Many of you have commented that we have not been posting on our blog. As you can see from our last post in January, 2013, this is true. Chris is inherently lazy. But, with the help of his daughter-in-law, Jen (that’s me), we are going to endeavor to post on a weekly bases thoughts that we think might be pertinent to you. At least, they are interesting to us. 

Since our first semi-load of bees arrived in October, and since we began inspection, we have observed large clusters of summer-age bees. However, very few of the colonies were in any stage of brood rearing. Also, we noticed a lack of stored fall pollen. I felt that this was unusual seeing as how most of the colonies had robust populations and the weather in Wisconsin in September was some of the mildest we have had for several seasons. Also, we had an abundance of Golden Rod and Asters blooming that it appeared the bees did not take advantage of.

     That being said, this is the thought that I want to put out there. Our bees in Wisconsin are kept in rural locations and have access to a lot of wild forest in the Kettle Moraine and a lot of uncultivated fallow land full of wild flowers. The bees, however, are exposed to wheat, soy beans, and corn. My hypothesis is that during combining, especially of the wheat and soy beans, forging bees are exposed in the field either directly or indirectly to these toxic dust clouds composed predominantly of neonicotinoid laced plant cellulose. This occurs through surface contact on flowers adjacent to the fields of grain, or by actually flying through the dust cloud on the way to patches of wild flowers. Ninety percent of the dust cloud produced by the combine is made up of plant cellulose and not the soil as is often the contention by those who would argue the danger of these clouds. If you doubt this, walk out into a field in late August or September that is being combined and check the soil yourself. Yes, sometimes it is dry and contributes to the dust, but more often than not, it is damp from the frequent showers we receive at that time of year and not capable of producing dust. In fact, I have seen combines that are expelling this dust cloud lumbering through muddy ruts. No soil dust there.

     The seeds of the wheat, soy bean, and corn, are inoculated with the neonicotinoid insecticide by the seed companies  prior to planting and the insecticide then replicated itself throughout the life of the plant in all of the cell structures including the stem and leaves which make up most of the dust. It would seem this dust would be of no concern as bees are not attracted to it. But think about it for a moment, we are not attracted to smog or second-hand cigarette smoke, but being exposed to it causes all kinds of health issues, doesn’t it?

      So, this is my thought, and I’d like you to comment. Are our bees being exposed to second-hand clouds of insecticide that is affecting the ability of late seasoned bees to further function as a hive and go into the winter as a healthy super-organism? After all, when you speak to pesticide experts, they will tell you that the beauty of the neonicotinoid is the way it interferes with the target insect’s neuro-receptors in its little brain. This causes it to malfunction in either its breeding or feeding program dooming it and its potential future progeny and thus protecting the crop that has been treated.

     If a colonies brood production is interrupted or halted all together during the summer or early fall, then it stands to reason the colony goes into winter with bees that are older than is intended by nature. Also, if the bee is in a state of confused stupor, which I maintain is common in the field bee cast that has been exposed to these toxins in the field, it will no longer forage for pollen because they cannot find it or do not know to look for it, the hive becomes nutritionally challenged. This lack of stored pollen equates to a lack of nutrition time bomb, coupled with the drop off in young bees that would normally be physiologically matched for the long winter of dormancy. This is what I think is causing much of the rapid colony collapse seen throughout much of the Midwest this last season and periodically over the last few years.

     I know that in the case of our bees, we have the Varroa mites always on our radar screen and throughout the season we are screening for mite loads and treating to keep the mite threshold low. Some beekeepers are not as conscience as others when it comes to monitoring and controlling this vicious pest, but assuming you are doing a good job, and you are not seeing identifiable symptoms of Varroa-vectored viruses in your hive, but you are experiencing similar unexplainable population collapse to what I describe above. Well, let’s talk about the possibilities.

     For those who are confused by all this beekeeper terminology, I will sum everything up in a short paragraph. Through last year’s observations, we have concluded (or at least we strongly believe) that the pesticides used on the crops surrounding our beehives cause a neurological malfunction to our bees. Because crops are harvested during the same time of year that hives are preparing winter bees, this causes a severe reduction in not only the number of bees per hive, but the productivity of the bees. We believe that the reaction of the foraging bees to the insecticides contribute strongly to colony collapse disorder.