Compassion Consciousness middle ground

Bee Colony Collapse

by Val Boyko
Comments 62
Three thriving hives in 2018

Two weeks ago our honey bees were thriving and producing brood (eggs) for this year’s generation. We had lost our previous hives over the winter of 2019 and replaced them last year. We were looking forward to bumper honey for the bees and more to share with our friends.

Yesterday we opened the hives and found two colonies had completely collapsed and the third was very small, with no brood. Thousands of dead bees. This is devastating and incredibly sad.

For four years we had thriving bees, and then something happened about three years ago. The bees seemed disoriented and some were aggressive for the first time. We became concerned that they had been exposed to pesticides or natural predators that weaken the colonies. As they died out, we replaced them with a different lineage, hoping they would be stronger.

The middle hive is too small to survive without brood. The outer two hives are already dead.

Now it is clear that there has been a catastrophic event from toxins.

This experience has made me so aware of the amount of toxins and chemicals that we take for granted and use. We humans are using too many poisonous pesticides! It gets into the water table and then bees drink it, and bring it back to the hive.

If you spray to kill bugs, then you are spraying to kill bees. If you spray to keep mosquitos away, then you are spraying to kill bees.

If you play golf on a manicured golf course, and there are no insects bothering you, then the bees and other pollinators are dead.

I can’t say “Not in my Back Yard!” because it has already happened. Alas, we will not put ourselves through the cost, hard work and heartache of having bees in this back yard again.

May we all wake up to the fact that we as a race, in small ways and in monumental commercial ways, are devastating our planet and bringing it to the brink of distinction.

Friends of the Earth is a charity with a bold voice for justice and saving the planet. I have increased my donation today.

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About Val Boyko

Val Boyko is originally from Scotland and came to the United States over 25 years ago. At "Find Your Middle Ground" Val brings together her experience as a life coach, yoga teacher and mentor, to inspire awakening to the light and inspiration within us all. This blog is a place of exploration and discovery as we all explore finding harmony and peace, in the highs and lows of life 💛

www.findyourmiddleground.com

62 comments on “Bee Colony Collapse”

  1. Jim Borden
    March 3, 2022

    I am sorry to hear about your bees. I remember how good your honey was!

    It’s sad to think about the harm we are doing to out planet, and in many ways, it is something we have direct control over, like eliminating or reducing our use of pesticides and other harmful products.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  2. Kate Crimmins
    March 3, 2022

    At my last house, a neighbor had three hives like you. Over the years, some died but mostly they survived. Sadly they moved before we did and gave the hives to another beekeeper. I’ve never been a fan of treating lawns with chemicals. It’s bad for all animals. Animals and kids walk through it.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply
  3. Anonymous
    March 3, 2022

    My heart is saddened hearing this news Val. Bee’s provide for more than we can imagine,
    as you probably know. News like this has been heard in other areas for too many years now.
    What can done to save them? If everyone stopped using pesticides and insecticides they
    might have a chance. People would be healthier too!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. insearchofitall
    March 3, 2022

    I’m afraid the earth and what’s left to populate it will suffer for eons because of what we have done. So many still don’t understand or care about the correlation between the chemicals and our sustainable life.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  5. Carrie Cannady
    March 3, 2022

    Val…I’m saddened to read this. It’s such a challenging time on our planet, and sometimes I feel as if those who are consciously taking actions on behalf of all sentient beings and our Mother Earth home and are still negatively affected…seemingly disproportionately. 😔 And yet, if we don’t continue to make the best choices, it will become even more dire…even more quickly. I’m sending love to you all. 🙏🏻💜

    Liked by 4 people

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  6. Mark Lanesbury
    March 3, 2022

    It is only because we can get up close and see the devastation in bee’s, most other animals it is only when we suddenly realize we haven’t seen them for some time that it clicks that something is wrong. By then it is too late. Time to ban it all and force more research into eliminating pests another way, as in naturally. All pests, moulds etc have something that attacks them, they just don’t want to spend the money. But in the long run it will cost them, and us, so much more 😀 ❤️ 🙏🏽 🦋

    Liked by 3 people

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  7. Lyn Halvorsen
    March 3, 2022

    So sad to hear this. I was reading today that sugar beet is going to be sprayed in the UK with pesticides harmful to bees. There must be a better way to protect crops. Best wishes.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  8. Infinite Living
    March 3, 2022

    The sad reality and repercussions of our choices are becoming evident more and more clearly.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  9. Eliza Waters
    March 3, 2022

    How sad, Val, I’m so sorry for the loss of your beloved bees. It is heartbreaking to see what the Anthropocene is doing to this planet. It’s like a runaway train that no one knows (or cares to know) how to stop. Mother Earth has been through 5 extinction events, she will survive, but I doubt that we will. 😦

    Liked by 6 people

    Reply
  10. nrhatch
    March 3, 2022

    So sad.
    Without bees . . . dinners will be bleak indeed.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply
  11. Rupali
    March 4, 2022

    Sorry for theloss, Val. It’s time for us humans to be responsible than ever.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  12. Ally Stardust
    March 4, 2022

    That is so devastating and yes you are right we should not use insecticides at all. I’m waiting for the bees to inhabit a big tree in our garden. I love the sound of their humming. Hopefully, they will be here soon, I see buds just emerging.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  13. Dalo 2013
    March 4, 2022

    This is heartbreaking to read about, especially after having such success prior ~ and I learned from Eliza as well regarding Anthropocene, and it is truly scary to know we are often doing such damage to the ecosystem without realizing it at the time… I hope you recover from this well. My older sister lost a hive last year, and is taking a masters bee-keeping course in Oregon to learn about the industry even more deeply. Beekeeping is a beautiful way appreciate the world. Best to you, Val.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • Val Boyko
      March 5, 2022

      Thank you so much Randall. 🙏🏼 today our bee mentor came by with some of his own brood to see if it could stimulate one of the hives. He is amazing and so practical…. And will do everything to keep supporting those bees that survive …, and for us humans to move forward.

