1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 www.titlovi.com 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:10,000 More_Than_Honey_(2012) ,BR_MKV_H264_AC3[5.1](ZeroOneFilm,Ger,Eng,Chi,Sub) 1280x720 3 00:03:39,210 --> 00:03:45,800 My grand-grand father and my grandfather were keeping bees, 4 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:49,060 and my father, too. 5 00:03:49,470 --> 00:03:55,560 First I was not interested in bees, I was afraid of bee stings. 6 00:03:55,860 --> 00:04:01,610 When my father got older he said to me: 7 00:04:01,900 --> 00:04:06,820 "If you keep on avoiding bees, I will sell them." 8 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:09,800 I did not like the idea. 9 00:04:10,450 --> 00:04:13,030 I told myself: 10 00:04:13,330 --> 00:04:19,290 "If my parents could stand the bee stings, I can stand them, too." 11 00:04:19,590 --> 00:04:21,380 After all I am not a softie. 12 00:04:57,030 --> 00:05:00,170 My family used to be bee farmers 13 00:05:00,380 --> 00:05:02,450 My grandfather had a tin can factory 14 00:05:02,460 --> 00:05:04,540 He had a garden with fruit trees and berries 15 00:05:04,550 --> 00:05:06,840 and bee hives 16 00:05:14,350 --> 00:05:18,630 I liked my grandfather also because he had many animals, like dogs and horses 17 00:05:23,940 --> 00:05:27,070 The bees were the favourite animals of grandpa 18 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:31,870 He owned 150 bee hives 19 00:05:46,150 --> 00:05:50,320 Lying in the grass of his garden, I used to listen to the bees. 20 00:05:54,910 --> 00:05:59,500 My father explained to me how the bees are necessary for the fertilisation of the flowers 21 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:16,600 To attract the bees, the flowers produce sweet honey. 22 00:06:20,150 --> 00:06:24,630 By moving from one flower to the next the bees also transport pollen. 23 00:06:28,290 --> 00:06:33,500 By collecting honey, the bees also fertilize flowers 24 00:06:39,030 --> 00:06:44,020 My grandpa was a manager over gardens machines and people. 25 00:06:44,030 --> 00:06:47,880 He was fascinated how everything worked together 26 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:59,770 But nowadays the bees have a hard time. Since a few years many bees are dying 27 00:06:59,780 --> 00:07:04,360 Not only in Switzerland. Bees are dying worldwide. 28 00:07:04,370 --> 00:07:08,630 It's in the news all over. But the cause is still a mystery 29 00:07:08,650 --> 00:07:13,230 I start my journey trying to solve this mystery 30 00:07:18,390 --> 00:07:20,590 It's almost full bloom now. 31 00:07:20,890 --> 00:07:24,750 It's such a gorgeous time of year to be out here 32 00:07:25,070 --> 00:07:26,890 It is just beautiful 33 00:07:29,990 --> 00:07:31,600 And no one sees this. 34 00:07:32,030 --> 00:07:35,270 Only the beekeeper sees this, and the farmer sees this. 35 00:07:46,130 --> 00:07:47,280 Listen. 36 00:07:49,970 --> 00:07:51,200 Can you hear that? 37 00:07:54,090 --> 00:07:56,130 That's the sound of money. 38 00:07:57,310 --> 00:08:00,380 Fresh printed money. 39 00:08:01,390 --> 00:08:02,920 Bees and trees. 40 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:07,930 Nice. 41 00:08:13,820 --> 00:08:15,230 Ladies, 42 00:08:16,740 --> 00:08:18,690 how are you today? 43 00:08:21,210 --> 00:08:22,780 Are you busy? 44 00:08:24,710 --> 00:08:26,870 It's warm, it's sunny. 45 00:08:30,460 --> 00:08:31,700 An old maid. 46 00:08:32,010 --> 00:08:36,290 That's a nut that didn't get shaken and then got hold. 47 00:08:38,470 --> 00:08:40,000 And right there. 48 00:08:46,230 --> 00:08:47,250 Yummy, delicious. 49 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:53,920 One third of all we are eating would not exist without bees 50 00:08:53,940 --> 00:08:57,050 Grandpa told me how it works 51 00:08:57,060 --> 00:09:00,180 All colourful and good-smelling flowers and plants get fertilized by insects 52 00:09:00,190 --> 00:09:05,190 All other plants are fertilized by the wind. 53 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:16,860 Grandpa was drawing the labels for the jam jars himself 54 00:09:16,870 --> 00:09:22,080 But the competitors were more efficient and imported the fruits by railway 55 00:09:22,090 --> 00:09:28,330 Grandpa went bankruptcy In the end he only had the bees. 56 00:09:28,340 --> 00:09:34,080 They still kept bringing him honey but apples were growing in the lawns he lost 57 00:09:36,530 --> 00:09:40,690 It's sort of a deal that we made with the almond growers 58 00:09:40,990 --> 00:09:47,520 We know going in. There are risks and opportunities. 59 00:09:47,830 --> 00:09:49,950 The almond orchards, they pay a lot of money. 60 00:09:50,500 --> 00:09:55,000 I mean. It's no mystery. We've got 4000 bee hives here 61 00:09:55,300 --> 00:09:58,830 With 150 Dollars a hive that's 600'000 dollars. 62 00:09:59,140 --> 00:10:00,790 To me that's real money. 63 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:10,550 That might be Joe Black. 64 00:10:11,230 --> 00:10:14,350 He might be flying down to Bakersfield today. 65 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:35,660 I think California produces 80% 66 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:38,790 of the world production in almonds. 67 00:10:40,140 --> 00:10:44,080 In terms of the almonds that are actually in the market in the world, 68 00:10:44,390 --> 00:10:47,340 it's higher than that. It may be close to 90%. 69 00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:01,650 It is not commercial to grow almonds on a very small scale. 70 00:11:01,950 --> 00:11:06,900 I know of no reason why that system will not be sustainable for the long term. 71 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:12,030 There is nothing that I have seen in my 35 years in the industry that will lead me to think 72 00:11:12,330 --> 00:11:18,830 that this concentration of almonds in one area is self-defeating in one way. 73 00:11:19,130 --> 00:11:23,290 That it will somehow crash as a result of being concentrated. 74 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:26,420 I have seen nothing that would indicate that. 75 00:11:47,370 --> 00:11:49,690 We would not have a business without the bees. 76 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:55,950 Without some type of insect pollinator almonds would not have any crop. 77 00:11:56,250 --> 00:11:58,370 We have proven that again and again. 78 00:11:58,670 --> 00:12:03,420 Our business relies entirely on pollination by the bees. 79 00:12:22,500 --> 00:12:28,640 Apposite to bumblebees or butterflies bees always stick to one type of flower. 80 00:12:28,650 --> 00:12:32,810 One bee always flies to the apple tree an other bee always flys to another colourful flower. 81 00:12:32,820 --> 00:12:39,070 Only when the whole job with one type of flower is finished a bee will change to an other type. 82 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:42,190 But here they do not have a choice. 