekeepers. Our weather was hot and dry this summer could be a factor but don’t really know. Good luck with your bees.
A drought is not going to stimulate the hive with little to no pollen or nectar coming in, causing no fall hive build up. If fall mite counts are also high combined with no build up leads to a hive collapse. It's better to stimulate feed and treat for mites in the summer after the flow is over and honey supers are removed. The hives will be large size going into winter. Make sure a hive is heavy with stores for the winter.
Mite levels are typically very low to almost undetectable in the early spring. They grow exponentially as the season progresses and can reach critical mass as queens ramp down egg laying late in the summer. The wild card, though, that makes fall and winter bee health so unpredictable is the level of viruses that mites vector and can vary widely from year to year.
Yep, this describes the reasons why bees are suffering...treating bees like cattle only helps the bottom line for this type of beekeeping and helps spread the scourge of sick bees around the country after being used for Almonds. What is killing bees? It's always been us.....some of us more than others.
if you are disparaging Russell you obviously don't know the man , his legacy , and definitely do not the have a clue as to the way he operates. His diagnosis and the honest prognostications is spot on. if you lived and survived the 05/06 crashes as I did ( that was scary). you would have a bit of empathy and a bit of an understanding that the signs that have hit before are here again. see what you say next June.
@@philhofland5501 Like Russell said it is this monoculture agriculture business model that is the issue. MA is BAD. bad for the bees and bad for the environment and bad for humanity. As all farmers now it just takes a few things to go wrong and poof it all goes down the drain. For a point of reference from the not to distant past one only has to look at the Irish Potato Famine.
You mean dicambia, atrizine, paraquat, neonics are killing bees. The beekeepers and the hive are a symbiosis. Without 1 you would not have the other it’s been this way for 10,000+ years.
They already have them the problem is they are a smaller almond and produce 2/3 less. You still need the bee dumbass other it would $30 a pound instead of $8.
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I'm a small beekeeper in eastern France, I hear those speeches every year over and over, though I'm having single digit losses for years now ..
Those massive losses are largely due to bad practices.
You set the scene in the intro ; "going after late honey and high mite counts" = too late mite treatment, colony collapse ...
I’ve known about much of what you’re talking about having kept bees for numerous decades, but this chat brought everything together regarding the industry. Valuable info for hobbyists to commercial and everything in between. Thanks!
#1 I think is the chemicals that are being sprayed on the crops. Even the ones at night. I'm not saying there are other things but I think this is just one the HUGE issues with Bee die offs. The fact that there are resistant plants to Round up, lovely cancer chemicals that big pharma thinks is ok :(
Interesting. I'm a small beekeeper in NC and my loses are very low....single digits. Mr. Heitkam stated his loses are also lower than what he's hearing from many other beekeepers. I think a big difference is in what I call the beekeeper to hive ratio. Us small guys spend much more time/hive than a commercial guy can. But even in a commercial outfit, there is still a ratio based on the # of hives and the # of your crew. I'd like to see a graph comparing this ratio to hive loss. Probably not possible, but I think it would be telling.....IMHO. All hives are NOT created equal. Great video....thank you!!!!
This data was provided in the August edition of American Bee Journal I believe. I know the “Hive Doctor” mentioned it on his video not that long ago and showed the graph.
@@coincollector315 Thanks. Curious to see the data.
Thanks for your thoughts. I thought his comments about newer beekeepers being more agile on some of these issues was also interesting. We had a great podcast a long while back on small diversified beekeeping with John Gates that talks about how a smaller operation can also be profitable. Notably Harry also runs less than 1,000 colonies, which is considered small. ua-cam.com/video/aSpPvYhhC_g/v-deo.html
@@coincollector315 A the “Hive Doctor”? Didn't he just loose all his hives? I noticed this summer that we didn't see any strong hives and quite a few of them didn't have been in the boxes. Definitely an iffy source. Stick with commercial Keepers for information. Bob Binnie, Ian Steppler for northern beekeepers. A lot of Kamon Reynolds earlier videos.
