Have you noticed a decline in bees around your area? Honeybees have declined due to several factors. You may say “Good riddance!” But let’s examine this for a moment on terms of impact to you and your family.

What would happen if all the bees were to die off? Imagine a world with no cherries, carrots, pears, watermelons, nuts, apples, potatoes, oranges, avocados and anything else that counts on the pollination process. Bees pollinate fruits, vegetables, the herbs we use to season our foods, nuts, berries, cotton for clothing, clover and alfalfa which is the main food for the cattle industry where we get yogurt, milk, cheese, butter, ice cream, dairy and beef. Coffee beans depend on pollination for increased yields. Think of your morning coffee. There are flowers for our holidays, beeswax which is used in the cosmetic industry, and let us not forget honey! Bees provide pollination for at least 1/3 of what we eat.  

What is causing the decline in the bee population? Some of the causes of this mass extinction can be attributed to humans and the way we grow our crops. One of the main causes are the pesticides that we use to fertilize and treat pests in our crops.
There are also harmful parasites that seem to be impacting our bees. The Varroa Mite is a small mite that reproduces and feeds entirely off the bees and their larvae. Although beekeepers are trying to find organic and safe ways to get rid of the Varroa Mite, once they penetrate the hive, there is usually no hope left for the honeybees. In human terms picture a mite the size of a pancake which attaches itself to you and sucks the blood from you. Other factors contributing to the decline are stress from moving and transporting hives, malnutrition, loss of habitat, disease, wax moth, climate change, herbicides, chemicals and pesticides.
Humans are some of the biggest contributors to the decline. We keep expanding our housing areas and the areas for bees are becoming smaller. They often starve because their food is becoming scarce. We want beautiful lawns so we use pesticides to kill weeds in the our yards which produce flowers that the bees use to survive.

 People often assume the honey bee is aggressive when in fact they are very gentle creatures. Yellow jackets, hornets, and wasps are more likely to sting you and can be very aggressive. People often confuse honey bees with them which give them a bad reputation. If you happen to come across any type of hive the best thing to do is leave it alone. If it needs to be relocated you can contact us or a local bee keeper to help.

Honeybees contribute billions to the value of U.S. crops. We have to change the way we think and realize the importance of our pollinators and help keep them around and healthy! There are many different types of pollinators besides the honey bee. Every one is important. We cannot stand by and let any one type die because we cannot substitute one with another. We must protect them all and we must all do our part to become good stewards of the environment and help all our pollinators flourish.

 How You Can Help

“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”
— Albert Einstein

As much as this is an animal conservation issue, this is equally a human conservation issue. People have tried to pollinate plants without bees and have been unsuccessful. There are many actions that can be taken to help and restore the bee population.

• Become a beekeeper. Click here to see our new hive in action.  Check back in the near future for our instructional video on building your on bee hive.
• Plant bee-friendly plants such as wild flowers and flowering trees
• Don’t use pesticides and herbicide on your garden or yards plants. There are many organic substitutes.
• Purchase organic foods whenever possible.
• Be good to bees.
• Watch the documentary,  “Vanishing of the Bees”
• Help make “bee roads”

Spread the word and inform others!