Collecting Wild Honey

[HomeBru]

CCD is a hot topic among bee keepers. There are lots of fingers being pointed, but no concrete, definitive evidence. IMO, from the research I've read, it's a "perfect storm" of genetics, pesticides, herbicides, and medicines used in the commercial honey business.

Africanized Honey Bees (a.k.a. killer bees) are an aggressive cross between an African strain and a commercial strain that "escaped" from a research station in Brazil. They were trying to develop a stronger strain while breeding out the aggressiveness of the African strain. Fortunately for those of us in the north, they don't like winter. (They haven't developed the strength to fly over to HI either)

There is a movement among concerned bee keepers to search out and capture swarms of feral (wild) bees with the belief that natural selection will help to produce stronger genetics in their bee yards.

J-

 

[Jason M D.]

Years ago I watched a show about a very primitive tribe in the African jungle that showed how they collected honey. The guy used a vine wrapped around the tree as a harness and climbed a VERY tall, large tree barefoot. Once at the nest, he chopped a hole in the trunk to get at the nest. He had a bundle of green leaves with embers in it to smoke the hive. He was perched at least 100 ft off the ground (probably much higher), with essentially no clothes and a primitive smoker, sitting on a single vine wrapped once around the tree. Obviously, he was stung. But I guess they really wanted the honey. He got several baskets full of comb loaded with honey. It was impressive.

I saw something very similar or the same thing. I was thinking, uh, no thank you.

I sure live a sheltered life.

 

[Joezilla]

I had thought that some of the problems with the bees was a tracheal mite that was even affecting the comercial bee keepers. It was killing the bees off.

Still is, but it is the Varroa Mite rather than the Tracheal mite. They are ridiculously resistant to many pesticides due to beekeepers not rotating their treatments.