Bees are also suffering from the extreme heat of this summer. In the Landes, south-west of France, several hives have been destroyed in the recent fires. Elsewhere, the drought forces them to travel several kilometers to find a water point, weakening the metabolism of the entire colony. Less water also means fewer flowers, less nectar and therefore less honey for beekeepers.
We are in Loiret, a few kilometers south of the capital. In the garden of Marc Reynol, a beekeeper from Chécy, near Orléans, around thirty hives similar to colored letterboxes are placed in the shade of a sequoia.
“ Before all the apiaries were well in the sun, explains Marc Reynol, but today we are looking for places in the shade to spend the months of July-August. There they are well, they had sun and shade “. Necessary shade when outside temperatures rise above 30° in the shade.
The bees also need water near the hives to avoid getting tired from traveling long distances, but in the surrounding area, there are few water points that are not dry… ” We provide everything: a large basin of water of about 100 liters that I fill at least once a week, continues Marc Reynol. On the surface, full of plugs to prevent them from drowning. »
No water and therefore no flowers either. On the roads of the Loiret, it is now sadly towards the ground and not proudly towards the sun that the sunflowers bend their heads. Michel Cambier, also a beekeeper, was unable to feed his bees there. ” I don’t have sunflower honey: when it hasn’t rained in the fields or the plants aren’t watered, the seeds and stems are inevitably very dry.” Both growers and beekeepers lose out because there is no flower, no nectar and therefore no honey: above 35°C, the photosynthesis process does not take place, the plant can therefore no longer produce nectar and no is therefore not foraged.
After the Asian hornet in 2020 and the destructive frost of winter 2021 which killed Michel Cambier’s bees, the climate and its disruptions are once again attacking pollinators.
The seasons are advanced, which means that the hives had better be strong at the end of winter
Michel Cambier, beekeeper in Loiret