83 00:12:42,210 --> 00:12:48,030 There is nothing but almonds. 84 00:13:16,510 --> 00:13:20,770 Inside the bee hive the bees transfer the collected nektar to their sisters. 85 00:13:20,790 --> 00:13:23,900 They keep on chewing until it turns into honey, 86 00:13:23,910 --> 00:13:29,740 then they store the honey into honey combs. 87 00:13:54,060 --> 00:13:57,180 They pack the pollen into small lumbs, 88 00:13:57,190 --> 00:14:01,350 and store it as protein reserves. 89 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:05,520 But the bees also bring home information about the surrounding. 90 00:14:05,530 --> 00:14:09,690 As a first-grade student I saw a silent movie about bees 91 00:14:09,700 --> 00:14:12,820 The title of the movie was "the dances of the bees". 92 00:14:12,830 --> 00:14:15,940 The director of the movie was Karl von Frisch, a scientist. 93 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:24,290 He received a Nobel Price for his studies especially for the discovery of "the dances of the bees". 94 00:14:24,300 --> 00:14:33,670 As he noticed, the bees tell their sisters in the hive where and how far away from hive the nektar is located. 95 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:42,010 The closer to the hive the faster they shake their tails. 96 00:14:42,020 --> 00:14:47,230 As a kid in the cinema, I was annoyed by the smart bees with their complicated geometry. 97 00:14:47,250 --> 00:14:52,450 The bees a so terribly smart and complicated. 98 00:14:52,460 --> 00:15:02,880 "Please count yourself!" 99 00:15:02,890 --> 00:15:10,180 At the "Freie Universität Berlin" professor Menzel studies the question if bees can make free decisions. 100 00:15:10,190 --> 00:15:13,300 His experimental setup leads the bees into a dilemma. 101 00:15:13,310 --> 00:15:16,430 They already know one place with nektar. 102 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:21,650 An other bee then gives them information about a second equally good place with nektar. 103 00:15:21,660 --> 00:15:33,110 What will the bee do? 104 00:15:33,130 --> 00:15:38,330 "Bee takes off" 105 00:15:38,340 --> 00:15:46,670 Constantin, please switch on the radar. I will walk to the receiver. 106 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:51,880 We can see here that the bee decided to fly to the old nektar place. 107 00:15:51,910 --> 00:15:57,110 She arrives there. There used to be a place with nektar. 108 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:01,280 But now there is no more nektar. We have removed the nektar. 109 00:16:01,290 --> 00:16:07,640 Now she flies around in circles searching the nektar. 110 00:16:07,650 --> 00:16:10,770 Now she is not flying back to the hive. 111 00:16:10,780 --> 00:16:13,790 She is flying towards East. 112 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:21,090 Eastwards is the second nektar place, which was told her by the tail-shaking in the hive. 113 00:16:21,100 --> 00:16:25,260 Here is the second nektar place. And here she is! 114 00:16:25,270 --> 00:16:29,430 Ok, I can announce the landing of red bee number 23. 115 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:33,600 Now she carries the nektar. 116 00:16:33,610 --> 00:16:51,330 Now she has to fly back to the hive. She calculated the best route to fly back. 117 00:16:51,350 --> 00:16:56,550 Here she arrives at the hive. 118 00:16:56,560 --> 00:17:04,700 We can assume that even the small brain of a bee is capable to make a decision between two possible options. 119 00:17:19,870 --> 00:17:23,240 She is a lovely little insect. Very tolerant. 120 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:28,740 Not very smart, but really tolerant. 121 00:17:31,590 --> 00:17:34,830 Two weeks from today The place here looks like an orchard to us, 122 00:17:35,130 --> 00:17:38,750 but to them it looks like a desert. There is nothing to eat. 123 00:17:40,100 --> 00:17:43,760 The almond grower will call me saying: "The bloom is over you may now go." 124 00:17:44,060 --> 00:17:47,750 So we do go. Because if we would leave the bees here, they would starve. 125 00:17:50,900 --> 00:17:52,970 We are about to be run over. 126 00:18:04,410 --> 00:18:07,530 This ribbon? - I will do this ribbon, then that. 127 00:18:08,290 --> 00:18:09,480 Okay. 128 00:18:12,340 --> 00:18:13,410 Thank you. 129 00:18:24,730 --> 00:18:28,180 He is starting from the other ribbon. 130 00:18:30,110 --> 00:18:32,850 So maybe we will go a little away. 131 00:18:33,150 --> 00:18:36,980 If he would just not spray the bees, that would be great. 132 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:42,940 That's great. 133 00:18:43,700 --> 00:18:45,070 Because it is really ... 134 00:18:46,210 --> 00:18:50,950 You know, ideally they would spray at night. When the bees are in. 135 00:18:51,710 --> 00:18:57,750 By the time the material is dry, and isn't so lethal. It is the next day. 136 00:18:58,130 --> 00:19:00,170 If they would just spray at night. 137 00:19:00,470 --> 00:19:03,290 But. You know. You can't see at night. 138 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:07,670 They don't know where they are at night. These fields are massive. They get lost. 139 00:19:10,810 --> 00:19:13,050 They are going to do what they are going to do. 140 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:18,850 It does not kill the bees. But it repels the bees. 141 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:22,770 If after this material has dried on the bloom. 142 00:19:24,700 --> 00:19:29,910 The bees bring that material back to the colony and feed it to the babies. 143 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:32,530 19 days later we see an impact on the brood 144 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:34,780 We see brood die off. 145 00:19:35,090 --> 00:19:40,000 And it is the fungicide at work. Pretty much everyone knows it. 146 00:19:48,930 --> 00:19:52,970 That's the only two motivations in life: Greed and fear. 147 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:58,100 I don't know how to shrink a business or a life style. 148 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:02,310 I would not be happy. That is not in my DNA. 149 00:20:02,610 --> 00:20:05,650 We are capitalists. We want to grow. 150 00:20:08,330 --> 00:20:10,940 Total global domination. 151 00:20:43,990 --> 00:20:47,230 Here the bees are feeling good. 152 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:51,980 They are having Sunday today. 153 00:20:52,620 --> 00:20:56,400 No wonder they are making such a clear honey. 154 00:20:57,710 --> 00:21:02,450 Pure nature, no fungicide, no poison, anywhere. 155 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:05,460 This will be a wonderful honey. 156 00:21:05,970 --> 00:21:08,500 I'm already looking forward to serve this honey. 157 00:21:10,850 --> 00:21:13,670 Our bees are from an old rural breed. 