Beekeeping for Beginners, Skeptics and Scaredy-Cats

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With fewer bees to pollinate fruits and vegetables each year, ‘beemageddon’ may soon cause the collapse of the agriculture industry. –My Science Academy

Help dissuade Beemageddon!

It is well-known that we have long been nearing the collapse of our current food system with the concurrent collapse of bee colonies around the world. The USDA has warned that “We are one poor weather event or high winter bee loss away from a pollination disaster.”

Honey bees pollinate and make possible more than 100 crops – worth more than $200 billion – in the U.S. alone. However since 2006, about 10 million bee hives have been lost in what scientists are calling Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), according to a new report by the federal U.S. Department of Agriculture. American honey bees die by the tens of millions, with annual death rates of about 30 percent.

The USDA knows how the agriculture industry will be affected (effectively destroyed) by the massive bee die-offs, but asserts that why the collapse is happening at such an exponential scale is still relatively unclear. The report cites “multiple factors… including parasites and disease, genetics, poor nutrition and pesticide exposure” as root causes of the colony collapse disaster. The European Commission suspects that neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides chemically related to nicotine, might be responsible – at least partially – for the die-offs. (My Science Academy)

So what can we do? One counter-attack to CCD has been the rise in independent beekeeping. Exciting design developments are making it possible to keep bees more easily and conveniently, meaning everyone from beginners to apartment-dwellers can help to keep the bee population (somewhat) booming.

Related:
Robot bees vs real bees – why tiny drones can’t compete with the real thing

 

Urban Beehive by Phillips

Philips urban beehive in use Philips urban beehive extracting honey Philips Urban Beehive from side

 

Urban Beehive by Rowan Dunford

Urban Beehive by Rowan Dunford

urban beehive design

 

Beehaus

beehaus

beehaus internal

 

Bikube

bikube

bikube

 

Wudwerx Mason Bee House

 

D.I.Y. Honey

DIY Honey

DIY honey urban beehive

 

Decided on your hive? Looking for instructions or more information? Find out how to make your own honey with backyard beekeeping

 

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4 thoughts on “Beekeeping for Beginners, Skeptics and Scaredy-Cats”

  1. I didn’t realize how many different looking hives you can put up. I have actually thought about calling a bee keeper to see if they would like to put one on my property! Thanks for all this info!

    Reply
  2. Unfortunately we live in Ontario which has stupid rules for beekeeping on any scale unless you are a business. You can’t here keep bees if your property is less than 200 ft across. We would love to have a hive or two

    Reply

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