Hobbyists and sideliners continue to show great improvement. This is only positive news for the market availability of rigorous and vital queen stocks that can shift the capacity of commercial to adapt better genetics.
I went to a hobby beekeeper from a sideliner. I got hit this summer with we don't what. We're thinking some kind of aerial spray. I lost everything but two colonies. Then the beetles moved in and destroyed what I had left. My two colonies I think will survive winter and I'll be doing heavy splitting in spring if I can. I'll be forced to by queens which I haven't done in years It's frustrating to a point where I may give it up. I need to move my colonies to upstate Pa where the spraying is minimized
I live on the east coast and the bee keepers in our area have had more losses this fall than normal. I think this year is going to be challenging for beekeepers. Our weather was hot and dry this summer could be a factor but don’t really know. Good luck with your bees.
Thank you - let's hope for a good winter to keep winter losses to a minimum.
A drought is not going to stimulate the hive with little to no pollen or nectar coming in, causing no fall hive build up. If fall mite counts are also high combined with no build up leads to a hive collapse. It's better to stimulate feed and treat for mites in the summer after the flow is over and honey supers are removed. The hives will be large size going into winter. Make sure a hive is heavy with stores for the winter.
After watching the first few minutes it really sounds like it’s how they are managing the bees
Answered alot of my questions
money make the wrong right, right....wrong. Just because we can doesn't mean we should.
How is European bees doing comparing with American. I heard Europe using less pesticides
California is probably where all these nights came from.
Who waits until August to check mite levels? Should be more like March/April. It's not the mites - its their viruses.
Thanks for your thoughts. I think what was implied is that the check in August had high mites, not that a spring check didn't take place.
Mite levels are typically very low to almost undetectable in the early spring. They grow exponentially as the season progresses and can reach critical mass as queens ramp down egg laying late in the summer. The wild card, though, that makes fall and winter bee health so unpredictable is the level of viruses that mites vector and can vary widely from year to year.
well think we are depending on a few mite treatments the mites build resistance after 18 years
Right!!!!!!
I don’t blame ya one of them big growers go bankrupt it will fuck you be scared and I don’t blame you to ask for upfront payments smart move
Bring on self-pollinating almonds!!
Yep, this describes the reasons why bees are suffering...treating bees like cattle only helps the bottom line for this type of beekeeping and helps spread the scourge of sick bees around the country after being used for Almonds. What is killing bees? It's always been us.....some of us more than others.
if you are disparaging Russell you obviously don't know the man , his legacy , and definitely do not the have a clue as to the way he operates.
His diagnosis and the honest prognostications is spot on.
if you lived and survived the 05/06 crashes as I did ( that was scary). you would have a bit of empathy and a bit of an understanding that the signs that have hit before are here again.
see what you say next June.
I raise chickens and don't care what Perdue does. Same with bees. Bring on self-pollinating almonds!
@@philhofland5501 Like Russell said it is this monoculture agriculture business model that is the issue. MA is BAD. bad for the bees and bad for the environment and bad for humanity. As all farmers now it just takes a few things to go wrong and poof it all goes down the drain. For a point of reference from the not to distant past one only has to look at the Irish Potato Famine.
You mean dicambia, atrizine, paraquat, neonics are killing bees. The beekeepers and the hive are a symbiosis. Without 1 you would not have the other it’s been this way for 10,000+ years.
They already have them the problem is they are a smaller almond and produce 2/3 less. You still need the bee dumbass other it would $30 a pound instead of $8.
The grasshoppers were a little more bad this year.
I’m really glade to see this I am up in Canada and they are even asking us to ship bees down lol I don’t think it’s worth it
We have a commercial beekeeper from Saskatchewan coming on the show soon. Stay tuned.
Is this a joke?
If you think it's a joke google United States Honey Bee Colony Losses 2023-24 and read it.
The only joke is the department of agriculture.