158 00:21:14,100 --> 00:21:18,720 The have accustomed themselves to the surroundings since centuries. 159 00:21:19,020 --> 00:21:22,800 If I would bring bees from the middle land up here, 160 00:21:23,110 --> 00:21:25,940 These bees would have a hard time to survive the winter. 161 00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:30,070 My bees need to survive a winter longer than half a year. 162 00:21:30,370 --> 00:21:35,570 And my bees are now used to that. 163 00:21:35,870 --> 00:21:37,860 That's why it works well now. 164 00:21:50,010 --> 00:21:51,420 Look at that ... 165 00:21:51,850 --> 00:21:56,170 You don't belong here with your yellow tail. Get away! 166 00:21:57,810 --> 00:22:03,970 There, behind that mountain, someone has bees. 167 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:09,600 I have no idea what breed he is having. But occasionally his bees fly over here. 168 00:22:09,620 --> 00:22:14,610 The strange bee with the yellow tail is living in another bee hive. 169 00:22:14,620 --> 00:22:20,880 Her virgin queen was flying over the mountain during swarming and was inseminated here by male bees. 170 00:22:21,130 --> 00:22:24,870 This insemination happens somewhere in the air. 171 00:22:25,170 --> 00:22:29,790 The queen finds a swarm of drones. 172 00:22:30,100 --> 00:22:35,210 Drones (male bees) from another colony. From another beekeeper. 173 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:39,130 A queen gets inseminated by up to 10 drones. 174 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:41,800 Like this a mixing can occur. 175 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:52,230 What kind of breed this is? - Carnica. 176 00:22:53,540 --> 00:22:59,650 I am a bit disappointed because the old rural breed slowly disappears. 177 00:23:01,460 --> 00:23:03,700 Yes, they are having this yellow tail. 178 00:23:04,710 --> 00:23:07,450 I used to have the rural breed. My father too. 179 00:23:08,130 --> 00:23:10,610 Why did you change to Carnica? 180 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:15,250 To tell the truth. Now I don't need a ladder anymore. 181 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:18,230 No more searching and collecting swarms. - Really? 182 00:23:18,940 --> 00:23:22,140 Of my 70 colonies only three of them flew around for swarming. 183 00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:25,000 Really? - Yes, indeed. 184 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:31,850 Also, I get bitten only very seldom by Carnica bees. 185 00:23:32,370 --> 00:23:36,400 So, you are saying these bees bite less than bees from my rural breed? - For sure. 186 00:23:36,700 --> 00:23:40,280 Sometimes I work with friends having the rural breed. 187 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:46,790 If I would have to do beekeeping with the rural breed again, I would stop. 188 00:23:47,090 --> 00:23:50,250 I would not be able to have 70 colonies. - Really? 189 00:23:50,550 --> 00:23:53,540 I don't need a protecting net. 190 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:56,250 I never use it anymore. 191 00:23:56,560 --> 00:24:01,470 Don't you want to change as well? - I think I am too old for it. 192 00:24:01,770 --> 00:24:05,630 You are not that old yet, aren't you. - I am, I'm getting weaker. 193 00:24:09,290 --> 00:24:14,490 The fact that the insemination happens in the air by other drones, 194 00:24:14,500 --> 00:24:17,620 not inside the own hive by the own brothers, 195 00:24:17,630 --> 00:24:21,790 is a natural protection against incest. 196 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:25,020 The queen is the mother of all the 50'000 bees in the hive 197 00:24:25,030 --> 00:24:28,050 She is laying up to 2'000 eggs per day, 198 00:24:28,060 --> 00:24:32,220 which corresponds to the weight of her own body. 199 00:24:32,230 --> 00:24:35,450 The other bees in the hive take very good care of the queen. 200 00:24:35,460 --> 00:24:43,690 They feed her. They clean her. 201 00:24:43,700 --> 00:24:47,860 When the queen dies, the bees have to raise a new queen. 202 00:24:47,870 --> 00:24:53,070 This risky period takes one month 203 00:24:53,090 --> 00:24:59,340 The queen can also lay not inseminated eggs. These eggs will develop into drones. 204 00:24:59,350 --> 00:25:04,550 The eggs which were inseminated by drones will develop into working bees. 205 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:07,780 The egg first develops into a larva 206 00:25:07,790 --> 00:25:10,810 The bees feed the larva with nectar and pollen 207 00:25:10,820 --> 00:25:13,940 Then they close the lid. 208 00:25:13,950 --> 00:25:17,170 The larva pupate, 209 00:25:17,180 --> 00:25:23,010 and three weeks later a bee emerges. 210 00:25:32,820 --> 00:25:36,980 The bigger male drones need three days longer to hatch out. 211 00:25:36,990 --> 00:25:42,090 The drones must be fed by the bees, 212 00:25:42,100 --> 00:25:46,260 such that they have enough strength for their daily flight in the afternoon, 213 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:51,590 hoping to find a princess in the air. 214 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:58,480 In autumn, at the end of the mating season the remaining drones are killed by the bees. 215 00:26:15,360 --> 00:26:18,900 If I find the new queen, I will have to kill her. 216 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:22,440 Here she is. 217 00:26:34,670 --> 00:26:36,870 You were having fun with foreign drones. 218 00:26:38,140 --> 00:26:42,960 That's the penalty for it. 219 00:27:01,420 --> 00:27:07,560 Actually honey is not meant for us humans. 220 00:27:07,570 --> 00:27:11,730 Grandpa had to steal the honey from the bees, 221 00:27:11,740 --> 00:27:14,960 and gave them cheap sugar to compensate. 222 00:27:14,970 --> 00:27:19,030 Like trading glass pearls for gold with the native Americans 300 years ago. 223 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:26,330 We even increased their honey yield by breeding. 224 00:27:26,340 --> 00:27:29,560 More yield, less bites. 225 00:27:29,570 --> 00:27:33,630 Breeding bees means controlling their queen. 226 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:41,970 She is the key figure. 227 00:27:41,980 --> 00:27:45,100 The colony decides when they need a new queen. 228 00:27:45,120 --> 00:27:49,380 Then they start building a special cell. 229 00:27:49,390 --> 00:27:54,490 Before the new princess hatches out, the old queen leaves the hive with most of the bees, 230 00:27:54,500 --> 00:27:58,660 to leave the hive for the new generation. 231 00:27:58,670 --> 00:28:02,830 Starting with one colony, suddenly there are two colonies. 232 00:28:02,850 --> 00:28:05,960 Beekeepers control and manipulate this natural process. 233 00:28:05,970 --> 00:28:09,090 They take away the queen from the colony, 234 00:28:09,100 --> 00:28:15,350 forcing the colony to breed new queens. 235 00:28:24,850 --> 00:28:29,940 I put a fertilized egg into this cell. 236 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:40,370 Three days later there will be a larva. 