Honey bees have existed for millions of years and supplied honey for the human race since the Stone Age, but there is great concern that their benefits to the world will be diminished, if not lost. However, with a little help from homeowners and other concerned citizens there is hope for their future—and ours.
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Once thought to be native to South Asia and the South East Asia subregion, recent studies indicate honey bees may also be native to Africa and probably all continents except North America. Cave drawings also indicate that early humans recognized the value of honey.
As humans learned to domesticate honey bees the art of beekeeping grew, and today they also provide us with beeswax, propolis (a bee glue used in cosmetics and health supplements) and pollination services.
Though several species exist, only two have been domesticated (the Egyptians were among the first to do so), and only one (Apis mellifera) is used extensively for domestic honey production and pollination.
An average well-managed domestic hive will hold 50,000 bees (sometimes as high as 80,000) in mid-summer. Bees from one hive can gather up to 80 pounds of pollen, and produce well over 100 pounds of honey annually.
Honey bees generally visit flowers to collect pollen, their source of protein, and in the process are responsible for about 80 percent of all insect pollination. This service is valued in the billions of dollars, and without it many commercial and home-grown food crops would be greatly reduced.
In 2007, honey bees made the news because a disturbing number (30 to 70 percent) of North American European hives collapsed. This sudden, unprecedented decline was named colony collapse disorder (CCD). Researchers have not found a specific cause, but many scientists suspect a combination of factors rather than a single pathogen or poison. This may include loss of habitat, changes in agricultural practices, new viruses and pathogens, extreme weather during the past decade which resulted in impaired protein (pollen) production, and the possible synergistic effects of any combination of these factors.
A decline in beekeeping is another contributing factor to the population decline that has been taking place since the 1950s,.
“For many years the cause of decline was economic in nature and tied to the availability of other sweeteners on the market,”...caused many people to stop using honey as a home sweetener.
“With relatively cheap sweetener prices, we no longer consume much honey on a per-person basis—less than 2 pounds per year,” he said. “On the other hand, we consume more than 100 pounds of refined sugars and HFCS per person and some estimates are much higher than that.
“This caused honey prices for many years to stay so low as to make it difficult to make a living and many commercial beekeepers gave up their operations,” he adds.
Compounding that problem are the health issues of honey bees. “In the last 20 years we have had two new parasitic mites come into the country, and the varroa mite vectors as many as 17 to 20 different viruses that affect honey bee health,” he continues. This has increased the cost of keeping bees alive, resulting in additional beekeepers giving up this important work for jobs in other fields.
“Without a corresponding rise in pollinating fees over the past 15 years or so, many of the larger beekeepers that are still in existence would likely have gone out of business as well,” Tucker says.
... homeowners can still help protect these amazing and economically important creatures.
“The main thing homeowners can do is provide plantings of beneficial flowers that bloom during the full season to provide nectar for honey bees and all native pollinators.”
“The second thing is to educate the public to accept a lower level of perfection in their yards and gardens and use less herbicides and pesticides that can affect pollinators,” he continues. “It is not a good thing to treat our lawns to remove clovers and even dandelions that provide nectar to bees. While it makes for a less perfect looking lawn, it is more natural and beneficial to the bees.”
According to Tucker, white clovers and native wild flowers, trees and shrubs that provide lots of pollen and nectar are wonderful additions to yards and landscapes. Shrubs such as spirea, currents, blackberries, blueberries and even honeysuckle are great choices. Beneficial trees include all fruit-producing and ornamental varieties such as Bradford pears and black locusts.
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So, what’s the course of action if a swarm of honey bees show up on its own? Because they can pose a threat to people and animals, and because the swarm may be the more aggressive strain of Africanized honey bees, Tucker suggests calling a local beekeeper to have them removed.
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