The Innumerable Likely Causes Of Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

The Innumerable Likely Causes Of Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

Beekeepers have always suffered losses of their honey bees but in the olden times those losses were slow and the beekeeper was always able to discover the cause, usually a bacteria, mite or some other pathogen and take useful action. Not so with colony collapse disorder, (sometimes called colony collapse syndrome or colony collapse disease). With colony collapse disease more domesticated bees are dying faster with no clear reason and because only the queen and a few workers are left alive the colony dies.

The disappearing bees is still a mystery. As yet there has been no firm proof to point to any one cause for their demise. This has led to the theory that there is more than one cause to colony collapse disorder (CCD). Probable causes are:

Genetically modified crops

An experiment carried out by a beekeeper, John McDonald, seems to suggest that genetically modified crops could be the cause of colony collapse disorder. He placed eight bee colonies in a place where the honey bees would have no interaction with genetically modified crops and an equal number of bee hives on farms that grew GMO's. At the end of the season in October the results of the honey collecting of both sets of honeybees was examined. The results between the two sets of bee colonies were very different.

The eight non-GMO honey bee colonies produced 150 pounds of honey, per hive, in the over-wintering brood supers. Plus, between them, the 8 colonies produced 200 pounds of extra honey. The farm honey bees, on the other hand, had produced no extra honey and had not even packed the over-wintering brood supers. These farm honey bees will require feeding in order to outlive the winter.

Pesticides

The pesticide believed to be the main culprit in causing colony collapse disorder is nicotine-based Clothianidin, an insecticide in the neonicotinoid family. In Germany researchers found that 99 percent of dead bees had high levels of Clothianidin in their bodies. As a result the 7 pesticides in the neonicotinoid family have been provisionally banned.

In the US imidacloprid seems to be the pesticide causing the most colony collapse disease. For example in North Dakota one third of colonies died after imidacloprid was used on oil seed rape.

Mobile phones

Is the electromagnetic radiation given off by mobile phobes interfering with the bee's navigation system thus preventing the honey bees from sorting out their way back to the hive. Some research carried out by Dr Jochen Kuhn shows that honey bees do not like going back to their hives when a cell phone is situated near the bee hive. If honeybees are trying to dodge cell phone radiation then this could answer why they are getting lost and incapable of finding their way home.

Food

Bees normally use natural material like pollen, sap, nectar, or other botanical materials, for conversion into honey. When beekeepers take away this honey, which the bees would normally ingest over winter, and replace it with High Fructose Corn Syrup a natural raw food is being replaced with a highly processed dead food. High Fructose Corn Syrup is lacking in the many minerals and vitamins found in honey so the honeybees are forced to eat inferior food which results in their impoverished health and damaged immune systems.

So what is the cause of bee colony collapse disorder. Probably a combination of all of the above though GMOs, and the neonicotinoid pesticides, seem to be the main factors which has caused the dramatic increase in bees disappearing.

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