The Numerous Plausible Causes Of Domesticated Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

Beekeepers have always suffered losses of their honey bees but in the old times those losses were slow and the beekeeper was always able to ascertain the cause, usually a bacteria, mite or some other microbe and take correct action. Not so with colony collapse disorder, (sometimes called colony collapse syndrome or colony collapse disease). With colony collapse disease more honey bees are dying faster with no prominent reason and because only the queen and a few workers are left alive the colony dies.

The vanishing bees is still a mystery. As yet there has been no firm hard information to point to any one cause for their perishing. This has led to the conjecture that there is more than one cause to colony collapse disorder (CCD). Probable causes are:

Genetically modified crops

An experiment carried out by a beekeeper, John McDonald, seems to suggest that genetically modified crops could be the cause of colony collapse syndrome. He placed eight bee colonies in an area where the honey bees would have no association with genetically modified crops and an equivalent number of domesticated bee hives on farms that grew GMO's. At the end of the season in October the results of the honey collecting of both sets of bees was examined. The results between the two sets of bee colonies were very distinctive.

The eight non-GMO bee colonies produced 150 pounds of honey, per hive, in the over-wintering brood supers. Plus, between them, the eight colonies produced 200 pounds of extra honey. The farm bees, on the other hand, had produced no extra honey and had not even filled the over-wintering brood supers. These farm honey bees will require feeding in order to get by the winter.

Pesticides

The pesticide believed to be the main culprit in causing colony collapse disorder is nicotine-based Clothianidin, an insecticide in the neonicotinoid family. In Germany investigators found that 99 percent of dead bees had high levels of Clothianidin in their bodies. As a result the seven pesticides in the neonicotinoid family have been provisionally barred.

In the US imidacloprid seems to be the pesticide causing the most colony collapse syndrome. For example in North Dakota one third of colonies died after imidacloprid was in use on rapeseed.

Mobile phones

Is the electromagnetic radiation given off by cell phones interfering with the bee's navigating system thus preventing the honey bees from finding-out their way back to the hive. Some analysis carried out by Dr Jochen Kuhn shows that bees do not like going back to their hives when a mobile phone is deployed near the bee hive. If bees are trying to avoid mobile phone radiation then this could explain why they are getting lost and unable to find their way home.

Food

Honey bees normally use natural material like pollen, sap, nectar, or other botanical materials, for restructuring into honey. When beekeepers remove this honey, which the bees would normally eat up over winter, and replace it with High Fructose Corn Syrup a natural raw food is being replaced with a highly processed dead foodstuff. High Fructose Corn Syrup is lacking in the many minerals and vitamins found in honey so the bees are forced to eat inferior food which results in their poor health and worn-out immune systems.

So what is the cause of bee colony collapse disorder. Probably a combination of all of the above though GMOs, and the neonicotinoid pesticides, seem to be the main factors which has caused the dramatic increase in bees disappearing.

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