this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2023
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This wouldn't be a surprise to anyone seeing the conditions pollinator honey bees are kept in. Most are distrubuted in cardboard boxes to fields to be used for pollination. Once they pollinate the fields they aren't really of concern to the farmers anymore. In my opinion, this is like saying half of cattle die every year, but populations remain stable. It's kind of by design, and in some cases the goal.
That's a temporary nuc box for live bee sales. Noone takes these to pollinate crops. Once they are done pollination, the grower might not care anymore, but the beekeeper certainly does. They either move on to another crop or return home to produce honey.
Every field I've been in has these boxes distributed for pollinating. From the product page:
So it's sold as a bonus that this does not need to be returned, so it's common enough practice. I know they are suppose to be used to seed new boxes, but farmers generally don't care. They want the flowers pollinated, the bees will probably die from the pesticides so no use in worrying about them.
They might look similar, but they are not. Hives are graded and a 4 or 5 framer nuc wouldn't make the cut. Growers don't buy bees for pollination, they rent them. And yes, they are sometimes damaged by careless pesticide application.
Ahh interesting. Thanks for the insight.