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Re: [Market-farming] Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)
- From: Brigette Leach <avalonfarmshomegrown AT earthlink.net>
- To: waldenfarm AT sprintmail.com, Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)
- Date: Sun, 03 Jun 2007 22:47:54 -0400
I have several friends who are not "pollinators" and are losing hives
to Colony Collapse Disorder. Their bees work mostly on their own
property with little to no exposure to chemicals or GMO crops. Brigette Leach Avalon Farms Homegrown www.avalonfarmshomegrown.com Alex McGregor wrote: Here's something a friend sent out on CCD. Alex McGregor Walden Farm Dear Friends, I'd like to comment on the information that is going around about the decline of the honeybee. By the way, this is not just happening here in the US, its worse in Germany and France. My husband has been a beekeeper for over 30 years. About 15 years ago, he went full time and we sale our organic/bio-dynamic honey to many businesses and families in the S.E. of Tennessee. Eddie, my husband, attended a workshop in Tucson, Arizona about 4-5 years ago, to learn about a new method of beekeeping from 3rd generation beekeepers, Dee and Ed Lusby. This new method is something that 1250 beekeepers have now incorporated in their practice. At the present, none of these 1250 beekeepers (my husband included) are experiencing collapsed hive disorder (CHD). Bee Story: In 1900, over 100 years ago, "they" decided to commercialize foundation. Foundation is the sheet of wax the beekeeper uses in the hive, so that the honeybee doesn't have to take the time to build it. It has a cell imprint on it. Its in this cell that the bees lay the larvae and store the honey. The bee that comes out of this cell is relative to the size of the cell. They decided that "bigger is better" and concluded that if they made the cell larger on the foundation, they could grow a bigger bee, that makes more honey, and makes more money for the beekeeper. The normal cell size for the honeybee is 4.9mm; the cell that is imprinted on the most used foundation ranges anywhere from 5.2mm to 5.22mm. What happened in over 100 years of messing with this critical cell size is the creation of a honeybee that increased in size 20%, but its wings only increased 10%. During these 100 years, the honeybee’s immunity has been weakened. The honeybee is being forced to tote more honey to feed the bigger bees, with wings that are unable to support this now modified big bee back and forth from the flower to the hive. Along with that, the honeybee has to deal with all the toxic chemicals the farmers are spraying on the crops, the pollution we are putting in the air, and also the antibiotics the beekeepers are using on the bees to kill the two kinds of mites. The workshop that is being done by Dee Lusby (Ed has since died) teaches the beekeeper how to make his own foundation with wax produced from his bees, that doesn't have any residue of the chemicals that are being used on bees to fight the mites. YES, the antibiotics used on the hive for the two mites does leave residue of toxins in the honey, the wax, propolis, pollen...anything that comes from the harvest the honeybee produces. The government and chemical companies hid this from the public until Dee and Ed uncovered the files by accident (and good fortune) back in the 80s. Speaking to Dee recently, I asked her if she thought the cell towers/phones had anything to do with the demise of the bees. She assured me it was due to the state of the bee's immunity: due to being a bigger bee, the poisons that are being used on crops, GMO crops, and the antibiotics used on the bees to kill the mites. Through organic/bio-dynamic methods of using a mist of mineral oil in the hive, and reducing the size of the honeybee back to a little bee, our bees are thriving. Our honey is pure and organic; our wax is organic; propolis is organic, and above all, our bees are thriving. We started out with 5 hives to get our bees to a little bee. After 4-5 years, we now have about 70 of our hives down to the little bee. Eventually, we hope to change all of our bees to the little bee; but it will take time. We have between 200-300 hives total. You have to take the cell size down a little at a time, vs. all at once. Since we were using 5.2mm cell size, we didn’t have far to take them down to the smaller 4.9mm cell size. Now, let's address one thing that isn't being put out at all about CHD. Those that are experiencing CHD are mostly the "pollinators". There are many ways to make a living off the honeybee. One of the ways is to move them all over the country and use them to pollinate crops and orchards. That means the beekeeper transports the bees to wherever