237 00:28:40,380 --> 00:28:46,940 I put this larva here to the big cells. 238 00:28:56,030 --> 00:29:04,360 Here the bees raise new queens, with special nectar. 239 00:29:04,370 --> 00:29:10,720 By marking the larva with a special royal jelly 240 00:29:10,740 --> 00:29:20,000 the bees decide to raise a new queen instead of raising an ordinary working bee. 241 00:29:20,020 --> 00:29:24,280 Now I but this special larva to the nursing colony 242 00:29:24,290 --> 00:29:31,470 I want to get 51 new queens from you! 243 00:29:31,490 --> 00:29:40,020 Please take good care of them, my bees. 244 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:44,090 The nursing colony is under stress, 245 00:29:44,100 --> 00:29:47,220 manipulated by the beekeeper. 246 00:29:47,230 --> 00:29:50,450 Not having a queen yet, not having any breed yet. 247 00:29:50,460 --> 00:29:53,480 The colony urgently need a new queen, 248 00:29:53,500 --> 00:30:00,680 Else the colony dies. 249 00:30:00,690 --> 00:30:03,910 Actually they just need one queen. 250 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:11,520 But in their misery they raise all the 51 queens. 251 00:30:43,550 --> 00:30:48,640 The first queen to hatch out would kill all the 50 others queens. 252 00:30:48,660 --> 00:30:53,860 One colony can only have one queen. 253 00:30:53,870 --> 00:30:59,070 Therefore the developing queens have to be harvested in time 254 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:04,290 to be distributed and separated each to a small colony to hatch out 255 00:31:04,300 --> 00:31:11,580 Here you can see a queen moving her legs. She will hatch out in a few hours. 256 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:18,360 So I put her here to this small group of bees. 257 00:32:35,010 --> 00:32:40,210 After sex with the queen the drone dies. 258 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:45,440 Coming back from the maiden flight, the queen has received five million sperms. 259 00:32:45,450 --> 00:32:50,440 This will last for eight years. 260 00:32:53,900 --> 00:33:04,310 As soon as the queen starts laying eggs we take her out. Now we can sell her. 261 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:09,420 This is a permanent marker. 262 00:33:09,430 --> 00:33:13,590 Each year we use another colour. 263 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:17,240 With the marker, the queen can be found easily in the hive, 264 00:33:17,250 --> 00:33:22,980 and we can know how old she is. 265 00:33:22,990 --> 00:33:26,940 The queen will be send to any place in the world. 266 00:33:26,950 --> 00:33:30,170 We send her in this little box, together with a few working bees. 267 00:33:30,180 --> 00:33:33,510 They form a small colony already. 268 00:33:33,530 --> 00:33:37,580 Now we apply a bit of smoke. 269 00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:40,820 The queen is still smelly from the marker, 270 00:33:40,830 --> 00:33:43,950 therefore we use a bit of water, too. 271 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:49,680 Now they clean each other, and now they accept her as the new queen. 272 00:33:58,350 --> 00:34:04,070 So, that's another 60 Euro. - Thank you. 273 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:34,930 Singer queens are sold worldwide, 274 00:34:34,950 --> 00:34:40,770 either in a little box, or else in a bigger box. 275 00:34:54,860 --> 00:34:58,710 This one goes to Innsbruck. 276 00:34:58,720 --> 00:35:04,550 Should arrive by tomorrow. 277 00:35:45,540 --> 00:35:52,820 European settlers brought the honey bee to the USA. 278 00:35:52,850 --> 00:35:58,470 The settlers cultivated the land with fruits and vegetables. 279 00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:04,830 Therefore they needed the bees. 280 00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:11,090 Continuously new breeds are being imported to the USA. 281 00:36:59,050 --> 00:37:01,440 I am a migrant beekeeper. 282 00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:07,920 In practice this means we go where the bees have the most opportunities to fly. 283 00:37:08,390 --> 00:37:10,340 That takes us across America 284 00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:15,930 In the course of a year we go from California, where the almonds and the cherries begin the season 285 00:37:16,230 --> 00:37:19,680 in early spring, in February. 286 00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:24,850 We then go to Washington State for apple, apricot and cherry pollination 287 00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:28,650 in late March and April. 288 00:37:29,450 --> 00:37:32,740 We move the entire outfit to North Dakota for summer. 289 00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:36,620 All the bees go for honey production in the summer. 290 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:42,200 By October first we begun to close the circle 291 00:37:42,510 --> 00:37:46,200 moving the colonies back west before Winter. 292 00:37:46,510 --> 00:37:49,540 So the course of a year is one big circle. 293 00:38:12,450 --> 00:38:17,110 From California to North Dakota its 1700 miles. 294 00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:25,210 We try to transport the bees in two days 295 00:38:25,510 --> 00:38:27,420 and spend one night on the road. 296 00:38:28,390 --> 00:38:33,620 The less time the bees spend on the truck the healthier they will be. 297 00:38:35,100 --> 00:38:40,550 The bees can't fly outside their hive when we are trucking them and cannot go to the bathroom. 298 00:38:40,860 --> 00:38:47,140 The longer they have to stay inside their box, in all their dirt 299 00:38:47,950 --> 00:38:52,730 the unhealthier they will be. It's stressful. 300 00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:55,830 It's not natural for the bees to be on the truck. 301 00:38:56,210 --> 00:39:00,200 The sooner we get them of the truck, the better it's going to be. 302 00:39:48,890 --> 00:39:52,010 The resting stops are short 303 00:39:52,020 --> 00:39:58,480 Without the wind from driving, it's getting to hot inside the boxes. 304 00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:34,660 On the big fields 1.5 million bee colonies are mingling, 305 00:40:34,670 --> 00:40:38,830 which is two third of all the bees of the States. 306 00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:43,000 There they also transfer diseases and parasites among each other. 307 00:40:43,020 --> 00:40:55,520 Like this a disease can spread around the country very fast. 308 00:40:55,530 --> 00:40:59,690 Nosemo is an intestinal parasite killing the bee from within. 309 00:40:59,710 --> 00:41:03,860 Wax maggots can destroy a hive. 310 00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:09,180 Another parasite kills larva. 311 00:41:09,190 --> 00:41:17,420 The most dangerous parasite of all is a mite with the name Varroa destructor. 