Bee Syndicate

yep, but thats the rebake that backed up the other day and I cancelled it when it backed up

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Thanks @Eden I see that you have been editing the posts. I appreciate that.

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click the wrench and then click "rebuild html" is easy way?

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Nope, doesn't change the linked domains.

Ive just used a firefox plugin to do some of them.

huh weird, it did for me.. just now.. strange.
the wrench on the actual post?
sec leme try one
got a link to a broke one?

Anything in season 2, the linkback at the top of the post

ohh crap this isnt what I thought it was, I thought it was the embedded images. there are even shortened urls to google's url shortener :-\

I just got a notification from Sept 2015 from this thread what is happening why is the sky falling

shh its fine we fixing urls

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mkay

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lol how do I add "The most amazing troll Wendell has ever seen.' after my displayed user name in posts. ie your's says "you still cant take the sky from me"

It was always there..... :P

Lol Thank you.

what do you make of the fact Cuba's bee colonies have had no problems? No colony collapse disorder?

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I'd make it out to be Cuban propaganda more than likely. Extremely unlikely that they're not having that problem.

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I like bees! I spent some time last southern hemisphere summer doing honey harvesting for an organic honey company. Super fascinating I learnt so much more than I would have thought. Hope your bees are going well (only just stumbled on the thread so will read through over time.).

I dunno, Reuters is usually pretty reputable, covered it in Februrary and recently I've seen a few other pieces after some academics had a chance to check it out. I think AP did a piece on it as well:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-farming-honey-idUSKCN0VI172

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I'm assuming you're in New Zealand based on the username. You guys have been having issues with varroa showing up from what I heard. You see much of that at the apiary?

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Odd. That link isn't showing up just keep getting an error message. Anyway I just don't think that's accurate based on the literature I've read (these were physical books) from really reputable authors like Michael Bush with the practical beekeeper and from Dr. Wyatt Mangum with his books on topbar beekeeping. Both have been to Cuba and seen this phenomenon because although they haven't had much of anything in terms of imports the people of Cuba make locally synthesized pesticides that are often even more harmful than the old stuff like DEET and chlorodane to keep pests at bay. Also they've had varroa mites since the mid 90's so I just don't believe for one second that they don't have this issue down there. That's an extraordinary claim that is going to require equally extraordinary evidence. I was taking a peak during my lunch break with places like the dept of agriculture and it's scientific literature. They have a lot on apiary experiments and practices in Africa and Europe and Latin America but I didn't see anything that even implies resistance to this in Cuba or anywhere for that matter. Granted, that doesn't mean the literature isn't there but that's big news and would not be something obscure or hard to find if it was legitimate. Also, I have enormous respect for Jamie Dupree who is I think the AP's senior correspondent for all things political but the rest of the AP has been utter garbage since the early to mid 2000's as far as I'm concerned. More of that stuff with fake news and what have you.

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@wendell what a great question

I think the answer is well... politics.. mostly.
Cuba has been cut off from the rest of the world for decades from a trade standpoint. Commercial bees are being moved in and out of Cuba for pollination contracts like they are in most of the developed world and since Cuba is further isolated by 90 miles of water this is a pretty effective barrier against invasive species like the Varroa mite. and since the trade sanctions started in the 70s this predates most of the problems that have spread among the general bee population. this is much like Australia who has gone to great lengths to protect its ecosystem from invasive things and has managed to prevent (or at least delay) many of the world's bee afflictions from penetrating its borders. Only Cuba's success in this is likely far less intentional. Additionally Cuba is not trading in the modern pesticide market so although I am sure Cuban farmers still kill man pollinators each year as a result of agriculture related activities colonies of bees likely die off al at once as a result of exposure instead of colenys simply vanashing without a trace as is what happens with CCD. Speaking of aquaculture Cuba dosnt do alot of it this has alot to do with available suitable farm land and lack of support from the government. Cuba only produces like 20% of the food it needs so thy don't have the unfathomably expansive monocultures that we see in lots of the rest of the world especially like here in the US. These mass expanses of a single crop tend to starve out colonies of bees because food is only available when that crop is in bloom and this is often only a very short window of a few weeks.

So @jajone4 I think that the answers to this are there and it dosnt take alot of work to figure out why it is that bees are infact doing better in Cuba rather than this just being a piece of Cuban propaganda (which is an easy conclusion to jump to) but at the heart of it its not because things are better in Cuba it is because things are worse it just happens that the way things are worse in Cuba happens to be better for bees not because of any conservation effort in Cuba. I would bet that if we don't get a better hold on the pollinator situation here in the US as relations thaw with our communist neighbor to the south bees will likely face the same difficulties in the decades to come. Let's face it Cuba will make little effort to protect its self in this regard and hopefully the US will take caution in what it exports to the tiny island nation as we begin to trade again after 40 or so years of embargo.

As there is no one single thing that can be pointed to as the cause of CCD there are several reasons here that likely the reasons there is little or no CCD in Cuba.

@Ginga_NZ I would love to hear more about your time with the bees!

@wendell @jajone4 I hope I hit all the points and I am going to have to ake a look at that article later Im a bit pressed for time ATM but as always I Love the the interaction and the chance for some bee talk!

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