Interesting.
I came across this opinion piece ("There are too many bees"
<https://thebeekeepingmentor.com/2019/08/06/there-are-too-many-honey-bees/>),
suggesting that there is a problem (especially for non-honeybee
pollinators) from honeybees over-foraging and spreading disease under
certain conditions (especially with USA-style intensive practices), and
that remedies could include: "1) More local, small hobby beekeepers keeping
fewer hives per apiary, 2) More locally grown gardens supporting the
surrounding community, and 3) The complete elimination of commercial
beekeeping practices"(!). It would be interesting to know of any solid
research on this theme. And I've been wondering myself whether to consider
one or two out-apiaries to spread things out more. Growing more natural
food (i.e. garden plants, community planting, allotments, saving verges,
green corridors etc etc) seems to be a win-win!
Mark
On Thu, Jul 8, 2021 at 7:35 AM Juli Cohen <juliane.cohen@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
That’s interesting, Dawn. Filipe voiced similar concerns during the
Blenheim wild bee tour on the weekend, although he was speaking more about
the local level, ie not putting in too many honeybee colonies in an area
without being aware of what other beekeepers in the area are doing, so as
to not use up all the pollen and nectar resources and not leaving anything
for wild bees and other pollinators. I thought it was a really interesting
way of looking at things, and it had never occurred to me before that there
could be such a thing as too many honeybees.
Juli
On 8 Jul 2021, at 07:20, Dawn Gosling <magikmum49@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:but they were talking to beekeepers in Africa, North America and London.
I dont know if anyone else heard the World Service on BBC this morning
One of the beekeepers I think it was the chap in London, said that there
are too many bees and this is killing of our indeginoue bees. We should be
providing natural food for bees but not keeping them in such number.
Is this now the theory? Or has it been the theory all along?
Dawn
