How can I help contribute [volunteer help]4 the bee colony situation we face globally?

Question

Well heard there was some commercial where they 'train ppl for free' and both children and adults can help.

It probably requires regular work right?

But WHAT IF you don't have a lot of property? can I still be a bee keeper?

Someone online has a webpage and they actually keep bees on a ROOF TOP!

Can you just buy a swarm of bees locally? then set up?

I know nothing about "keeping bees" tho recently have read a lot abt the subject generally [types of honey bees ect ect]

pls HELP!!

thanks!! : O)

Answer 1

You can read up on them on the net and you can get good information on starting up and raising bees from your Extension County Agent. If you live in an area where you can't raise bees, you can find a farm near by that would welcome your hive/hives on his place to pollinate his crops. Share a jar or two of the honey with him. It would be better if you could find an organic grower, but most farmers know the value of bees and will use care around them.

Answer 2

To start, I would read about what people think are the causes of the honeybees death or disappearance.  Maybe you could make people aware of how their actions affect the bee loss and how that could be changed.  Some people think cell or mobile phones have an effect so I don't know if I would put a hive on a roof!

Answer 3

before you do anything buy some books on Bee Keeping and know it will cost about $500 to buy the equipment plus another $90 or so for a swarm of bees and a queen.

You might be able to buy a swarm locally but you will probably have to go through a commercial outfit. And it might be too late to get a package of bees for 2008. Most bee keepers order around Jan 1st and usually by late Feb the bees are sold out.

Find a Bee school in your state. These are usually 1 or 2 day workshops put on by the state extension people. Ohio holds several every year. Contact you County Extension agent to get the contact info for the Bee inspector, every county in the USA must have a Bee inspector by federal law . the bee inspector will be a huge help to you.

Bees take quite a bit of work and you will get stung. They are fascinating and it takes almost no room to set up a hive or two. That said, your neighbors will not be amused by your bees and you will have to do a lot of PR on their behalf.

Oh and the best thing you can do to help the European Honey bees as well as the hundreds of species of native bees (which are more important pollinators than the non native honey bee but not commercially important) is to quit using all pesticides. Insecticides are likely in the top 5 of reasons why the honey bee is having a hard time.

Answer 4

put the big bee suit on .

Answer 5

Not knowing where you are or what your level of education is, consider this:

Get some material on Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). The latest research, in short, indicated that it seems to be the result of how keepers maintain and distribute hives, the bee variety and the degree in which they have been manipulated (breeding and forced growth practices), as well as the huge number of environmental concerns. So much focus has been on one part of the puzzle or another here and there but it is the broader picture that seems the issue, as with all things in life and this world. The tracheal mites, elevated bacteria, fungus, and virus levels, empty hives, are all symptoms of the problem in short. So...

Get involved at your local college/ university and take some courses, and get into a graduate research program that is looking into CCD. Even undergraduates get involved. And finally, search out local keepers and spend some time with them. If you like it you may even be able to trade labor for your own hives. As a minimum you can keep the issue of CCD in mind and do what ever you can to preserve and protect your share of the environment, a pact we all have with Mother Nature.

Answer 6

thanks for the reminder,im going to make one bee hive soon and place it in the woods,or forest