honeybees and powerlines

[schawee]

do large powerlines harm honeybees?

[JP]

Schawee, this subject has been talked about on here I believe, but its been quite a while since its come up. I can't recall if it literally harms.


...JP

[hardwood]

I make mine wear little tin foil hats just in case...just like their Daddy :-D

Scott

[AllenF]

Do the foil hats also protect from cell phones?   And how much foil do you average per hive?

[riverrat]

i don't think they would be bothered by high voltage power lines. But I have yet to see a hive kept under or around power lines. I do know there has been some discussion on it. and also wind farms and bees.

[NasalSponge]

I was told by my mentor many years ago not to place hives under them, that the electromagnetic field can make them angry. Never tried it, don't know if it is true.

[schawee]

the hives will be about 50yards from the powerlines not under it.if i would put some it will only be 4 hives max.

[Paynesgrey]

One of the beekeepers in our area group has kept hives right under big radio transmitter tower. He said that they made more honey than any of his other hives, but I am not sure whether he was joking or not. I know that a lot of power goes into a tower like that, and that they have pretty strong magnetic fields as a result. People at the meeting were asking about CCD/angry bees. He said there was no difference in how they acted, and he did not have any CCD problems - they stayed strong hives.

When I was a kid, there was an ancient, giant hive high inside a dying cottonwood tree across the street from very high tension lines (Main feed for a city of 180,000. Only the steel mill had bigger lines.) We never had any problems from it. It made the news when lightning knocked down the tree though, & the beekeepers came to clean it out. It took several days for them to finish.

I think I remember one of my uncles who was a commercial beekeeper recommending against keeping the bees too close to power corridors, but I am not sure whether it was due exposure to the magnetic fields, or because some corridors are sprayed heavily rather than mowed to keep down weeds & grass.

[AllenF]

Yall got me thinking.  I am siting here on the couch watching Sponge Bob with the lap top on my lap.   What electromagnetic fields are being made with this computer and what do you think it could be doing?   Maybe I should put a few books between the computer and my lap?????

[Paynesgrey]

If you read up on it, you might not want to use the laptop  :evil: She types, from a laptop.  :roll:

[hardwood]

Of course I'd be more concerned with the whole sponge Bob thing. :)

Scott

[BjornBee]

I've watched every episode of Sponge Bob. On trips with the kids, we play, stump Sponge bob. I ask questions such as Who is King Neptunes Daughter? Or tried to eat Gary? The kids are very hard to stump. Great Fun..... Whooooo! Hooooooo! Ride the HOF!   :shock:

[AllenF]

Wasn't her name Mindy?   And I can't place who tried to eat Gary, maybe Patrick?

[BjornBee]

Hint, hint....Gary runs away from home. Then gets gets fattened up.

[Bee Happy]

I CAN tell you that if you don't thoroughly ground the concrete floor of a dairy barn, the cow's urine is an  electrolyte and the barn will have a different charge to the exterior and cause their milk production to decrease.  I'll give you a "good question" with a solid "I wouldn't just rule it out."

[AllenF]

OK, this is all I could find on Gary.   

In "Have You Seen This Snail?" Gary runs away from Spongebob when he fails to feed him because SpongeBob was addicted to the official Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy Paddle Ball Set. Gary wanders aimlessly in search of a home, venturing into the dangerous inner city, until he is found by an elderly woman who pampers and overfeeds him, and renames him Ms. Tuffsy. However, he eventually discovers her horrible secret: she is a snail killer! Gary narrowly escapes from her, and upon learning of Spongebob's desperate efforts to find him, realizes that Spongebob does indeed love him and has learned the error of his ways, and goes back to him.

And as an electrician, Bee happy was right in that you will not get any milk if you hook up the ground wrong at the barn.  The animals can tell.

[cam]

Interesting study on honeybees and powerlines.
http://nocapx2020.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/attachment5.pdf

[luvin honey]

Yall got me thinking.  I am siting here on the couch watching Sponge Bob with the lap top on my lap.   What electromagnetic fields are being made with this computer and what do you think it could be doing?   Maybe I should put a few books between the computer and my lap?????

I'm not sure which is worse. Electricity in the nether regions or watching Sponge Bob. Seems like both could fry a person.  :evil:

[hardwood]

Yeah, and if it's a guy doing both at once it could fry BOTH brains :-D

Scott

[Keith13]

i think the main reason bees are not normally kept under power lines is the fact the grass is routinely cut and sprayed

Keith