Protect our Bees

[bluegrass]

Honey Bees should be protected by law.

I am starting a drive to get beekeepers across the country to write to their representatives and try and get a law protecting honey bees from extermination. Due to the threat of CCD I feel it is important to protect all the living colonies we have in this country, feral or otherwise. Please take the time to write your representative by following this link.
http://www.house.gov/writerep/

If you know anybody who is not a member, but is also concerned, please encourage them to do the same.
Thanks: Brad Morrill-Cornelius

I started this on BeeSource, but Please feel free to copy this to other web-sites in an effort to reach as many people as possible.

[Kathyp]

while i understand your passion and applaud your dedication to the bees, i see another spotted owl thing coming on.  when you protect something it is usually at the expense of someone or something else.  property owners and business owners.

let me give you an example.

i have a friend with a commercial berry farm.  they use bees to pollinate.  sometimes the hives swarm and the swarms end up in places that impede work.  irrigation pipes, equipment, etc.  until i told her i'd take the swarms, they either had to wait and hope swarms moved on, or get rid of them.  waiting is not a good option and they don't always move on.

if the bees were protected and there were no one to pick up the swarms, what would they do?

good beekeeping practices on our part and encouraging people to keep as many hives as are practical might be a better solution for the bees and the people.

[Michael Bush]

kathyp, I see your point.  But on the other hand they would FIND someone to remove them wouldn't they?  It would be nice if they at least attempted to have them removed before they resorted to just killing them...

Of course this comes on the heels of the AHB scares so I doubt you'll get anyone to agree.

[bluegrass]

 People don't have to agree. Each district Representative is going to do what they think is best for their constituent. A bill can be drafted and language put in to protect the interests of AHB areas while protecting our future in Apiculture as a whole. AHB is a small problem in a small area of the country; no point in condemning bees nation wide because of it.

[JP]

Some of you may know that I am an exterminator and of course a bee-keeper.
Even though I carry the title of exterminator, I practice integrated pest management.(new school of pest control) Old school as some are accustomed to is blast away, poison away, etc... IPM finds the cause of the problem, consults with the client as to how best remedy the situation,(such as improving sanitation practices, sealing entrance points, moisture proofing, etc...) without excessive use of chemicals, and if chemicals are used they are done so responsibly. With that said, I get many calls for swarms and established hives. Unfortunately, there are many who call who have tried blasting the bees and when I am informed of this I know that I may have to eradicate that hive as well. For those who have performed live removals, you know that in many instances the bees are over stressed from the cut-out experience and relocating over stressed hives can be tricky. Contaminated, overstressed hives is another situation. I give people a choice as to how they want to go about removing the bees. I of course prefer to save them and re-locate them, but due to many variables it just doesn't always work out that way. With that said, I wish that it was illegal for unqualified people to handle bees. If you don't know what you are doing you should hire someone with experience. The difficult removals/eradications are always the ones for the most part that have been affected by inexperienced people doing things that sounded good at the time, and then we have to clean up their mess.

[Kirk-o]

I think the Feral bees especially the swarms are one of the remaining hopes for the Bees survival they ain't medicated and have a lot of deversity.Thats what we need Bio Deversity.The Tucson Golf courses take a couple hundred swarms a year to Dee lusby in Arizona.The L A county tree surgeon told me he gets 20 calls a week for swarm removal from april to may said he would bag em for me if I wanted I just need to find another place .The feral bees are BOOMING IN L A SAN DIEGO COUNTY and I the ARIZONA desert than GOD. support and protect feral bees

kirko the small cell FANATIC

[Michael Bush]

>The Tucson Golf courses take a couple hundred swarms a year to Dee lusby in Arizona.The L A county tree surgeon told me he gets 20 calls a week for swarm removal from april to may

Didn't you know?  There are no more feral bees.  ;)

[Dane Bramage]

Noble intentions but, re: legislation ~> Careful what you wish for!



& Mr. Hackenberg goes to Washington.  With advocates like that the bees don't need enemies eh?