312 00:41:17,430 --> 00:41:21,590 This mite breeds inside the bee hive. 313 00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:25,870 Young mites attack the larva, and even attack the bees. 314 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,100 They can bite through the carapace of the bee, 315 00:41:29,110 --> 00:41:39,110 and suck their fluids. 316 00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:44,530 Where they bite the bees, viral infections can occur. 317 00:41:44,550 --> 00:41:50,390 The bees will lose their wings. 318 00:42:48,020 --> 00:42:51,800 There is very few bees here. This is trouble. 319 00:42:54,190 --> 00:42:56,940 So let's have a look. 320 00:42:59,660 --> 00:43:01,020 There are no bees. 321 00:43:04,710 --> 00:43:06,700 This is what we don't like. 322 00:43:13,170 --> 00:43:15,950 Classic colony collapse disorder. 323 00:43:16,550 --> 00:43:17,870 A queen ... 324 00:43:20,470 --> 00:43:23,300 Twenty friends ... 325 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:27,970 and nothing else. 326 00:43:29,860 --> 00:43:33,390 This is a total loss. And we don't know why. 327 00:43:38,860 --> 00:43:39,970 Just ... 328 00:43:44,290 --> 00:43:45,530 just gone! 329 00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:47,360 Plenty of pollen. 330 00:43:48,500 --> 00:43:49,770 Plenty of nectar. 331 00:43:51,170 --> 00:43:53,120 No evidence of brood. 332 00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:59,290 I am getting real comfortable with death on an epic scale. 333 00:44:00,140 --> 00:44:01,580 I don't like it. 334 00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:15,180 I doesn't burn and it doesn't sting like it used to. 335 00:44:16,070 --> 00:44:19,640 You know, it used to "oh good it's like a death in the family". 336 00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:25,690 And now it's just something we have got to fix. It's just ... 337 00:44:27,500 --> 00:44:29,530 You know, I got to fix it. 338 00:44:29,830 --> 00:44:34,320 I don't have time to take it personally. I know this hive didn't mean to die. 339 00:44:34,630 --> 00:44:39,500 I don't know why it died. But I can't fix it. I just got to move on. 340 00:44:40,220 --> 00:44:43,960 I can't mourn the loss of this hive. It's just part of the game. 341 00:44:47,720 --> 00:44:52,590 We have got 365 out of 456. 342 00:44:53,310 --> 00:44:55,510 456? - 456 end up. 343 00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:01,940 It's 20%. 344 00:45:02,700 --> 00:45:06,560 That's our worst load. - Yea, the worst so far. 345 00:45:07,450 --> 00:45:09,360 But the ones that are here are ok. 346 00:45:14,290 --> 00:45:16,370 Hopefully the next are better. 347 00:45:16,670 --> 00:45:18,910 90 dugs. 348 00:45:21,510 --> 00:45:26,540 I am backed into a corner. And I fight back with what I have: 349 00:45:27,890 --> 00:45:29,050 Chemicals. 350 00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:13,460 After the stressful journey the bees are fed with sugar water. 351 00:46:13,470 --> 00:46:16,900 Mixed with antibiotics. 352 00:46:16,910 --> 00:46:27,840 Everywhere in Europe, North America and China nowadays bees can't survive anymore without medicines. 353 00:46:55,380 --> 00:47:01,520 Ok. Let's start the program. 354 00:47:01,550 --> 00:47:07,060 This yellow neuron not only tells the message "reward". 355 00:47:07,070 --> 00:47:16,130 It also contains the information: "it was good". 356 00:47:16,140 --> 00:47:22,490 There are other neuron responsible for fear, or defence. 357 00:47:22,500 --> 00:47:31,770 The 50'000 little brains are in a network together forming a super organism. 358 00:47:31,780 --> 00:47:36,880 A huge family with 50'000 family members. 359 00:47:36,890 --> 00:47:43,240 Each family member carries out his duties. 360 00:47:43,250 --> 00:47:47,410 No one is in command. Everyone works. 361 00:47:47,430 --> 00:47:56,490 Even the larva form a part of this information network. 362 00:48:05,990 --> 00:48:11,400 Each tentacle of the bees contains about 60'000 aroma sensors. 363 00:48:11,410 --> 00:48:16,710 Sensing the aromas around, the bees know everything what's going on in the hive. 364 00:48:16,740 --> 00:48:23,920 Even their legs contain aroma sensors. 365 00:48:23,930 --> 00:48:35,180 Like this they know everything like: "Where is the queen" or "are there enough eggs" or "are there enough reserves". 366 00:48:35,190 --> 00:48:39,560 Without a colony a single bee cannot survive. 367 00:48:39,570 --> 00:48:45,820 She gives up her individual freedom for the wellbeing of the colony. 368 00:48:45,830 --> 00:48:54,470 Each day about 2000 bees die, and about 2000 new-born bees hatch out. 369 00:49:08,770 --> 00:49:15,010 The interesting question is: Is the colony a regulated system ? 370 00:49:25,550 --> 00:49:31,490 The answer is: yes, the colony as a whole can have its own feelings 371 00:50:45,530 --> 00:50:49,790 When swarming one colony can duplicate into two colonies 372 00:50:49,810 --> 00:50:56,150 In industrial beekeeping this process is manipulated to make four colonies out of one. 373 00:50:56,170 --> 00:50:59,920 Like this the beekeeper can compensate the dead colonies. 374 00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:01,750 Brood. 375 00:51:03,850 --> 00:51:04,920 Honey. 376 00:51:07,150 --> 00:51:08,300 Eggs. 377 00:51:08,940 --> 00:51:13,140 Everybody needs somebody that they can talk to. 378 00:51:13,900 --> 00:51:17,940 Someone to open up their ears and let that trouble through. 379 00:51:18,240 --> 00:51:22,320 Now you don't have to sympathize or care what they may do 380 00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:27,780 But everybody needs somebody that they can talk to 381 00:51:29,550 --> 00:51:32,670 Each colony gets split 382 00:51:32,690 --> 00:51:36,740 Brood, honey, and eggs get separated to different boxes like spare parts. 383 00:51:36,760 --> 00:51:39,970 Mixed with other colonies. 384 00:51:39,990 --> 00:51:44,040 Most of the queens do not survive this process. 385 00:51:44,060 --> 00:51:49,890 New queens are delivered by FEDEX. 386 00:51:56,070 --> 00:51:59,900 Things have changed rapidly. We don't keep bees the way my dad did. 387 00:52:00,740 --> 00:52:07,320 My grandfather would probably walk away from this property. Disturbed. 388 00:52:07,620 --> 00:52:09,990 If he saw the way we keep bees today. 389 00:52:10,420 --> 00:52:13,330 He'd think: "My God, you have lost your soul, 390 00:52:13,630 --> 00:52:18,620 the husbandry of the hive and the care and the compassion in the keeping of the hive." 391 00:52:18,930 --> 00:52:23,880 He'd say we have sacrificed our relationship with the colony. 392 00:52:24,180 --> 00:52:29,380 But it was probably easier to maintain that relationship with the hive. 393 00:52:29,690 --> 00:52:32,590 He was probably running 1500 hives. 394 00:52:32,900 --> 00:52:36,720 We are running ten times that. We have 10x the employees, 395 00:52:37,030 --> 00:52:42,310 we have 10x the property, we have 10x of square foot of plants and equipment. 