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US Beekeepers Lost 40% of Bees in 2014-15

posted by CoolHand on Friday May 15 2015, @03:46AM   
from the bee-in-a-bonnet dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

The bees keep dying:

Beekeepers across the United States lost more than 40 percent of their honey bee colonies during the year spanning April 2014 to April 2015, according to the latest results of an annual nationwide survey. While winter loss rates improved slightly compared to last year, summer losses--and consequently, total annual losses--were more severe. Commercial beekeepers were hit particularly hard by the high rate of summer losses, which outstripped winter losses for the first time in five years, stoking concerns over the long-term trend of poor health in honey bee colonies.

The survey, which asks both commercial and small-scale beekeepers to track the health and survival rates of their honey bee colonies, is conducted each year by the Bee Informed Partnership in collaboration with the Apiary Inspectors of America, with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). A summary of the 2014-2015 results is available upon request prior to May 13, 2015; thereafter the results will be added to previous years' results publicly available on the Bee Informed website.

Of course, thanks to the good Doctor we know bees are actually disappearing in anticipation of the Earth being stolen from space by Davros.

• Plant lavender and allow wild flowers Plant lavender and allow wild flowers (Score: 4, Insightful) by bootsy on Friday May 15 2015, @08:46AM

  by bootsy (3440) on Friday May 15 2015, @08:46AM (#183281)

  You can help bees by planting flowers that they feed upon naturally. Lavender is a good one for this but stop your local council or municipality from mowing down grass on side verges as if you leave it then all the wild flowers just grow naturally helping the bees find food. This also helps solitary bees that do not live in hives.

  Pesticides may not be helping but the needless destruction of their food source doesn't help either.

  Starting Score:	1		point
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• Re:Plant lavender and allow wild flowers Re:Plant lavender and allow wild flowers (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2015, @12:56PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2015, @12:56PM (#183310)

  I'm honestly amazed at the amount of effort spent on mowing lawns in the US.
  especially since the result is just plainly unnatural.

  Parent

  • Re:Plant lavender and allow wild flowers (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2015, @01:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2015, @01:03PM (#183319)

    same with brushing teeth

    Parent