Why exactly are honey bee's dropping like flies?And what can we all do to help them not2become extinct?

Question

Is the price of honey expected to rise a lot within the next yr. or two? or less?

Answer 1

we watched a show on discovery channel. they are not for sure what is causing it yet. hopefully they will soon honey is used to sweeten alot of foods. it takes honey bees to pollinated lots of fruits, flowers and other things so the prices of alot of food items will go up soon. good question

Answer 2

I recently read they have become infected with a parasite (a virus?).

Answer 3

What you are referring to is called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Though it has not been nailed down yet, at least to the needs of those in the industry, it seems to be a generalized and rapid decline in hives, and startling in it's manifestation. From what I am reading, and like all things in life, there are a number of contributing factors to the symptoms. There is an imbalance in natural levels of the almost microscopic mites and associated flora and fauna, to include also, fungi, bacteria and viruses. The general consensus is that the cause may be in the way that hives are maintained and serviced which is chemically intensive and designed to prevent this kind of thing. Also mentioned is the fact that the actual bee itself has been bred; changed by practices that encourage a larger growth in the bee threw breeding and feeding to get that "busy as a bee" to be harder working. Some blame is placed on the farmer whose crops have been  exposed to pesticides of all types, organic and chemical, but even though the bee keeper whose job it is to rent his hives out to the farmer, has taken great care in light of the CCD issue to insure that no farmer is considered that uses unsafe (at least for the bee) practices. They do slip threw the cracks, honestly and well as those that are not so honest, but at this point that does not seem to be high on the list of practical "smoking guns". It has been fairly discounted for the most. It seems that as mentioned at first, it is a combination of all of the above, and of hauling hives all over creation, which is not a natural thing. Two points mentioned seem to be the issue; hive maintenance and bee morphology changes, that of rearing the actual insect. If you include the other environmental issues it all is such a huge stress and I believe there in lies the problem. I pointed out to one of the local universities that they might look into things like aquaculture in the areas near problem hives as the use of huge quantities of antibiotics in the water, the same water as the bees would drink, could be part of the issue, but after a lot of reading into it, it seems as it is, like everything else in life, a lot of small and large issues coming together to cause a HUGE problem, as we depend so heavily on that tiny bee to give us a diverse food supply at a great price. Without them, our food will be very expensive, and the selection will be limited greatly and our diet will be horribly bland. The price of honey will be the least of our concerns without a doubt.

Answer 4

One of the most threatening things to our honey bees is the trachea mite.  This is a small black parasite that builds up in the bees trachea, effectively killing the bee.  These mites can decimate an entire colony.  Another thing killing our honey bees is the "killer bees." These are an African breed of honey bees.  Though similar to look at, their temperament is very tenacious.  The smallest disturbance will send the entire colony on the offensive.  They are moving up from the southwest United States and staying in the warmer climate areas for now.  But eventually they will make their way up the coast and throughout America.  These bees are angry in the nature that they kill our regular honey bees to take their food.  The best way for us to help the honey bees is to have more colonies watched and cared for, while exterminating the killer bees throughout the United States.

Answer 5

sue less chemical

Answer 6

mites