justinbeck's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

We here at TakePart have been greatly concerned with the serious threat that Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) poses to honey bees, so I’m very excited to share the good news that scientists may have found a way to help bees fight back against the somewhat mysterious disorder that is wiping out hives worldwide.

The parasitic Varroa mite is considered to be a major contributing factor to CCD, and so scientists from the Agricultural Research Service have bred bees that exhibit a strong expression of a genetic trait common to honey bees, which allows them to remove mite infested bee broods that would otherwise be destroyed. Read the rest of this entry >>

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year and it is customary to eat lots of sweet things during this holiday to symbolize what we hope will be a sweet new year. That’s why Rosh Hashanah meals usually include apples and honey, honey cake, sweet challah with raisins and so on.  Since we are a little bee obsessed here on the TakePart blog, I thought it would be a good time to round up some news on these inestimable pollinators:

The 41st world apiculture congress, Apimondia, is currently in session in Montpellier, France. Ten thousand beekeepers, entomologists and other scientists are all asking the same question: What is killing our bees? Colony Collapse Disorder is still a mystery but this phenomenon continues to be a cause for great concern. From the AFP:

By some estimates, this unseen, unsung work is worth more than 200 billion dollars a year, often through hives that are trucked to monoculture farms to do pollinating magic at specific times of the year. Wild bees, bats and other pollinators are simply not numerous enough to do the trick.

Read more about Apimondia from the  AFP article, “Bee Deaths Set Apiculture Congress Abuzz”

UC Davis’ Department of Entomology just launched a website that is a one stop hive for everything you need to know about honeybees and native bees. Have a look around: Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility

Read the rest of this entry >>

neotint's photostream (CC)

As urban farming grows in popularity, a British design company has made it even easier for city dwellers to raise chickens and keep bees in their backyard by designing ready-made coops and hives. I may only be a few home projects away from keeping bees and chickens myself, and while I think I’d prefer to build them myself, I must admit that the cleverly designed, ready-to-go structures are certainly appealing.

Omlet, the amusingly named company started by two graduates of the Royal College of Art in London, sells the Eglu (another great name), a plastic igloo that keeps out neighborhood predators, makes egg retrieval easy and is available in brilliant colors.  The team’s latest product, the Beehaus (apparently only available in the UK for now), simplifies the process of setting up a backyard or rooftop hive and streamlines honey collection.  Read the rest of this entry >>

Here at TakePart we love bees, beekeeping and local honey!  I love them too but I’ve always been a bit curious about how the beekeepers harvest the wonderful local honey from the bees.  Luckily there is the awesome video below from LA’s Backwards Beekeepers and Kirk Anderson to tell me how!

So cool! Although now I have to go find some honey to eat - honey is so good!

And if you want to try some of Kirk’s honey you can go HERE.

Cities offer bountiful rooftop space for beekeeping, but beekeepers in New York have had to keep their hives under wraps because beekeeping is currently illegal in the city.  Despite the fact that the bees are likely to only sting the beekeepers (and rarely at that), and pose no real threat to the general public, they are still considered wild animals by the city.  Bees offer a variety of benefits to city dwellers including fresh, local honey, and contribute to productive harvests in community gardens, public parks and nature centers.  As Colony Collapse Disorder continues to threaten hives all over, bees need all the help they can get.

Check out this short video about a few outlaw beekeepers in New York, and find out below what you can do to help legalize beekeeping in New York:

Read the rest of this entry >>

Bees need all the help they can get these days, as concerns about Colony Collapse Disorder continue, and a new study reveals how important native plants are for honeybees and other pollinators.  So I encourage all of you gardeners out there to grow as many native plants as you can fit in your garden this year, and that goes for all first-timers, green veterans, and Michelle Obama, too!  There are lots of tasty edible plants that are great for attracting bees and other pollinators, including berries, melons, squash, cucumbers and basil, and plenty of beautiful flowers that can brighten up the borders of your garden.  Douglas W. Tallamy, an ecologist at the University of Delaware, and the author of “Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in our Gardens” told the New York Times:

If we gave them food — flowering native plants — and a place to build their nests, they would be able to take up the slack from decreasing honeybee populations.

And if you have a lawn, let it grow long and flower, bees will love it and your yard will be more colorful than those boring, labor- intensive manicured ones your neighbors have.  Read the rest of this entry >>

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has plagued bee keepers worldwide for years and threatens to devastate one third of our food supply, but the cure, let alone the cause for entire hives disappearing has remained a mystery, until now.  Spanish researchers have identified one possible cause for the devastating blight as a parasitic fungus, Nosema ceranae, and what’s even exciting is that they were able to successfully treat and cure the hives with the antifungal fumagillin.  The treatment clearly won’t serve as a complete panacea for CCD, as there are likely other causes and relying on a magic bullet for nature is never wise, but the results are encouraging.  Hopefully the discovery will lead to a great understanding to the other factors contributing to CCD, and more significantly encourage industrial bee keepers to practice healthier hive hygiene.

Happy Spring! Read the rest of this entry >>

Michelle Obama’s organic White House garden will become a safe haven for honeybees, as White House carpenter Charlie Brandts becomes the First Beekeeper. When I confirmed the rumor of a presidential garden earlier this month, I hinted that there were plans to start two hives for honeybees, and with one hive already in place, I can say for sure that White House honey is becoming a reality.  Honeybees are vitally important to the world’s food supply, and with the threat of Colony Collapse Disorder(CCD) threatening many commercially managed hives, the more individuals that create their own healthy hives the better.  Learn more by watching this disturbing special on CCD from PBS:

Learn about responsible beekeeping by watching the short film Every Third Bite after the jump and takepart by joining Haagen Dazs in helping the honey bees.

Hat tip to Kerry Trueman for the update! Read the rest of this entry >>

kevinkrejci's flickr photostream (creative commons)

Beekeeping is currently illegal in New York City, but a growing number of bee keepers, environmentalists and honey enthusiasts are working to legalize the keeping of hives. New York City Health Code (Section 161.01 if you’re wondering) prohibits the possession, keeping, harboring and selling of “wild animals”, but unlike urban tigers, bees are relatively docile when properly tended and offer a variety of benefits to city dwellers.  For those of you who have been following the plight of the honey bee here on Take Part, you’ll know that bees are vital for pollinating our food supply, and with the looming threat of Colony Collapse Disorder, we could use all the bees we can get.  Local honey is not only delicious and distinct, but also considered the best remedy for people with allergies, as it builds their immunity to local allergens.

Other cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Portland, Paris, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver have legalized beekeeping, Read the rest of this entry >>

Colony Collapse Disorder may have hit closer to home than I ever imagined, when I sadly discovered hundreds of bees dying in my backyard this afternoon.  My neighbors, with whom I share a backyard, stopped by to show me that hundreds of  bees were in the grass, stumbling drunkenly, and barely moving.  They were once living in a hive nested in our tree but now they are dropping from the hive onto the ground. Many of them now seem to be dead and the ones that are moving are very disoriented. Others start flying again and then just drop back into the grass.

Hoping there was something we could do, I called the Los Angeles Honey Supply Company, and they directed me to a hive removal company who said it sounded like Colony Collapse Disorder(CCD).  Since nobody really knows exactly what causes CCD, they had no suggestions to help, but offered to come and remove the hive.  The whole scene was very upsetting, and I really hope someone gets to the bottom of the problem soon.

Here’s a video of the struggling bees and more photos after the jump.

takepart with Haagen Dazs to help save the honey bees.

Read the rest of this entry >>