That being said, I think the best action is via education which would (hopefully) gain consumer support ($$).   You can see this philosophy already having an effect in awareness of other agricultural industries (e.g. the demand for organic, free-range produce, non-steroid dairy, etc., etc.,). 

Cheers,
Dane

[wtiger]

The last thing any of us need is more interference from the federal government.

[Understudy]

Well here is the simple thing.
When something affects the bees enough that it starts to have a serious impact on food. Then people will change their mind. I do not like the fact that in Florida they destroy feral hives. Even if they might be AHB. When the bee loss affects peoples wallets or bellies than it might change. Until then people will see bees as things that sting.

The question is by the time they decide to do something will it be to late.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Kirk-o]

Groups (the fedral goverment is one)seldom do what is best that falls on the shoulders of individuals.The fedral goverment stopped doing things to help individuals along time ago.They switched to protecting us from Commies Muslims Nazis all kinds of bad guys and bad things now it is Bee's .I think Life is understanding so life  seeks to understand if people understand thing they do better it's what you don't understand that drives us crazy
kirko

[Kathyp]

The fedral goverment stopped doing things to help individuals along time ago.

this was never the job of the federal government.

They switched to protecting us from Commies Muslims Nazis all kinds of bad guys

this, however, is the job of the federal government.
at least in the US.  if you live elsewhere, you may depend on your government to make you happy and care for you.

[wtiger]

I agree with you 100% kathyp.

[Michael Bush]

"Government Center To Solve all Our Problems"

"The leading cause of problems is solutions."  --Severide's Law

[reinbeau]

The fedral goverment stopped doing things to help individuals along time ago.

this was never the job of the federal government.

They switched to protecting us from Commies Muslims Nazis all kinds of bad guys

this, however, is the job of the federal government.
at least in the US.  if you live elsewhere, you may depend on your government to make you happy and care for you.

Live elsewhere, as in Massachusetts?

One bumper sticker on my car:  Live Free or Die Here!

Seriously, if you're looking for a nanny state that will take care of you (mainly because you are too stupid to do it yourself, of course) move here.  The rest of us are moving away!

Back on topic - educate whoever you can, if you can get to your state reps, then do so.  Education is the key, not more intrusive legislation.

And it's up to us in the beekeeping community to make absolutely sure our management practices aren't making it even harder for the poor bees!

[Galaxy]

The Federal Government has only three legitimate functions:

1. Provide for a national defense.
2. Maintain a justice (courts) system.
3. Maintain a stable (dollar) currency.

Everything else they do is questionable.  As Thomas Jefferson once said "He who governs least governs best."

James

[livetrappingbymatt]

nobel thoughts but it won't work in the real world!
the bee police! just like national security police, give us a break?
governments agencys create more trouble than they fix. yes bees need to be managed but at what cost and who will pay the bill? we as bee keepers can do our part to protect & manage colonies but bees in buildings? some ferral colonies need to be killed and not everyone is willing to pay to have bees removed.

bob

[bluegrass]

nobel thoughts but it won't work in the real world!
the bee police! just like national security police, give us a break?
governments agencys create more trouble than they fix. yes bees need to be managed but at what cost and who will pay the bill? we as bee keepers can do our part to protect & manage colonies but bees in buildings? some ferral colonies need to be killed and not everyone is willing to pay to have bees removed.

bob

And not everybody charges to remove bees! It could work; bee police not needed. The exterminators have to operate under the law. If the building owner is refered to a beekeeper when they call an exterminator than more problem ferals will be brought back into managment rather than be killed. The option would be for the building owner to kill the bees themselves and in most situations that is unrealistic. 

[Robo]

Although I applaud your conviction,  why just honeybees?   Why not the native pollinators?

It seems to me that most laws these days actually do more harm then the good they intended.

So now you pass this law, and everybody in my neighborhood wants beekeeping banned within xxx miles/feet from them.  Why??    They don't want the hassle/cost of dealing with a swarm from my hive that decides to move into their attic.   Now they don't have a choice,  the bee removers know it, and now charge big bucks to remove. 

So maybe it could be more profitable to let my hives swarm......Hmmmmmm.


No more laws please,  we have enough already that aren't enforced :-P