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tptacek - normally I find your commentary insightful, but I'm a bit taken aback by your stance on bees, plus feel its a bit out of step with many beekeepers / r

tptacek - normally I find your commentary insightful, but I'm a bit taken aback by your stance on bees, plus feel its a bit out of step with many beekeepers / researchers. There are commercial and research beekeepers who are also taking steps to protect native bees and pollinator habitats and spread awareness of the same. In my "backyard" there are at least three types of native bees in addition to my hives. Would be very interested to understand the root of your fervor against apis mellifera.

tptacek 3y ago
I don't really have a problem with backyard beekeepers; it's just in the US, they've become emblematic of a kind of evangelical and ill-informed faux-environmentalism and I'm fond of pointing out that, here at least, they're essentially the battery-farmed hogs of the insect world. Also I'm scared of them. I like a mason bee. Docile and fuzzy, those guys.
- poulsbohemian 3y ago
  I wish we were closer geographically - would love to invite you out to connect with our local beekeepers and share a frosty beverage as it sounds like it would be a positive exchange. I can't speak for those in urban areas - I can imagine the type you are describing though and I can see how that would be grating. Here in the middle of nowhere, I think many are aware that we are fundamentally keeping livestock that are not native to this continent. The commercial beekeepers in particular see no romance in what they do - it's about 18 wheelers of boxes headed to CA for almond pollination.
  - cryptonector 3y ago
    And commercial honey producers also see no romance in what they do. We're switching to top-bar hives, and after that it will be comb honey only, because I don't want to bother extracting honey if it's not in Langstroth frames, and I don't want any more Langstroth. I'm thinking I'll still have some Langstroth supers because, well, I don't kill bees when inspecting supers or harvesting, it's when I get into the deeps that killing bees becomes almost impossible to avoid, and if that works out I think that will yield better-looking comb honey. I'm done with plastic foundation, too, and therefore also with centrifugal extractors.
  - tptacek 3y ago
    That sounds fun! I'm only like 60% serious about my anti-bee-agenda, though. :)
- cryptonector 3y ago
  You must be referring to the beekeeping hobby developing as a "zomg the honeybees are in trouble and we have to halp!". It's trueish that that happened, and that the colony collapse disorders didn't really warrant hobbyists jumping in. On the other hand, I think that hobbyists are doing some of the driving towards better mite treatment practices. It's new eyes on the problem. It's also driven some investment in research. Texas A&M's honeybee (and other bee) research budgets have gone up in recent years, and I suspect part of that is that interest in beekeeping is way up, and part of that has to do with Texas allowing beekeeping as a type of ag activity that can earn one an ag exemption on property taxes but also with the rise of beekeeping as a hobby. > I like a mason bee. Docile and fuzzy, those guys. Even Apis mellifera is fairly docile if, you know, you don't kill any of them. The bees in my nucs never ever sting -- they don't have that much to protect, but also I never kill any at that stage when I inspect those. The real problem with beekeeping is the bleeping Langstroth hive -- it might as well have been designed to kill lots of bees. Even with lots of practice and patience, and having put a lot of effort into finding ways to avoid killing bees, I still manage to kill one or two when I get into a Langstroth hive -- it's infuriating, to me and my bees.

tptacek 3y ago

I don't really have a problem with backyard beekeepers; it's just in the US, they've become emblematic of a kind of evangelical and ill-informed faux-environmentalism and I'm fond of pointing out that, here at least, they're essentially the battery-farmed hogs of the insect world. Also I'm scared of them. I like a mason bee. Docile and fuzzy, those guys.

poulsbohemian 3y ago
I wish we were closer geographically - would love to invite you out to connect with our local beekeepers and share a frosty beverage as it sounds like it would be a positive exchange. I can't speak for those in urban areas - I can imagine the type you are describing though and I can see how that would be grating. Here in the middle of nowhere, I think many are aware that we are fundamentally keeping livestock that are not native to this continent. The commercial beekeepers in particular see no romance in what they do - it's about 18 wheelers of boxes headed to CA for almond pollination.
- cryptonector 3y ago
  And commercial honey producers also see no romance in what they do. We're switching to top-bar hives, and after that it will be comb honey only, because I don't want to bother extracting honey if it's not in Langstroth frames, and I don't want any more Langstroth. I'm thinking I'll still have some Langstroth supers because, well, I don't kill bees when inspecting supers or harvesting, it's when I get into the deeps that killing bees becomes almost impossible to avoid, and if that works out I think that will yield better-looking comb honey. I'm done with plastic foundation, too, and therefore also with centrifugal extractors.
- tptacek 3y ago
  That sounds fun! I'm only like 60% serious about my anti-bee-agenda, though. :)
cryptonector 3y ago
You must be referring to the beekeeping hobby developing as a "zomg the honeybees are in trouble and we have to halp!". It's trueish that that happened, and that the colony collapse disorders didn't really warrant hobbyists jumping in. On the other hand, I think that hobbyists are doing some of the driving towards better mite treatment practices. It's new eyes on the problem. It's also driven some investment in research. Texas A&M's honeybee (and other bee) research budgets have gone up in recent years, and I suspect part of that is that interest in beekeeping is way up, and part of that has to do with Texas allowing beekeeping as a type of ag activity that can earn one an ag exemption on property taxes but also with the rise of beekeeping as a hobby. > I like a mason bee. Docile and fuzzy, those guys. Even Apis mellifera is fairly docile if, you know, you don't kill any of them. The bees in my nucs never ever sting -- they don't have that much to protect, but also I never kill any at that stage when I inspect those. The real problem with beekeeping is the bleeping Langstroth hive -- it might as well have been designed to kill lots of bees. Even with lots of practice and patience, and having put a lot of effort into finding ways to avoid killing bees, I still manage to kill one or two when I get into a Langstroth hive -- it's infuriating, to me and my bees.