Beekeepers have always suffered losses of their honey bees but in the old times those losses were slow-going and the beekeeper was always able to find the cause, usually a bacteria, mite or some other microbe and take appropriate action. Not so with colony collapse disorder, (sometimes called colony collapse syndrome or colony collapse disease). With colony collapse disorder more bees are dying faster with no open-and-shut reason and because only the queen and a few workers are left alive the colony dies.

The disappearing is still a mystery. As yet there has been no firm evidence to point to any one cause for their passing away. This has led to the hypothesis that there is more than one cause to colony collapse disorder (CCD). Likely causes are:

Genetically modified crops

An experiment carried out by a beekeeper, John McDonald, seems to suggest that genetically modified crops could be the cause of colony collapse syndrome. He placed eight bee colonies in a place where the domesticated bees would have no contact with genetically modified crops and an equivalent number of domesticated bee hives on farms that grew genetically modified crops. At the end of the season in October the results of the honey collecting of both sets of honey bees was examined. The results between the two sets of bee colonies were very dissimilar.

The eight non-GMO honey bee colonies produced 150 pounds of honey, per bee hive, in the over-wintering brood supers. Plus, between them, the eight colonies produced 200 pounds of extra honey. The farm bees, on the other hand, had produced no extra honey and had not even filled the over-wintering brood supers. These farm bees will require feeding in order to come through the winter.

Pesticides

The pesticide believed to be the main culprit in causing colony collapse disorder is nicotine-based Clothianidin, an insecticide in the neonicotinoid family. In Germany researchers found that 99 percent of dead bees had high levels of Clothianidin in their bodies. As a result the 7 pesticides in the neonicotinoid family have been provisionally unsanctioned.

In the US imidacloprid seems to be the pesticide causing the most colony collapse disorder. For example in North Dakota one third of colonies died after imidacloprid was in use on rapeseed.

Cell phones

Is the electromagnetic radiation given off by cell phones interfering with the bee's direction system thus preventing the honey bees from locating their way back to the hive. Some inquiry carried out by Dr Jochen Kuhn shows that honeybees do not like going back to their hives when a mobile phone is placed near the hive. If bees are trying to avoid cell phone radiation then this could explain why they are getting lost and incapable of finding their way home.

Sustenance

Honey bees normally use natural material like pollen, sap, nectar, or other botanical materials, for restructuring into honey. When beekeepers remove this honey, which the honey bees would normally consume over winter, and replace it with High Fructose Corn Syrup a natural raw food is being replaced with a highly processed dead foodstuff. High Fructose Corn Syrup is lacking in the many minerals and vitamins found in honey so the honeybees are forced to eat inferior sustenance which results in their poor health and tired immune systems.

So what is the cause of bee colony collapse disorder. Probably a combination of all of the above though GMOs, and the neonicotinoid pesticides, seem to be the main factors which has caused the dramatic increase in bees disappearing.

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