Beekeepers have always suffered losses of their domesticated bees but in the old times those losses were slow and the beekeeper was always able to discover the cause, usually a bacteria, mite or some other fungus and take useful action. Not so with colony collapse disorder, (sometimes called colony collapse syndrome or colony collapse disease). With colony collapse disorder more bees are dwindling faster with no glaring reason and because only the queen and a few worker bees are left alive the colony dies.
The disappearing bees is still a mystery. As yet there has been no firm substantiation to point to any one cause for their annihilation. This has led to the theory that there is more than one cause to colony collapse disorder (CCD). Possible causes are:
Genetically modified crops
An investigation carried out by a beekeeper, John McDonald, seems to suggest that genetically modified crops could be the cause of colony collapse disorder. He placed eight honey bee colonies in a place where the honey bees would have no proximity with genetically modified crops and an equal number of bee hives on farms that grew genetically modified crops. At the end of the season in October the results of the honey collecting of both sets of honey bees was examined. The results between the two sets of honey bee colonies were very disparate.
The 8 non-GMO honey bee colonies produced 150 pounds of honey, per hive, in the over-wintering brood supers. Plus, between them, the 8 colonies produced 200 pounds of extra honey. The farm honey bees, on the other hand, had produced no extra honey and had not even packed the over-wintering brood supers. These farm bees will require feeding in order to endure the winter.
Pesticides
The pesticide believed to be the main culprit in causing colony collapse disease is nicotine-based Clothianidin, an insecticide in the neonicotinoid family. In Germany researchers found that 99 percent of expired bees had high levels of Clothianidin in their bodies. As a result the 7 pesticides in the neonicotinoid family have been provisionally banned.
In the US imidacloprid seems to be the pesticide causing the most colony collapse disease. For example in North Dakota one third of colonies died after imidacloprid was used on oil seed rape.
Cell phones
Is the electromagnetic radiation given off by cell phones interfering with the honey bee's direction system thus preventing the bees from locating their way back to the hive. Some research carried out by Dr Jochen Kuhn shows that honey bees do not like going back to their hives when a cell phone is situated near the hive. If bees are trying to shun cell phone radiation then this could elucidate why they are getting lost and incapable of finding their way home.
Food
Bees normally use natural material like pollen, sap, nectar, or other botanical materials, for fabricating into honey. When beekeepers take away this honey, which the honey bees would normally eat into over winter, and replace it with High Fructose Corn Syrup a natural raw sustenance is being replaced with a highly processed dead food. HFCS is lacking in the many minerals and vitamins found in honey so the honeybees are forced to eat inferior food which results in their impoverished health and devitalized 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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