World's Only BeeKeeping Donkey

Photo courtesy: youtube.com/screen capture

It might seem strange to some, but honey farmer and homespun inventor Manuel Juraci is unashamed to call a jackass both a colleague and a friend.

Like many living in Brazil's sprawling semi-arid shrubland known as the Caatinga, Manuel turned to beekeeping as a means of subsistence in the largely arid and uncultivable region. But in a stroke of countryside genius, he's forged an unlikely animal partnership with what just might be the world's only beekeeping donkey [link is in Portugese] (that has the necessary garb to boot) -- and it's making all the difference.

In recent years, harvesting honey has grown signifcantly in Manuel's little rural town of Itatira, in the Brazilian state of Ceará -- in fact, the bees there are the biggest producers around. But of 120 or so beekeepers in Itatira, Manuel and his donkey Boneco are among the most successful, thanks in part to Manuel's invention: the donkey-sized beekeeper's suit that keeps his partner safe from stings.

Photo courtesy: youtube.com/screen capture

Together the pair are capable of bringing more honey to market than most farmers can harvest alone. Not surprisingly, Manuel and Boneco have caught the attention of the Association of Honey Producers which hopes that he'll make custom suits for their animals as well.

While Manuel considers the offer, which would likely come as a pleasant boon, he's quick to note that it's not the custom beekeeping suit alone that has lead to his success in the honey business [link is in Portugese]:

"Not to discount the others," says Manuel, "but Boneco is a faithful friend."

Here's a news report on the beekeeping donkey (in Portuguese):

Beautiful Fences That Serve an Environmental Function

All photos courtesy: © Benjamin Spöth

We know that bees, birds and butterflies -- nature's pollinators -- play a huge role in health, self-sustaining ecosystems and genetic propagation in agriculture. There's no doubt that the decline in pollinator populations (like bees) have many worried about the future of food availability.

One way to increase pollinator populations is to incorporate suitable habitats into our urban gardens, be it planting butterfly-friendly species like milkweed or, as German, Eindhoven-based designer Benjamin Spöth has done, installing some kind of habitable framework like his Pollinators' Paradise.

Made out wood and metal, this structure is intended as a modular fencing unit that can be adapted in various ways to attract and provide habitats for birds, bees, moths and other pollinating insects, says Spöth:

Beetles, wasps, bees or moths: all are welcome in Pollinators' Paradise, a modular garden fencing system to provide food and shelter to nature's creepy crawlies. About one third of the food we eat is dependent on insects for pollination. Population levels of many important pollinators are seeing a steady decline due to monoculture and loss of habitat, primarily.

The unit can be customized to one's local pollinator species:

Individual elements can be integrated into the structure to cater to specific species. There are hollow rods and twigs for nesting, hardy refuges for the winter and pots for flowering plants, guaranteeing a steady supply of nectar during the rest of the year.

Like many other designs that hope to give an edge to urban biodiversity by turning residual spaces into animal habitats, I would like to see this modular system tested in action to see whether it is effective or not. It probably is, but in any case, the concept itself of finding a way to boost pollinator species is sound; and it's one that we can incorporate in our gardens, even if it's just letting that milkweed grow. More over at Benjamin Spöth's website.

M&M-Coloured Honey, Anyone?

Photo courtesy: © Ramon Gonzalez

French bees in the Alsace region of France have acquired a bad snacking habit, and it’s tainting their honey.

The autumn honey harvest in the Alsace region of France is hitting a major setback. ABC News reports that in the northeastern region of France, home to 2,400 beekeepers and 35,000 colonies that produce nearly 1,000 tons of honey per year, some hives are producing honey in bizarre shades of green and blue.

For weeks the beekeepers of the town of Ribeauville have been mystified as to why honey is being produced in such unusual colors. The town’s Union of Beekeepers believes they’ve found the culprit and they’re pointing the finger at M&M's.

It seems there’s a biogas plant in the area that processes waste from a Mars plant that produces M&M's, which--as we know--come in a variety of colors, including blue and green.

Philippe Meinrad, a spokesman for Agrivalor, the company operating the biogas plant, told Reuters that they “discovered the problem at the same time [the beekeepers] did… [and] quickly put in place a procedure to stop it.”

The plant in question is promising to take measures to prevent the bees from getting into the waste in the future. But that probably won’t make beekeepers that have had their honey harvest ruined feel any better about their loss this season.

According to the French newspaper Le Monde, the company said it will clean out the containers and store the waste in airtight containers, out of reach of hungry bees. (Le Monde page is in French. Translation feature may be needed.) Mars did not respond to ABC News when asked for comment.

According to Le Monde, the colorful honey is not marketable and will not hit shelves this season. This year has already been disastrous for beekeepers from New Jersey to Britain and France’s honey blues are not expected to sweeten year-end profits.