396 00:52:42,950 --> 00:52:47,150 We have 10x the trucks, 10x the power, 10x the cost. 397 00:53:36,800 --> 00:53:41,890 The colony with the black rural breed made a new queen without the yellow tail. 398 00:53:41,910 --> 00:53:46,170 On her maiden flight the queen did not leave the narrow valley 399 00:53:46,190 --> 00:53:53,270 So the colony is a true bred rural breed. 400 00:54:01,030 --> 00:54:04,440 At first sight it looks ok. 401 00:54:05,910 --> 00:54:08,190 But there is not much brood. 402 00:54:09,580 --> 00:54:10,900 Oh no, Fred. 403 00:54:11,370 --> 00:54:12,990 What do you see? 404 00:54:16,130 --> 00:54:18,030 Doesn't look good. 405 00:54:21,970 --> 00:54:25,120 Look here, that's typical, very extreme. 406 00:54:26,600 --> 00:54:30,290 This is a typical foulbrood disease. 407 00:54:31,390 --> 00:54:33,790 Let's hope it is the only one. 408 00:54:35,310 --> 00:54:37,430 Unfortunately this colony is also ill. 409 00:54:38,270 --> 00:54:40,010 I don't like what I see. 410 00:54:41,070 --> 00:54:44,180 The bees did not clean the hive anymore. 411 00:54:44,490 --> 00:54:48,980 It's a bad sign when the bees stop cleaning. - Shit! Dammed! 412 00:54:51,910 --> 00:54:54,110 Do you see it? 413 00:54:55,420 --> 00:54:57,360 This colony is lost, Fred. 414 00:55:00,550 --> 00:55:05,580 I can be smelled. - Once you can smell it, it's very bad already. 415 00:55:12,270 --> 00:55:15,470 Should we start using the sulphur gas already? 416 00:55:20,190 --> 00:55:26,060 Where does foulbrood come from? - It is a bacterial disease. Very contagious. 417 00:55:27,240 --> 00:55:31,230 Maybe other drones brought it to the hive. 418 00:55:35,040 --> 00:55:36,950 I feel very sorry for you. 419 00:58:53,570 --> 00:58:57,980 We drive by car to the south, to the province Shanxi. 420 00:58:58,870 --> 00:59:01,980 The drive is 2000 km long. 421 00:59:03,750 --> 00:59:09,910 It takes two days. Two drivers take turns. 422 00:59:10,710 --> 00:59:12,540 It is really a long drive. 423 00:59:21,560 --> 00:59:25,880 When arrived in the South, 424 00:59:26,190 --> 00:59:29,880 we rent there a big storage room, where we dry the pollen of the flowers. 425 00:59:31,320 --> 00:59:36,140 When the apply bloom begins, we buy the apple flowers from the farmers. 426 00:59:38,160 --> 00:59:42,230 Then we start to process the flowers. 427 00:59:43,620 --> 00:59:46,900 We also transport a fridge in our car. 428 00:59:48,250 --> 00:59:49,950 Driving back North 429 00:59:50,250 --> 00:59:54,540 we use local electricity for the fridge when we make a rest. 430 00:59:54,840 --> 01:00:00,830 With the fridge we keep the pollen fertile. 431 01:00:02,680 --> 01:00:08,130 As soon the apple trees start blooming here in the North, 432 01:00:08,440 --> 01:00:11,850 we sell the pollen to the local farmers. 433 01:00:20,290 --> 01:00:24,450 Mao Tse Tung wanted to get rid of all the sparrows. 434 01:00:24,460 --> 01:00:27,580 He said the sparrows steal the crop from the people. 435 01:00:27,590 --> 01:00:30,710 Billions of sparrows were eliminated. 436 01:00:30,730 --> 01:00:33,740 As a result there were lots and lots of insects and bugs. 437 01:00:33,750 --> 01:00:36,970 The insects were then killed using pesticides. 438 01:00:36,990 --> 01:00:42,300 Also the bees died. 439 01:00:56,690 --> 01:01:00,980 Is 50 gram enough? This year there was not so much pollen. 440 01:01:01,280 --> 01:01:03,760 That's all I'm having now. 441 01:01:04,080 --> 01:01:06,440 When I have sold them I will contact you again. 442 01:01:06,750 --> 01:01:11,610 I take 4 Yuan per gram, you can sell it for 5 Yuan. 443 01:01:15,500 --> 01:01:18,250 One package, 50 lots, please count. 444 01:01:23,510 --> 01:01:25,960 You can give me the money, when you have it. 445 01:01:27,270 --> 01:01:33,180 For sure you can sell them easily. - 15, 16, 17, ... 446 01:01:37,350 --> 01:01:41,510 Einstein said when the bees die 447 01:01:41,520 --> 01:01:46,620 four years later also the humans die. 448 01:01:46,850 --> 01:01:49,960 I travel in time to the future: 449 01:01:49,980 --> 01:01:54,140 amazingly in China there are regions without bees. 450 01:01:54,150 --> 01:01:59,780 Only reluctantly I am allowed to film. 451 01:02:56,710 --> 01:03:00,870 At a University in Beijing people study the question 452 01:03:00,890 --> 01:03:08,070 who is the better pollinator? Humans or bees. 453 01:03:08,080 --> 01:03:14,330 But the result of the researchers is clear: bees are the better pollinators. 454 01:03:37,900 --> 01:03:40,800 Here is what we have worked for all summer long. 455 01:03:42,480 --> 01:03:44,020 We see this abundance of honey. 456 01:03:44,440 --> 01:03:49,190 Beautiful summer honey. 457 01:03:49,490 --> 01:03:50,480 Off. 458 01:03:53,910 --> 01:03:54,930 This is mine. 459 01:03:55,250 --> 01:03:57,030 They don't like sharing too much. 460 01:03:58,580 --> 01:04:01,740 My thought was, taste it. 461 01:04:05,010 --> 01:04:09,170 Yea, that's good. That's real good, that's straight out from the hive. 462 01:04:12,140 --> 01:04:16,130 It's traumatic. It's hard on them. They don't understand it. 463 01:04:16,890 --> 01:04:21,090 'Cause they have been flying in the fields for months undisturbed, 464 01:04:21,400 --> 01:04:25,020 and now suddenly someone came and put the smoke in their face, 465 01:04:25,440 --> 01:04:29,730 and put the boxes off strip their comb bars, 466 01:04:30,030 --> 01:04:32,110 and handle them roughly, 467 01:04:32,410 --> 01:04:37,900 and now the lids are back on them and the hive is a lot smaller than it used to be. 468 01:06:05,400 --> 01:06:08,510 In the three to four weeks of her life 469 01:06:08,530 --> 01:06:11,750 a bee can produce about one teaspoon of honey. 470 01:06:11,970 --> 01:06:17,900 For 1 kg of honey the total flying distance of a bee is about 3x around the globe. 471 01:06:18,020 --> 01:06:21,030 Any chemicals the bee filters out into her own body. 472 01:06:21,040 --> 01:06:24,260 They sacrifice themselves for the offspring. 473 01:06:24,270 --> 01:06:27,280 The larva should only eat clean honey. 474 01:06:27,300 --> 01:06:31,250 But there stay some leftovers of pesticides. 475 01:07:32,990 --> 01:07:38,190 To replace the bees here, it would need many Chinese farmers. 476 01:07:38,200 --> 01:07:45,490 For this abundance of almonds four billions of bees had to work for 1 month. 477 01:07:45,500 --> 01:07:53,940 Even a vegetarian person is dependent on industrialized beekeeping. 478 01:07:53,950 --> 01:07:57,070 I am still searching a cause for the worldwide dying of bees. 479 01:07:57,080 --> 01:08:07,390 In the bible there is written: People, go to the world and be prosperous! 480 01:08:07,410 --> 01:08:11,570 There might lay the cause for the problems of the bees. 481 01:08:11,580 --> 01:08:16,780 They don't die from just pesticides, parasites, or antibiotics, incest or stress. 