Honey bees unfortunately have a number of diseases and parasites to deal with, not to mention the occasional predator.
Bees have been dying around the world and this has sparked an increase in research and discussion about bee health.
Could you imagine a world without bees. Food production would plummet. But not just for us but for the other animals on the planet as well. So we would see a reduction in farmed and wild animals, as their food sources slowly disappear. Of 100 major crops, 70 are pollinated by bees—including apples, cucumbers, broccoli, onions, pumpkins, avocados, almonds, and so many more.
Europe banned 3 insecticides called Neonicotinoids 2 of which were Imidacloprid and Clothianidin. This was to help slow the loss of bees. This decision was challenged by the manufacturers of these insecticides in suggesting that their product can’t and shouldn’t be banned.
One of the major issues was Colony Collapse Disorder, this has occurred around the world in many countries.
What occurs is a bee keeper will put out bees and when they return they find only a queen and a few bees left in the hive. This affected millions of hive around the world. To help the USA Australia was selling packaged bees to them, to replenished the bees they lost.
A package of bees is around 5 thousand bees with a fertilised queen. Of course the problem with this was that those bees are sentenced to a similar fate as their predecessor.