Bees Dead and Dying

My heart is broken.  My girls are dying.  Most people have heard of colony collapse disorder.  I almost wish this was that.  But no, this is more stupid.  

A couple of weeks ago I heard the County environmental trucks hissing slowly up the street as they sprayed their poison, and I knew it was going to be bad.  When I heard it again the following week, I prayed the girls weren't finished.  This weekend I went to my few hives and looked - three dead hives and one dying hive.

The mosquito spray trucks don't have to hit the hives directly to do harm.  They only have to pollute the area to an extent that the pesticide covers the nectar and pollen source.  So, you add the severe drought that already limited their food source and weakened the hives, with the pesticide and bye bye bees.

I will start anew because I refuse to buy honey from anyone else.  And because I am dedicated to being a part of the solution, not the problem.

I think what disappoints me most is that these are professionals who are supposed to know about insects.  They are supposed to understand the functions of all insects, not just mosquitos, in the environment.  So yes, we will have fewer mosquitos, but we will have fewer vegetables and fruits, too.

Add to the dilemma a new insect hitting the orange groves.  It is causing the owners to now spray monthly instead of once or twice a year.  

Another beekeeper lost his five hives to that nonsense about two weeks before me.  But he's a nice guy.  He asked, "What could you expect from a farmer trying to save his crop?"  

My response was, "What is that farmer going to do next year after he's killed all the pollinators and he gets no oranges?"  

When he kills bad insects, he kills good insects, like bees.  He is also killing pollinators that might have made it to your yard.  Did you know that in some areas in China they must pollinate their pears by hand with a little brush while standing on a ladder?  If you thought an orange was expensive now, wait til you have to pay for hand-pollinated fruit.

I thought these short-sighted, knee-jerk reactions were a thing of the past.  I thought farmers and County entymologists were smarter about pest control.  I thought wrong.