482 01:08:16,790 --> 01:08:21,990 It is the sum of all these problems, which is too much for the bees. 483 01:08:22,000 --> 01:08:27,210 The bees are dying because of the dominance of human civilization. 484 01:08:27,220 --> 01:08:33,460 Humans transformed wild bees into harmless domesticated bees. 485 01:08:33,470 --> 01:08:40,450 But why the bees are putting up with it. Don't they want to fight back? 486 01:09:07,880 --> 01:09:15,170 For this movie we travelled a lot. 487 01:09:15,290 --> 01:09:21,430 The narrator tells a story from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 488 01:09:21,450 --> 01:09:27,590 The Red Queen's race is an incident where the Red Queen, 489 01:09:27,600 --> 01:09:33,950 and Alice constantly running but remaining in the same spot. 490 01:09:33,960 --> 01:09:40,210 "Well, in our country," said Alice, "you'd generally get to somewhere else 491 01:09:40,220 --> 01:09:46,570 if you run very fast for a long time, as we've been doing." 492 01:09:46,580 --> 01:09:52,720 "A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. 493 01:09:52,730 --> 01:10:02,220 "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place." 494 01:10:14,500 --> 01:10:18,280 One of the first persons to come to the scene the Lakeville fire fighter chief 495 01:10:18,590 --> 01:10:23,170 couldn't figure out why there was a cloud around the accident, while there was nothing on fire. 496 01:10:23,590 --> 01:10:28,740 There was a black haze around the whole scene. I have never seen quite anything like that. 497 01:10:29,390 --> 01:10:33,510 He didn't know he drove right into a swarm of bees 498 01:10:36,320 --> 01:10:39,060 Stung in the face a few times 499 01:10:39,480 --> 01:10:42,150 immediately he ordered his crews to wear full gears for protection. 500 01:10:42,450 --> 01:10:44,690 14 people have died in the US since 2004 501 01:10:45,120 --> 01:10:48,270 after being attacked by swarms of killer bees. 502 01:10:48,580 --> 01:10:51,780 Killer bees first escaped from a Brazilian breeding expert. 503 01:10:52,080 --> 01:10:54,640 then migrated through Central America and Mexico. 504 01:10:54,960 --> 01:11:00,070 Along the way getting a deadly reputation allegedly killing hundreds of people. 505 01:11:00,080 --> 01:11:04,650 Killer bees are a cross-breeding from European and African bees. 506 01:11:04,670 --> 01:11:09,870 Their correct name is Africanized honey bee. 507 01:11:09,880 --> 01:11:16,230 26 swarms could escape from a laboratory in Sao Paolo. 508 01:11:16,240 --> 01:11:21,970 Is this the time where the bees finally start fighting back? 509 01:11:32,620 --> 01:11:35,190 I came to get your bees. 510 01:11:35,620 --> 01:11:38,450 We have to take off the stuff here. 511 01:11:38,920 --> 01:11:42,120 I will get a suit, right? - Yea, you get a suit. 512 01:11:42,420 --> 01:11:44,200 Fred, you are my friend! 513 01:11:44,680 --> 01:11:50,210 In 1992 a local minister called me to his home. 514 01:11:50,560 --> 01:11:53,260 He said, I want you to get my bees, 515 01:11:53,560 --> 01:12:00,260 because his neighbour had put in an exercise ring for horses. 516 01:12:00,860 --> 01:12:07,300 The bees on his property were stinging the horses, and the people on the horses, 517 01:12:07,610 --> 01:12:13,480 because the horses were making a lot of noise and vibrating the earth, 518 01:12:13,790 --> 01:12:16,570 and of course bees don't like that. 519 01:12:17,170 --> 01:12:22,500 I went over dressed like this, with no protection, just a short-sleeve shirt, 520 01:12:22,800 --> 01:12:27,120 because I was used working with the European bees, 521 01:12:27,430 --> 01:12:30,460 and I thought this won't be a big problem. 522 01:12:30,760 --> 01:12:32,420 I went over there, and of course it was a problem. 523 01:12:32,720 --> 01:12:36,920 The bees were much more ferocious than any bees I have ever seen previously. 524 01:12:37,350 --> 01:12:39,680 I was not sure exactly what they were, 525 01:12:39,980 --> 01:12:44,560 I thought, I just find the queens and put in nice new queens, 526 01:12:44,860 --> 01:12:47,640 because these bees were just too mean. 527 01:12:47,950 --> 01:12:51,270 I put in a nice queen 528 01:12:51,580 --> 01:12:56,860 and the bees killed her immediately, and then raise their own queens. 529 01:12:59,120 --> 01:13:01,490 It's always a good idea to pee first. 530 01:13:02,130 --> 01:13:04,520 Before we get the bees excited. 531 01:13:04,840 --> 01:13:07,540 So if you need to go, now it's the time. 532 01:13:08,840 --> 01:13:12,290 No, I am pretty good. - You are pretty good? - Yea, I think so. 533 01:13:31,110 --> 01:13:32,770 Ready Fred? - Ready! 534 01:13:34,160 --> 01:13:35,820 Be careful. 535 01:13:37,750 --> 01:13:39,280 A beautiful nest. 536 01:13:39,710 --> 01:13:44,320 Perfect rows. Filled with cavities. 537 01:13:44,630 --> 01:13:47,080 Rebo, these are your killer bees. 538 01:13:48,010 --> 01:13:50,330 The honey flows. 539 01:13:50,630 --> 01:13:52,170 This row is fresh. 540 01:13:52,470 --> 01:13:55,670 The stuff further back are brood combs? - Yea. 541 01:13:59,640 --> 01:14:01,010 Look at it! 542 01:14:02,350 --> 01:14:03,840 It's beautiful. 543 01:14:08,780 --> 01:14:10,480 Looks good, even in the bucket. 544 01:14:10,860 --> 01:14:15,440 You know, Rebo, when we lived in Tucson, 15 years ago, 545 01:14:15,950 --> 01:14:19,990 it probably would have cost you 1000$, to take this out. 546 01:14:22,120 --> 01:14:25,450 At that time I had parasitic mites. 547 01:14:26,000 --> 01:14:31,620 So I thought, these really vicious hives, I won't treat them with chemicals, 548 01:14:31,930 --> 01:14:34,210 and so the mites will kill them. 549 01:14:36,010 --> 01:14:37,920 The mites did not kill them. 550 01:14:38,810 --> 01:14:43,010 These hives thrived with now treatment, 551 01:14:43,520 --> 01:14:49,180 whereas my gently treated hives did not do very well at all. 552 01:14:50,030 --> 01:14:55,060 So I began to think, maybe there is something to these bees. 553 01:14:55,370 --> 01:14:59,310 At that time I was thinking, maybe these bees were African bees. 554 01:14:59,620 --> 01:15:01,740 I didn't tell anyone, 555 01:15:02,540 --> 01:15:08,120 because I was afraid of what might happen if I did. 556 01:15:12,470 --> 01:15:15,750 It's a nice brood. - Yea, in the yellow combs. 557 01:15:16,050 --> 01:15:17,580 Where is our box? 558 01:15:19,640 --> 01:15:23,130 Now I see, what the string is for. 559 01:15:23,560 --> 01:15:26,800 That's what the bears are getting the hive for. 560 01:15:27,190 --> 01:15:30,350 Not looking for the honey, but looking for the brood. 561 01:15:35,530 --> 01:15:36,900 Here we go. 562 01:15:43,830 --> 01:15:45,990 For your hive? - Yea. 563 01:15:46,290 --> 01:15:49,160 The queen will be somewhere here. 564 01:15:52,510 --> 01:15:53,950 Lid on. 565 01:15:58,100 --> 01:16:01,790 It's quite a bit heavier than just the honey. 566 01:16:02,100 --> 01:16:04,300 It's amazing how much a few bees weigh. 567 01:16:04,600 --> 01:16:06,880 Let's put it on the edge here. 568 01:16:07,520 --> 01:16:10,930 I want to make sure ... - You are looking on the bottom? 