David Selig of Red Hook, Brooklyn, a restaurant owner and amateur beekeeper, was disappointed that instead of honey his bees had produced a red concoction more reminiscent of maraschino cherries or of cough syrup. Photo courtesy: nytimes.com

As you may remember, a similar thing happened here in the U.S. in 2010 when Brooklyn bees were finding their way into the waste of a plant that produces maraschino cherries and creating a red honey that alarmed beekeepers.

Fears have been expressed that the bees’ feasting on the stuff could have unforeseeable health effects on the hives. After all, a study diet of M&Ms is no good for anyone or anything AND this is the waste product - the stuff they don't want.

One of the honeycombs in Mr. Selig's hive. Photo courtesy: nytimes.com

But Mr. Selig said there was something extraordinary, too, about those corn-syrup-happy bees that came flying back this summer.

“When the sun is a bit down, they glow red in the evenings,” he said. “They were slightly fluorescent. And it was beautiful.”

Bees sure do love their junk food. Keep this in mind if you want to keep bees in your backyard and you live in an area where sugary snacks and drinks are produced.

Honeybees Capable of Self-Medicating

Beeswax and propolis on top of a frame. Photo courtesy: mattprice

News today of yet more evidence linking neonicotinoid pesticides to Colony Collapse Disorder in bees was notable not just because it showed that insecticides harm bees. What is really interesting about this, and previous studies on honeybee exposure to neonicotinoids, is that the chemicals don't appear to just kill bees overnight, but rather they disrupt natural behaviors like navigation, queen rearing and the ability to ward off parasites.

We already knew that bees have a remarkably sophisticated social system and a robust set of defenses against numerous threats (check out this remarkable video, for example, on how honeybees clean house). But we're learning just how remarkable with every new study.



Jennifer Welsh reported over at Huffington Post recently on new research showing that bees self-medicate against fungal threats by collecting plant resins and wax to create propolis, a glue-like substance with strong anti-fungal properties:

The researchers found that when facing a fungal threat the bees brought in 45 percent more of the waxy creation to line their hives, and physically removed fungally-infected larvae from their area. Interestingly, that means they have a better grasp of the germ theory of disease than humans did before the 19th century — things that come into contact with microbes tend to cause further infection, the researchers noted.

"The colony is willing to expend the energy and effort of its worker bees to collect these resins," Simone-Finstrom said in a statement. "So, clearly this behavior has evolved because the benefit to the colony exceeds the cost."

As Welsh notes, the study may have implications for recommended beekeeping methodologies. After all, beekeepers have tended to favor hive designs and bee strains that produce less propolis, and often remove the substance when it is made, because it sticks hive parts together and makes the bees tough to work with.

Any time we post on alternative methods like tough love beekeeping or top-bar hives, one of the common criticisms is that regular intervention is needed to stop bees gluing up their hives.

Maybe this is just one more reminder that the bees may just know what they are doing, at least better than we do.

Truck Carrying 14 Million Honeybees Crashes

Part of the honeybee rescue effort. Photo courtesy: katu.com

As anyone who reads my blog with any regularity knows, I have a special passion for honeybees; raw, unpasterized honey; and, flying pollinators in general. Without our winged pollinators, we would soon be unable to feed ourselves.

While I applaud bees being rented out to help the farmers increase their agricultural yields for many reasons, safer transport over shorter distances must be found for these precious little pollinators.

In the search for solutions to the ongoing plight of honeybees, both mainstream bee experts and advocates of alternative approaches to beekeeping have suggested that the practice of trucking honeybees thousands of miles across country for pollination may be causing undue stress and contributing to colony losses. Whether or not this is the case, it's a fair bet that crashing a truck full of bees is not going to do them, or rescue workers dealing with the incident, much good. The Daily Mail reports on a major honeybee truck crash in Idaho that resulted in 14 million displaced bees, honey all over the highway, stung rescue workers, and a fear of hungry bears:

Fire crews sprayed the bees with water at first to try and cool them down. A bee expert then suggested using fire foam to try and kill them so the workers could get near the truck to clean up the mess and recover the vehicle and surviving hives.

"I am worried about the bears coming down now - the grizzly bears because there are so many bees that we didn't kill that they will be down," said Chief Strandberg.

The weekend did not end well for fire and police personnel near Island Park, Idaho, where 14 million bees went berserk after a semi wrecked on a highway Sunday afternoon. The truck was carrying more than 400 hives; crews didn't finish cleaning what was called a river of honey off the road until the nex day.

The bees swarmed in black clouds that kept the truck driver and rescue personnel in their vehicles until they could put on protective gear. In the end, it seems that many of the bees were killed after being sprayed by firefighting foam.

The load of bees and honey was headed from California to Minot, N.D. And according to local TV station KIFI (Local News 8), "It is not unusual for semi-trucks with bees to travel U.S. Highway 20. Strandberg said about three or four trucks come through every week."

