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Tuesday, June 19, 2007 Home | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | FAQ | Contact Us WEATHER FOR MEDFORD: SUNNY 59� To save the bees A 13-year-old's award-winning essay suggests the die-off comes from feeding them too much corn syrup and trucking them long distances to pollinate crops Text Size: A | A | A Print this Article Email this Article Respond to this Article Share Photo 1 of 1 | Zoom Photo + Kelton Shockey, 13, of Applegate won a national award for his essay on how to keep bees from colony collapse disorder. Roy Musitelli By By john darling for the Mail Tribune June 19, 2007 If the prize-winning 4-H essay of an Applegate boy is anywhere near the mark, the die-off of bees in the Rogue Valley and across the world may have a simple, common-sense solution. Kelton Shockey, 13, says the bees are tuckered out and stressed from too much feeding on corn syrup and too much trucking around the country to pollinate orchards. In his 1,300-word essay, which won him a $250 prize and publication in Beeline, a beekeeper's magazine, Kelton argues that harvesting all the bees' honey and feeding them corn or sugar syrup is weakening their immunity to natural pests and diseases. "Is feeding the bees sugar the equivalent of feeding them 'junk food?' " Shockey asks in his essay. "... Corn syrup does not have any minerals in it, whereas honey is very high in minerals. "Could our bees be becoming weakened from lack of minerals, making them prone to diseases and pests?" Colony collapse disorder � in which bees leave the hive and don't come back � has been reported in the last two years in 35 states, Europe, Brazil and India and has wiped out the majority of hives belonging to several Rogue Valley beekeepers. The issue is especially threatening to humans because at least a third of our food requires pollinating by bees. The home-schooled resident of Thompson Creek Road acknowledges the usual suspects in colony collapse disorder � pesticides, herbicides, loss of plant diversity and increase in diseases and parasites, especially the varroa mite � but makes a plea for the common-sense solution that bees were meant to live on honey and thrive in a familiar ecological niche. "In nature, honey bees are a home-based society," he says. "For years a hive is one location. The colony lives on year after year like a well-functioning village. ... This 'village' idea does not exist in contemporary practice. Bees from other colonies can be introduced, swarms are discouraged and queens come from elsewhere. The colony is moved sometimes hundreds of miles. "Does turning a very home-based agricultural species into a nomadic-based one contribute to spreading disease? Can the stress factor of movement from original location as well as mixing the populations of colonies cause the weakening of the hive?" Shockey's essay, "Stay-at-home Bees: Some Thoughts on Conserving Pollinators," won first place in the American Beekeeping Federation National 4-H Essay Contest, where it was judged for accuracy, scope of research, creativity, conciseness and logical development of the topic, according to an Oregon State University Extension Service news release. Shockey has learned about bees the hard way, losing hives to bears and winter freezes. He practices natural beekeeping, letting broods keep all the honey they need and making them build at least half their own honeycombs, so they develop strength and adaptability, he says. And, of course, they stay in their local habitat. Large-scale commercial bee operators truck hives thousands of miles to the olive groves of California, then apple orchards of Washington and many other places. They take all the bees' honey, feed them sugar syrups or corn syrups and give them completed honeycomb foundations, eliminating that hive-building work, Shockey says. "Perhaps we should observe the nature of the bee's behavior and design methods that will work with it to strengthen the hive," he suggests in his essay. Kirsten Shockey, his mother and main teacher, is an avid student of nutrition and farming. She says, "Corn syrup is starving us. It's in so many foods. So why wouldn't it be starving the bees? It fills us and we think we're full but the body is still hungry." She also says she suspects genetically modified organisms in pollen may be confusing bees and blocking tracking abilities that allow them to find their way home. A team of scientists from the University of Montana, Penn State and U.S. Department of Agriculture in Virginia has been trying to find the source and cure of colony collapse disorder, but Jerry Bromenshenk of University of Montana, in an interview, said, "Nope, we don't know (the causes)." However, after a survey of beekeepers this spring, Bromenshenk says he can safely disagree with Shockey � you can't blame the corn syrup. Among beekeepers, he reports, about half used corn syrup and half didn't. The same goes for sucrose syrup and Drivert, a mixture of sucrose and fructose. As for turning the bees into workaholics with long commutes, Bromenshenk says Shockey may have something. "There's no hard data. Bees evolved to live in trees and trees don't move around. There's definitely been a dramatic increase in the frequency of trucking them around. They get trucked all the way across the U.S. It could be stressful," says Bromenshenk. Colony collapse disorder could be a single issue, such as pesticides or toxins, Bromenshenk adds, or (as Shockey wrote) the accumulation of stresses, one piled on top of another. Bromenshenk dismisses news stories implicating genetically modified organisms and cell-phone radiation as causes of colony collapse disorder, noting that the radiation story has since been retracted and that studies by his work group show genetically modified organisms to be a "highly unlikely" cause of colony collapse disorder. Shockey doesn't pretend to have the final answers. He concludes his essay with this: "The problem must be acted upon, no matter what the solution. We as keepers and stewards of the bees must help them now if future generations are to experience the benefits of the honeybee. We must do all we can to insure the survival of these pollinators even if it means re-thinking the way we have approached the problem up until now." John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org. Comments? Dear John:Thanks for the great article. I noticed it for 3 reasons. 1, it came out on top in my news search. 2, your name, like mine, is darling. 3, i had an old wooden crate with rogue valley pears in my attic in buffalo. CCD is a vitally important topic. scripture says : when God wishes to punish a nation, HE cuts it's staff of bread. Those BEEs just might be being Raptured...!wouldn't that be a joke on Mankind?The Gospels also say "preach the gospel to every creature. Christian Farmers, take note! Chuck Darling www.geocities.com/chuckdarling2007/bees Edited 9:29 AM by ChuckDarling