569 01:16:11,230 --> 01:16:14,270 Are there any bees on the bottom? - Not many. 570 01:16:14,570 --> 01:16:16,100 I think we are in good shape. 571 01:16:42,140 --> 01:16:45,800 All American are always afraid of being invaded. 572 01:16:46,560 --> 01:16:51,140 If not by illegal immigrants then by killer bees. 573 01:17:46,540 --> 01:17:49,490 I do have to wear a bee suit now. 574 01:17:49,790 --> 01:17:54,910 I do have to have to work my bees much more carefully. 575 01:17:55,630 --> 01:17:59,000 But it's easily worth it. I do know that they make more honey, 576 01:17:59,300 --> 01:18:02,330 and they make honey that doesn't have any chemicals in it. 577 01:18:03,220 --> 01:18:05,090 That means an awful lot to me. 578 01:18:18,030 --> 01:18:20,420 Looking good! Lots of drones. 579 01:18:22,280 --> 01:18:24,900 The honey bees are not native in Australia. 580 01:18:25,200 --> 01:18:27,480 They arrived with the first settlers. 581 01:18:27,790 --> 01:18:32,990 And over time some of them escaped. And they got established. 582 01:18:33,920 --> 01:18:37,910 Honey bees can't survive without human help. 583 01:18:38,210 --> 01:18:42,830 This is different from Europe, China, or North America. 584 01:18:49,470 --> 01:18:54,340 If we collect males, that's what is Rodolfo doing up there at the moment, 585 01:18:54,650 --> 01:18:57,130 we can basically study the queen genes, 586 01:18:57,440 --> 01:19:00,810 because the drones a clone variants of the queen. 587 01:19:01,110 --> 01:19:06,100 I always refer to our feral bees in Australia as a big bank account, 588 01:19:06,870 --> 01:19:11,900 with no money on it, but genetic variations of genes. 589 01:19:12,750 --> 01:19:17,780 With the work which we do here at the moment we try to withdraw some of our assets, 590 01:19:18,210 --> 01:19:21,500 and use them for future bee breeding. 591 01:19:23,430 --> 01:19:26,540 Well done! Can we have a look. - Yea. 592 01:19:34,390 --> 01:19:37,680 Look at this. It's really nice. 593 01:19:38,480 --> 01:19:39,970 They are very lively. 594 01:19:44,980 --> 01:19:48,090 My family still is interested in bees. 595 01:19:48,110 --> 01:19:53,310 Nowadays my nephews are fascinated by them. 596 01:19:53,320 --> 01:20:05,400 Will there still be bees around, when they themselves are going to be grandfathers? 597 01:20:05,410 --> 01:20:13,120 My daughter and my son-in-law are studying bees at the university of Western Australia in Perth. 598 01:20:13,130 --> 01:20:17,400 They are studying the immune system of bees. 599 01:20:17,410 --> 01:20:25,740 When I arrived, I had to burn my bee suit. There might have been germs in it from my travels. 600 01:20:25,760 --> 01:20:28,560 In Australia the last healthy bees of the world are living. 601 01:20:28,570 --> 01:20:31,380 A continent without Varroa mites. 602 01:20:31,540 --> 01:20:36,430 You can touch them. They are male drones. They cannot bite. 603 01:20:38,880 --> 01:20:42,860 Is this Mother bee? - No, this is farther bee. 604 01:20:55,690 --> 01:21:04,230 Queens of honey bees are being artificially cross-inseminated here with Australian wild feral bees. 605 01:21:04,240 --> 01:21:17,790 To avoid a risky incident like the one in Brazil, the cross-breed bees are brought to a small island. 606 01:21:17,800 --> 01:21:21,960 There they will have to survive a stress test. 607 01:21:21,970 --> 01:21:25,090 If they survive there will be further breeding. 608 01:21:25,100 --> 01:21:29,160 For the world market. 609 01:21:29,180 --> 01:21:38,550 If there will emerge new killer bees, they can do no harm on this lonely island. 610 01:21:38,560 --> 01:21:42,830 On the other hand if all the mainland bees die of diseases in future, 611 01:21:42,840 --> 01:21:49,720 these healthy bees on the lonely island will be very useful for us humans. 612 01:21:52,120 --> 01:21:56,940 We think the genetic diversity among these island bees is crucial. 613 01:21:57,250 --> 01:22:02,360 We should not try to concentrate on one special breed only 614 01:22:02,670 --> 01:22:06,950 and loose genetic diversity by this, 615 01:22:07,260 --> 01:22:12,460 instead we try to bring in new genes into this island bee population. 616 01:22:13,720 --> 01:22:16,590 Killer bees certainly have a superior immunity system, 617 01:22:16,890 --> 01:22:20,010 but they are as dangerous as wolves, which is not acceptable. 618 01:22:20,310 --> 01:22:23,470 We humans want to live together with the bee. 619 01:22:23,770 --> 01:22:26,810 Thus we have to look for 620 01:22:27,110 --> 01:22:31,270 a compromise between killer bees 621 01:22:31,570 --> 01:22:35,860 and domesticated honey bees. 622 01:23:20,330 --> 01:23:24,400 We seem to be afraid of foreigners coming into the country, 623 01:23:24,710 --> 01:23:27,780 even though we are all immigrants here. 624 01:23:28,380 --> 01:23:32,700 The African bees came, they didn't have papers 625 01:23:33,130 --> 01:23:38,040 they didn't have permission, nor visa nor passports. 626 01:23:38,350 --> 01:23:42,380 There was nothing we could do to stop theses wild creatures. 627 01:23:42,680 --> 01:23:48,090 They have not been domesticated, they are as they have always been. 628 01:23:48,860 --> 01:23:50,890 And people were very frightened. 629 01:23:53,860 --> 01:23:58,980 When I went to Brazil in 1995, 630 01:24:00,120 --> 01:24:05,740 I found that the country had completely embraced the African bee. 631 01:24:06,540 --> 01:24:10,530 That what we have been told about the African bee, 632 01:24:10,840 --> 01:24:15,290 that they didn't make honey, that they were not good pollinators, 633 01:24:15,590 --> 01:24:17,920 that they were impossible to manage, 634 01:24:18,220 --> 01:24:21,340 I found that all those things were completely false. 635 01:24:21,640 --> 01:24:24,420 They can survive on very scarce resources. 636 01:24:25,520 --> 01:24:27,760 If I were a gambling person, 637 01:24:28,650 --> 01:24:34,310 I would bet on the survival of the African bee over just about any other species. 638 01:24:39,370 --> 01:24:43,730 I think they will be here after we are gone. 639 01:25:45,930 --> 01:25:49,760 The bees that I took out from the roof did not like their new nest 640 01:25:50,060 --> 01:25:52,260 so they left, they swarmed. 641 01:25:58,240 --> 01:26:01,060 They will find a limb on a tree or something 642 01:26:01,370 --> 01:26:05,690 where they can cluster to take care of the queen. 643 01:26:06,250 --> 01:26:11,530 From that cluster the bees will send out scout bees to look for a suitable nest site. 644 01:26:55,380 --> 01:26:58,240 If a scout bee finds a suitable nest site, 645 01:26:58,670 --> 01:27:01,120 she will come back to this cluster of bees 646 01:27:01,430 --> 01:27:05,280 and she will tell her nest mates about her very good site. 647 01:27:12,060 --> 01:27:15,750 When they reach a consensus 648 01:27:16,060 --> 01:27:18,850 then they will all leave together. 649 01:28:37,310 --> 01:28:40,760 Not even a bear could get to those bees. 650 01:28:43,890 --> 01:28:48,060 Preuzeto sa www.titlovi.com