Comments | fabricdragon: BEES at the White house?

fabricdragon

BEES at the White house?

Mar 23, 2009 10:59

thanks to elorie for the heads up.... i missed this?!

the Obama's are planting a vegetable garden, the first since Eleanor Roosevelts Victory Garden (although the Clintons had some in pots. we mean real "dig up the lawn" garden) but buried in the bottom of the Linked article....

"white house carpenter who is also a beekeeper will build and tend two hives ( Read more... )

politics, obama, gardening

Comments 18

hearts_refuge March 23 2009, 15:09:55 UTC

lol, i love your disclaimer. :)

fabricdragon March 23 2009, 15:37:22 UTC

sadly its needed... anytime you say anything positive or negative everyone assumes you are either 100% for or against EVERYTHING.....
sigh
i like bees. beekeeping=good idea.
there are many things else that President Obama is doing/trying to do i do not like...

but like anything in life. there are very few things i agree or disagree with 100%

honeybees=good.

cvirtue March 23 2009, 15:13:24 UTC

Yeah, that's cool!

jacylrin March 23 2009, 15:26:44 UTC

Yes, I was very happy to hear that on the radio news the other day. Yay, bees! I mean yes, I'm allergic to stings, but honeybees have to REALLY mean it to sting since it kills them (unlike wasps and yellowjackets, who don't care and don't die). Honeybees are actually quite docile as long as you don't mess with their hive, and I love to just watch them busily work away. The declining honeybee population is very worrisome. But again, yay for honeybees at the White House!

keastree March 23 2009, 21:45:16 UTC

The declining honeybee population is very worrisome.

Which seems to be, at least in part, due to the declining population of backyard beekeepers. They are either dying off or getting forced out by crazy neighbors or local ordinance. :(

jacylrin March 24 2009, 11:50:55 UTC

Actually, there's a lot of problems with beekeepers (like, on average 1/3 a year) losing their colonies to mites, viruses, and Colony Collapse Disorder (which may be caused by a virus). More information on the decline of honeybees at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080521205303.htm

keastree March 24 2009, 13:33:44 UTC

The problem is that you are averaging across hobby and commercial beekeepers, and treating them like they are the same thing. They are very much two different worlds, with generally different 'average' problems.

While mites, known viruses, pesticides, and small hive beetles are very much problems, the commercial beekeeper is picking up his hives and moving them several times a year, which introduces a great deal of stress on a colony. Commercial beekeepers are also much more likely to use chemical treatments on their hive, which introduces more stress on the colony.

A hobby beekeeper, OTOH, is more likely to lose their bees due to factors like mites, viruses, pesticides, crazy neighbors, pesticides, small hive beetles, getting too old to lift the hive boxes, injury from same, restrictive covenants, and city ordinances. Cities, if they let you have hives legally, often erect barriers high enough that it is impossible to have them at all(fenced enclosures, minimum lot requirements, special insurance, etc ( ... )

ladyfox7oaks March 23 2009, 15:56:16 UTC

Dang, I missed that , too- And I posted that SAME article last week!

zianuray March 23 2009, 17:49:21 UTC

I suddenly have this image of little Secret Service Bees checking ID's on Worker Bees returning to the hive....