No Honey for chrimbo!

[Mike]

IT doesn't look good for honey this chrimbo with news from supermarkets that british honey is likely to be in very short supply!

Not good news at all.

Our resident blogger Suzette has written a brilliant article on bees and how to do your bit here > Encouraging bees - Organiclinker Talk

The beeb had an article on the news this morning about it too!

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Honey 'to run out by Christmas'

Its not good at all!!

[beesontoast]

This has been another bad year for bees and honey. Some of my hives were close to starvation at the end of August - almost unheard of. I know beekeepers who have lost bees at the end of what was supposed to be summer. There is very little honey around, and what there is has been harvested at considerable cost, both in bee health and in replacement feed.

Next year, the bees that come through will need all the help they can get, so I appeal to everyone to plant easy-to-grow, bee-friendly flowers, such as phacelia and borage, and above all DON'T USE PESTICIDES.

www.biobees.com

[Mike]

That's very sad to here beesontoast - Do the hives have the ability to "recover" over the winter? how does that side of things work? Is there anything else we can do?

[Andy]

No Honey! this is not good at all.

Has there been any breakthrough with the Hive Collapse syndrome, or whatever it was called?

I remember reading that money had been donated for research

[beesontoast]

If bees run out of food in winter, they starve to death - just like any other creature - because they cannot fly in low temperatures, and even if they could, there is no food out there for them. The beekeeper's job is to make sure they have enough to eat, preferably their own honey stores, but failing that, sugar syrup is the best alternative.

[tigeralex]

Let's bee honest, it's beecome a problem and a right sting in the tail for the consumers. :)

[Mike]

Beesontoast

Is there anything we can do at home over the winter?

[tigeralex]

Knit them little coats?

[Mike]

Originally Posted by tigeralex

Knit them little coats?

Hmm, i assume then that you are not a fan of honey?

[tigeralex]

Originally Posted by Mike

Hmm, i assume then that you are not a fan of honey?

Not really, but I still care intensely about the little guys. We definately need to bee-careful about their decline, they're an important part of the eco system.