The artificial hives are shorter and wider than those in nature, and they have large entrances that allow beekeepers to reach the bees and honey.Ĭurrent methods of beekeeping are helping to spread a devastating parasite known as Varroa Destructor. Man-made hives lack properties that honey bees prefer in their natural environments. ![]() – The Value Of Pollinators To The Ecosystem And Our Economy ![]() Without honey bees, the harvest of blueberries, squash, watermelon, and other fruits would be greatly reduced, driving up prices and disrupting the marketplace.” These hyper-efficient insects can provide pollination to virtually any crop.Īlmonds, for example, are almost entirely dependent upon honey bee pollination. “Managed honey bees are the most valuable pollinators in terms of agricultural economics. We admit it never occurred to us that fake outdoor trees could help the bees! It may be a real possibility, though. A company like International TreeScapes, LLC are world wide leaders and could do this as a student design project….”Īfter that comment, we had to look into the matter further. They could easily be modified to suit the design parameters that are described in this article. “…We have been creating artificial trees for decades…. – To Save Honey Bees We Need to Design Them New Hives Natural nests were only scientifically surveyed as recently as 1974 and research into their physical properties only began in 2012. In the 21st century, we’re still using hives designed in the 1930s and 1940s, based on ideas from the 1850s. ![]() He commented on an article about how man-made honey bee hives are based on an old design, and they’re not the best environment for bees to thrive:ĭespite the importance of nests to honey bees, the hives we build them bear little resemblance and have few of the properties of the natural tree nests European honey bees evolved with. A Facebook fan recently suggested that our fake outdoor trees could help the declining honey bee population.
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