Albert Einstein said, that four years after the extinction of bees, Mankind will die too!
Saving and protecting the bees has always been a hot topic for me. This is why I want to introduce 10 different methods to you, that can make a difference in the bee’s lives.
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1.Bee friendly plants
Bee’s primary income on food comes through the pollen of flowers and without the nectar they can’t produce honey. So keeping just a few plants rich in pollen and nectar, best if native ones, on the balcony or outside in the garden, you are already aiding the bees greatly. In addition, if you have flowers that last through the different seasons of the year, you can provide all year-long food for the bees. Example plants: Dandelion and clover
2.Plant trees
When it comes to nectar, trees provide the biggest amounts of it. In the spring, when most of the trees bloom, they provide thousands of blossoms where bees can feed on. Bees also use tree leaves as nesting material. Read more about Honey Plants, Trees and Bushes for the Apiary, which provides the bees with pollen and nectar the whole year long.
3. NO Pesticides
I know that your biggest wish will be to have beautiful and blooming flowers and you would do anything to keep them that way. BUT by using pesticides or any chemical products to kill the pests, you may lethally harm the bees. An alternative approach to keeping your plants healthy and the bees alive are organic fluids, but caution, always read the label if they are 100% bee-friendly.
4. Don’t cut Grass
The grass is often a good shelter for bees. I know that keeping your lawn nicely cut and tidy is a perfect dream, but if you let the grass grow out a bit and don’t cut it too short, you are providing little shelter for the bees. And as you know with time little flowers may emerge from the ground, those flowers may be very pollen and nectar-rich. So you not only provide shelter for bees but also a good spot to feed!
5. Beehive, a bigger nesting place
When it comes to providing shelter for bees and insects, there are many different ways. You can always get a “bee hotel” from the internet, which is nothing more than a little birdhouse, but for insects and bees. If you like to be creative, you can build one yourself or you can just stab holes in a dead tree. If you want to take it to the next level, you could get a beehive, put some clean water with some drops of propolis in it and just wait it out. But be aware to get some knowledge about becoming a beekeeper, because those bees will come eventually and you need to be prepared for the big responsibility!
6. Clean water
Bees are in great need of water, the cleaner the water is, the purer and tastier their honey is. By setting out a water spot for the bees, you are contributing greatly to their welfare. The water spot can be from a bowl of water to a big garden pool (no chemicals in it). Keep in mind that bees would prefer to starve to death, before drinking poisonous water.
7. Supporting locals
Local Beekeepers tend to take great care of their bees. By purchasing honey out of them or beeswax, you are funding them and you are assuring that they will keep the sustainable and environmental beekeeping practice. Treating bees the more environmentally way can be very expensive, but it pays off in the honey taste!
When growing large in number, bees tend to swarm out, a process when the old queen bee leaves with a part of the bees, to nest in a new home. Seeing such a big pile of bees can often alarm people and make them overtake rash actions. Don’t try to kill the swarming bees, just alarm the authorities and they will make sure that professional beekeepers come to collect this swarm and relocate it to a new home.
9. Informing yourself and others
Flying insects, bees are mostly feared by people and therefore ignored. But by educating yourself, your children, and others about the benefits of the bees in our ecosystem, you can spread the message and get rid of the negative connotations. If people are not informed about the beneficial work that bees do and bees do get extinct, our ecosystem will collapse and it may have lethal consequences on mankind!
10. Fundraising
Organizing an online fundraiser can often be a helpful solution. Fundraising events don’t only collect money that can be spent on the bees, but they tend to inform a majority of people. And by informing more and more people you can achieve the domino effect and make a serious impact on the improvement of bees’ life!
World known Bee Disasters
The observations in recent years show the mass death of bees, which were preceded by a mass extinction of entire bee colonies. The reports of the International Symposium in Zagreb (2009) showed that the disease appears in southern China, Indonesia, Japan, has traveled the world, and is found in 26 European countries (there are also in our country). The etiology of the disease is multivalent and covers dozens of causes: pollution in the past with heavy metals, pesticides, radionuclides, antibiotics, disinfectants, various signals from satellites, mobile phones, and other technological omissions.
As in other cases, it all started in Southeast Asia: South China, Indonesia, and Japan are under the influence of a highly polluted environment, a parasite of the Asian bee, Nosema ceranae mutated, acquired new pathogenic properties, and expanded the range of its parasitism on the European honey bee. By a similar mechanism, which began its destructive action from the same region, the cause of varroasis spread in the 1950s to become a global problem.
Another similar precedent is known in the history of medicine: in 1918, the swine flu virus spread to humans and caused the Spanish disease, causing a pandemic that killed more than 20 million people. Our environmental studies on the Collapse of bee families have shown us to differentiate the causes into three groups:
- Predisposing factors: contamination with chemical and physical factors, radiation, antibiotics, and technological gaps.
- Etiological agents: determine varroasis and nosematosis (N. ceranae)
- Concomitant infections and invasions.
Bee Parasites
Returning to a large polluted environment, the black parasite on the Asian bee has mutated and moved to a new host – the honey bee, which has expanded the spectrum of its parasitism. This analysis has shown, that the reasons for the collapse of bee families are only 2: varroasis and Asian nosematosis, which can be treated with the Bulgarian medicine Ecophil P, containing 8 herbs. Ecophile P is used against the Moroccan locusts, which are destroying vegetation throughout southern Europe at the beginning of each summer and are also present in southern counties. Given the ban in the EU on the use of previously used anti-varroasis and antinosematous preparations on a chemical basis, Ecofil-R will save the bees from the parasites.
Since the cave period time, humanity has always been accompanied by bees. The caves were our common home 20-30,000 years ago, along with cave bears and bats. Mankind has survived thanks to the fire, his intellect, his perseverance … and bee products. In coexistence with the bees, mankind had at his fingertips the greatest good – honey – food, and medicine.
Our Bee Experiment
We started an experiment to nest bees on the balcony, just on the opposite side of the garden. The bees quickly discovered the unusual clump of honey-flowering plants that bloomed during the seasons, and contrary to the neighbors’ fears that they would sting them, they paid no attention to their culinary. Prof. Toshkov, a beekeeper friend of mine, and I really wanted to tinker in the hives all the time, ostensibly to help them in the difficult process of their introduction in an urban environment, but the old beekeeper knew very well that we should not interfere with them, so we were content to look at them through the window. In response, they collected 15 kg. Honey in each hive. Our bee experiment ended, when the street that the bees were crossing, got too crowded with cars, and because of the high pollution, the bees refused to fly over it and starved to death.
In 2010 a new experiment was started in Sofia, Bulgaria. They installed 4 hives on the roof of the Hilton Hotel. They were scared that the bees would take over the kitchen that they would “check” what the restaurant guests ate, that they would monitor morale in the bedrooms. On the contrary, the bees did not pay any attention to them because they were only interested in nectar and pollen and nothing else.