Vanishing bees pose problem Beekeepers gather for MCC symposium By SARAH SUTSCHEK - ssutschek@nwherald.com Comments (3 comment(s)) CRYSTAL LAKE � Without bees, Larry Krengel says, it would cost a lot more for a McDonald�s hamburger. Bees pollinate alfalfa, which is fed to the cows used for burgers, said Krengel, who keeps about 30 colonies at the Hawk Hill Bee Farm in Marengo. Krengel and about 200 other interested people gathered Saturday at McHenry County College for the 2007 Midwest Beekeeping Symposium. �One-third of the food you eat is pollinated by bees,� said Bill Buckley, who keeps eight colonies in Willowbrook. �Every third mouthful, you should think about bees.� Availability of foods such as melons, strawberries, cranberries, blueberries and almonds would decline without the work of bees, Krengel said. But bees around the nation are in trouble, said Jerry Bromenshenk of the University of Montana, who was the symposium�s keynote speaker. Bromenshenk is a top researcher of a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder, in which bees mysteriously are disappearing. There have been no confirmed cases of CCD in Illinois, but it has appeared in Wisconsin, Krengel said. In colonies with CCD, the forager bees leave and do not return, Krengel said. �Then you don�t have the critical mass to keep the brood healthy so they can survive,� he said. The disorder presents many challenges to the beekeepers and researchers fighting it, including the nomenclature. Bromenshenk argues that CCD has been around for decades under different names, including �disappearing disease� and �summer dwindle.� But there is very little dwindling going on with CCD. It can cause entire operations to collapse in two weeks, and in some cases as fast as a few days, Bromenshenk said. �One time you look at your bees and they�re just fine, and another time � boom � there�s empty boxes,� he said. Bromenshenk said CCD couldn�t quite be called a disease, either, because the cause still is unknown and could be related to a pesticide. Another challenge is that there are few people who have seen the vanishing act, and after the colony has collapsed, there is little or no buildup of dead bees in or around the hive, Bromenshenk said. Bromenshenk compared investigating the cause of CCD to performing an autopsy without a body. �Much of what we�re looking for went out the door,� he said. Bromenshenk�s team conducted a national survey that yielded 639 completed surveys from 43 states. About half of the respondents said their loss of bees over the previous 16 months was low or average, but about 40 percent said their loss was severe, Bromenshenk said. �We used to think 10 percent loss per year was terrible,� he said. �Now we�ve got 40 percent of the people saying they�ve had 75 percent loss. That�s drastic.� Severe loss also could be attributed to overwintering, pesticides, mites and disease, but in the severe cases, it was more likely to be called CCD, Bromenshenk said. �Are we looking at anything new today, or are we seeing a repeat of history?� he said. �I think it�s probably something old. I think we�ve seen it before.� Krengel remains optimistic about stopping CCD. �We have a lot of high-tech people that are interested in this,� he said. �There is a solution; it�s just a matter of finding it.�
?? hmmm. april 27... Missing Bees, Cell Phones and Fulfillment of Bible Prophecy Contact: Steven L. Sherman, 727-647-6467 MEDIA ADVISORY, April 27 /Christian Newswire/ -- Bees have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Learn how these missing bees relate to the use of cell phones, and the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes in January 2007 and found half of his 100 million bees missing. In 24 states throughout the United States, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation's most profitable. Pennsylvania beekeeper Dave Hackenberg was the first beekeeper to report to bee researchers what's become known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). The sudden mysterious losses are highlighting the critical link that honeybees play in the long chain that gets fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables across the country. Beekeepers have fought regional bee crises before, but this is the first national affliction. A Cornell University study has estimated that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States, mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts. "Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food," said Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation. The bee losses are ranging from 30 to 60 percent on the West Coast, with some beekeepers on the East Coast and in Texas reporting losses of more than 70 percent; beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent in the off season to be normal. It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail. They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well. The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously home-loving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly, far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives. CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned. The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left". No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and GM crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks. German research has long shown that bees' behavior changes near power lines. Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a "hint" to a possible cause. Revelation 6:6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!" Although the Bible plainly speaks of great famine in the last days, the prophetic words of Revelation 6:6 states that the olive and grape harvest will not be damaged. In general, breeders have assumed that grapes were either completely self- fertilizing or were cross-pollinated by wind, so that in either case insects were considered of no value. The grape harvest will not be affected by the missing bee population. Bees and other insects play a minor role in olive pollination; wind moves most of the pollen from tree to tree. Most olive varieties are self-fertile, but increased production often results from cross pollination. And neither will the olive harvest be affected by CCD. Grape and olive oil production will only be minimally impacted by Colony Collapse Disorder while much of the fruit, vegetable and nut production will be severely reduced resulting in famine. These end time biblical prophecies are coming to pass within our own lifetimes demonstrating once again that the Word of God is true and to be trusted. To learn more about end times, THE LAST DAYS CALENDAR: Understanding God's Appointed Times is a "must" read. To learn more about the Appointed Feasts of Israel and their relationaship to the return of Christ or to order this book on line, go to: http://lastdayscalendar.net. To order from the publisher by phone, call: 1 (877) 421-READ. To contact the author for a personal appearance, debate, or prophecy conference email: LDaysCal@aol.com or call (727) 647-6467.
