How to save the bees?

Question

I keep reading about loss of bee hives (UK, and US 70% loss) and am wondering how to improve their chances of survival.

How come no-one has suggested stopping sales of honey?  At the moment wherever bees are kept they are robbed of their honey, and the honey is replaced by a nutritionally inferior sugar solution.  

If we let them keep their honey, would more bees survive?  We do have other sources of sweet stuff for our tea!  We can surely live without honey, but we cannot survive without bees.

autonomous · Accepted Answer

I wish it were that easy.  Unfortunately colony collapse is not due to taking honey from the bees.  How do I know? Because the hives I have lost were full of honey, unfortunately they were also full of diseases and pests much like all the others that are being lost.  Scientists and beekeepers are working on for safe treatments and controls, but the pace is slow.  If you want to do the bees a favor, don't worry about the honey - stop the use of pesticides.  Bees feeding on the nectar of flowering plants, shrubs, and trees treated with some pesticides can die on the spot... and the pesticides are still legal for use.

michelangliron · Answer

The colony collapse problem is almost certainly caused by a virus being carried by the verroa mite (a small parasite that lives on bees). Two things will happen, either we will discover some way to kill the verroa mite without harming the bees or a strain of bees resistant to the virus will emerge. By the way, this is called evolution

Thalia T · Answer

Yes, it is indeed worrying. Sometimes this keeps me up at night with the worry. I would hope that mankind can somehow clone a bee and then we will all be fine again. Great question !

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How to save the bees?

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