KIFI reports that the bees have a street value of three cents apiece, meaning that an estimated $400,000 worth of insects were lost in the crash.

KIFI sent a Local News 8 reporter to the scene; the resulting piece seems to have been filed under a state of extreme duress, as one roadside "standup" shot devolved into hair-flailing acts of self-preservation before she could speak. You can watch the video. But it should be noted that it's not easy to film bees on the best of days, let alone when they're rampaging along a rural highway that's also likely to become a gathering point for grizzly bears.

For any conspiracy theorists out there, who may be wondering why millions of bees are routinely being transported on America's highways, on shadowy semis bound for the Dakotas — check out the entry on bees at the X-Files Wiki.

A video of the incident.

Using Bees to Battle Crows

Crows scavenge through bags of garbage in an alley of Tokyo's Ikebukuro entertainment district. Despite measures to control the number of crows in the city, their population has grown to more than 20,000 in the past eight years. Photo courtesy: Katsumi Kasahara/AP

It is always heartening to see a problem solved the natural way. For the past decade, Japan has been using an inventive solution to an on-going problem. In Japan, crows are considered to be a menace and the feathered nuisances are multiplying like mad due to the rich feast of street garbage they find in Japan – Tokyo in particular.

The war on crows began about 10 years ago. The unverified story is that a crow buzzed Gov. Shintaro Ishihara as he played golf, prompting a declaration that he would turn crow-meat pies into Tokyo's favorite dish. That never happened. But the battle continues today, with mixed results.

Crows are a very raucous bird; and, their cawing can rattle the nerves. Combine this with their curious, aggressive nature and incredible intelligence; and, you have a formidable opponent.

Npr tells us this story:

The sound of crows cawing makes Yumiko Kono's heart beat faster as she pounds around Yoyogi Park in central Tokyo. A long-distance runner, Kono covers at least seven miles a day. She is highly sensitive to sound, since she is blind. She runs with the aid of a companion. A year and a half ago, she was attacked by a crow in the park, an experience that traumatized her.

"A crow landed on my head just for an instant while I was running," Kono says. "It was like it was using my head as a jumping board. I was surprised, then scared. Now, when I hear crows cawing and their wings flapping, I still get scared."

Kono is not alone. Many Tokyo dwellers have been dive-bombed by the big black birds — the species known as jungle crows — that flap around the city. Almost everyone knows someone who has been pecked or pooped upon.

Koji Takagi, manager of Tokyo's Yoyogi Park, says the traps tend to catch younger, more inexperienced crows. The birds lured into the traps set up by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government are then gassed. Photo courtesy: Louisa Lim/NPR

The city’s response to the problem is the inhumane trapping and gassing of captured crows.

"We do get complaints from people opposed to the crow extermination. But this is the policy of the environment bureau. People should also learn to deal with garbage better," says Koji Takagi, manager at Tokyo's Yoyogi Park, which has three traps.

In addition to the dive bombing of both people and animals; and, the bird droppings in the street and on clothing and pedestrians alike; crows cause other problems. The birds cause technological havoc. They nest in utility poles and cause blackouts; they even steal fiber-optic cables to build nests, sometimes disabling parts of the broadband network.

Still, the main thrust of the effort directed at reducing the crows’ numbers should be cutting off the source of the problem - easy access to food scraps from garbage cans. Not only would it improve sanitation; but, it could reduce the amount of funds spent on keeping the crow population at bay. At present, the government budget for crow eradication is currently at $700,000 - about $50 per crow killed. This would appeal to the economically minded while also appealing to the environmentalist as this translates into fewer crows killed.

Atsuo Tanaka of the Ginza Honeybee Project says his 300,000 honeybees chase away crows. Photo courtesy: Louisa Lim/NPR

Fortunately, there is a privately-funded project called the Ginza Honeybee Project being conducted in Tokyo. While this project is primarily for the purpose of producing honey in a highly-populated city setting, an expected bonus was discovered. The site for the project was carefully picked based on the bees’ flight patterns and available surrounding green areas to supply the nectar. Finally, it was decided to set up a series of hives on the roof of an office block in the glam shopping district of Ginza. It was here that the researchers found the bees amazing ability to go head-to-head with the crows.

The co-founder Atsuo Tanaka says the 300,000 honeybees are doing their part to repel the crows. "The bees become very aggressive when they see shiny black objects, because it reminds them of bears or hornets who might attack them. So whenever they see crows, a whole swarm of bees will chase them," he says, adding that the bees are friendly toward humans.

Tanaka says the crows no longer land on or near his building; and, adds that they tend to fly lower to avoid the swarms of honeybees. While this is an impressive model, it has yet to be put into mainstream crow control. Hopefully, Japan will look further into this natural method of crow eradication; and, the trapping and gassing of crows will stop.

Photo courtesy: fishermansdaughter

Via TreeHugger and npr