      Like

      Reply
  14. Michele Anderson
    March 4, 2022

    So sorry, Val. This is just awful. I always know when wildlife or domestic cats are in my yard they are safe from pesticides, but all around me neighbors use them. When will the humans wake up? When it’s too late?

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  15. Karen Lang
    March 4, 2022

    Your post is so important Val. I’m sorry to hear about your beautiful bees. Thank you for educating us and encouraging us to see the ripple affect of every action. 🙏🏻🧡

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  16. Liz
    March 5, 2022

    So sorry to read about your bee colony. This must be so upsetting for you and Don. It’s very concerning what is happening in the “atmosphere” over which we have little or no control. We need to be far more aware and mindful of our actions.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  17. Pingback: Bee Colony Collapse – Urban Fishing Pole Lifestyle

  18. Pepper
    March 13, 2022

    So sad. 😏

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  19. Pingback: Bee Colony Collapse – The Urban Homestead

  20. Bela Johnson
    March 24, 2022

    Yup and sad. Poisons yes. Also funguses and viruses are killing many, often brought on by the ridiculous habit of transporting hives long distances. Stresses and sickens the bees and kills many. It might possibly be this is how your hives became contaminated, by a few of these rogue bees. Sorry to hear, Val. 😟

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  21. Eliza Waters
    April 6, 2022

    I just came across this video. While it is geared to commercial production, it may one day be economical for hobby beekeepers. https://youtu.be/5lmx3WJmqXM

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • Val Boyko
      April 6, 2022

      Wow – that sort of monitoring is powerful. In the meantime our master bee keeper friend is being in brood and hoping for a warm spell for you bees to fly out of the hive and attract drones for mating. Next week is forecasted to be low 70’s. The perfect time for nature to come in to her fullest and bring about new hives.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  22. James Hartzog
    April 26, 2022

    We see talk of food shortages. We have seen 32 food processing plants burn to the ground over the last year. We see issues with the supply chain. We see railroads refusing to deliver fertilizer to farmers. We see our government paying farmers not to grow crops. We see Bill Gates buying up all of the farmland. There is an ongoing effort by globalists pushing a great reset. Globalists think we have an overpopulation issue and would like to see a 90% reduction in worldwide populations. Its all about control.

    Just like we see Fauci at the CDC/NIH paying biolabs for gain of function experiments in Ukraine/China to create viruses that create pandemics, is it out of the realm of possibility the colony collapse is the result of intentional poisoning on a grand scale? EPA and FDA refuse to provide any assistance with the colony collapse, it most likely means they are directly involved or paid to look the other way.

    Chemtrails were called conspiracy theories a few years ago but I think today the conspiracy theorists have got it right 100% of the time. They call certain stories conspiracy theories to make people look like kooks and hope you look the other way. Chemtrails are real, they are spraying aluminum, strontium and barium. These 3 substances cause Alzheimers, immune system reduction and cancer. Rosiland Peterson has addressed the chemtrails at the United Nations on several occasions. She links the chemtrails to the death of or forests. If it is killing our forests, its killing us and our bees as well.

    Another place to look is Monsanto. GMO plants are sprayed with glyphosate(Roundup). Glyphosate kills everything (weeds and bugs), it kills everything except the GMO crop that has been genetically modified to tolerate the glyphosate. Guess who owns a large quantity of stocks at Monsanto….Bill Gates. I hear he is also trying to control seed production as well. Putting all of our reliance on one company like Monsanto to provide all of our seeds is like letting the fox guard the chicken coup. Once they get all the farmers reliant on seed delivery from one globalist source, all they have to do is shut it down and they can kill us off through starvation. These people are evil.

    We are fighting a war, good vs evil. They are trying to kill us on many different fronts. Killing bees would make sense, it plays right in to the grand scheme of things. Look at the messages carved in to the Georgia Guidestones, secret societies like the Freemasons, look up videos by Yuval Noah Harari, look up the Great Reset by Klaus Schwab, he says one day you will own nothing and you will like it. It is time we rise up against the United Nations, World Economic Forum and World Bank. I think there is progress being made but we need to speak out and tell other people. Thanks for listening, God Bless you and I hope you can keep your little bees happy, healthy and out of harms way.

    Liked by 1 person

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  23. eminentconstructionproject
    July 18, 2022

    There’s nothing like a hug to get you through the day. So I’m sending a great big one your way. Good morning has a great day.

    Liked by 1 person

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  24. eminentconstructionproject
    July 25, 2022

    Thanks so much for liking

    Liked by 1 person

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  25. eminentconstructionproject
    July 25, 2022

    In the meantime our master bee keeper friend is being in brood and hoping for a warm spell for.

    Like

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