corn country

[oliver]

Planting corn all around us this last week. Dead bees piling up in front of my strongest colonies. Would not say poncho is the cause, BUT..

[JWChesnut]

Immediately contact Christian Krupke at Purdue University. ([email protected]).  They have a protocol that detects Clothianidin from bee, comb, etc  at the parts-per-billion.

You can read the paper they published (2012) on real-world exposure to seed treatment talc dust  at: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029268

Document your impacts because 1) it is important to science, 2) may encourage solutions to the corn dust problem, 3) Bayer is under pressure to create a fund to pay for impacts to affected keepers and you want to preserve your claim.

The corn-dust issue is moving quickly, partly based on the European pressure. Even the generally skeptical Randy Oliver (http://gallery.mailchimp.com/5fd2b1aa990e63193af2a573d/files/What_Happened_to_the_Bees_This_Spring2013_opt.pdf) says that corn dust must be dealt with immediately.

[duck]

Sue the bejeezus out of them.

[Beeboy01]

Collect as many of your dead bees as you can and freeze them in a zip lock baggie so there will be something to sample off of if you are going to report the die off. sorry to hear about you bee kill.

[Nature Coast Beek]

Don't know how much "corn dust" there is on the planting side of growing corn. But there are bee/corn issues with dust at harvest.

[JWChesnut]

Nature Coast Beek --

Corn seed is coated with systemic insecticide, and talc dust.  The talc dust keeps the seeds from clumping and smooths the seed flow through the pneumatic planter hoses.  Unfortunately the insecticide also coats the dust, and this dust is likely collected much like pollen by the foraging bees.

Since "Poncho 600" (tradename for the Bayer neonicontinoid Clothlanidin) is toxic at the parts-per-billion level to Bees, the escape of the talc dust is a serious issue.

Randy Oliver is generally skeptical of the overheated campaign against the neonicontinoids, but thinks that the talc dust route of exposure is a serious impact.  He also hypothesizes that the drought conditions last year concentrated the NeoNics in the withered plants, rather than diluting them below impact.  Read his assessment (cited above, to get a rounded perspective on the issues).

[oliver]

This seems to be a 2 day event, no significant numbers added to the pile yesterday or today. These should recover, some production probably lost. Wonder if any studies have been done, with people or pets in mind, watching my grandkids cat licking its feet yesterday, he lives outside..

[Nature Coast Beek]

Greg Hunt of Purdue touches on corn issues and corn talc. Corn Talc issues @ 2:40