crops need to be pollinated. They don't care so much about producing honey. They just do whatever it takes to keep their bees alive so they can get anywhere from $70.00-$150.00 per hive to pollinate crops. This means that those pollinators are using every antibiotic the government and chemical companies are recommending on their honeybees. The mites build up a resistance to each one and a stronger more toxic antibiotic has to be used to kill the mites. The bees have to overcome all the major chemicals that are being used on their hives, crops and orchards; plus deal with the demoralization that moving the bees on tractor trailer trucks create, all add to the decline of its immunity. Are you beginning to see the picture? I can almost guarantee you that the beekeepers that are experiencing CHD are the pollinators. They have their bees on foundation that ranges from 5.9mm to on up to the largest. For them to even consider getting their bees back down to the little bee would be impossible. It is very difficult to get the queen and all the other workers and drones to accept this smaller cell size; but it is possible if you are patient and can make your own foundation. The only way the pollinator beekeepers can bring their bees back down to the little bee would for all of them to die out like Dee and Ed Lusby's did back in the 80s. They had around 1,000 hives originally. They lost all but 100 hives to the mites. They figured they didn't have anything to lose to start changing the method of how they kept their bees. Its paid off. Dee’s bees are thriving, and the 1250 beekeepers that have changed over to her new methods are thriving. The biggest threat to these beekeepers is the erratic weather patterns that the world is experiencing. A lot of folks don’t realize that beekeepers are farmers. Dadant, one of the major bee supply companies, now offers a 4.9mm foundation. However, if a beekeeper uses this commercial foundation, he doesn't know what is in that wax, due to all the poisons that have been in practice for so many years. Its best to make your own foundation, using your own wax. To do this, one needs to buy a foundation mill. There use to be only one man making this mill and he resides in CA. We bought one and have been making our foundation for the last 4-5 years. Its very labor intensive. Its something you learn at Dee's workshop. Its something that is going to help us keep the honeybee from perishing. The really positive thing about CHD is that it has created an awareness that wasn’t there before; and the demise of the honeybee is being talked about everywhere. If you want to do some reading on this, try going to www.beesourse.com <_javascript_:ol('http://www.beesourse.com/'); <_javascript_:ol('http://www.beesourse.com/;');>> . Read some of the articles, but especially those written by or about Dee and Ed Lusby. Also in ACRES USA recently, there was a good article by Gunther Hauk, a bio-dynamic beekeeper and advocate of Rudolf Steiner and his philosophy: try www.spikenardfarm.org <_javascript_:ol('http://www.spikenardfarm.org/'); <_javascript_:ol('http://www.spikenardfarm.org/;');>> , and/or www.pfeiffercenter.org <_javascript_:ol('http://www.pfeiffercenter.org/'); <_javascript_:ol('http://www.pfeiffercenter.org/;');>> Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and opinions. PEACE, Lou McKenzie Sale Creek Honey Co P.O. Box 32, Sale Creek, TN 37373 423-332-5725 May 2007 ----- Original Message ----- From: Marcy To: Market Farming Sent: 06/01/2007 12:36:39 AM Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) Stay tuned for an upcoming article in Acres U.S.A. - www.acresusa.com on colony collapse disorder (not to be confused with another interesting article in the current May issue). It's an interview with Dr. George Carlo of the Safe Wireless Initiative - http://www.safewireless.org/ He makes a strong point - CCD is occurring simultaneously around the world. There is no spread pattern from a virus or mite. It's also occurring in the same time when the information carrying radio waves have saturated our atmosphere...well this link explains it better than I can. http://www.safewireless.org/SWIMemberContent/DrCarlosBlog/tabid/239/ctl/Arti cleView/mid/696/articleId/400/The-Vanishing-Bees.aspx And watch for the Acres article! |
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Re: [Market-farming] Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD),
Marcy, 06/01/2007
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
-
Re: [Market-farming] Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD),
Alex McGregor, 06/02/2007
- Re: [Market-farming] Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), Brigette Leach, 06/03/2007
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