At 04:03 PM 4/29/96 -0700, you wrote: > Hi All, Is there a method to approximate the number of feral colonys >that we have in any area? I gave a talk to a school today about bees. >About 150 children were present.The children noticed that there were few >bees around this year. So I took a drive around and scouted apple trees >and dandilion blooms. I saw 1 honey bee in two hours.40 t0 50 apple >trees. The sun was shinning also. I think feral colonys are history in my >area.This seems worse to me than I first thought that we would loose some >honey bees and would have some wild one left to pollenate the wild berrys >and nut for the birds to live on. > I would like to know if there are any ongoin studys going on about the >wild bees? We may see some major changes in wildlife because of the loss >of the feral colonys. I'm in Washington state USA and I wonder if othere >areas have the same problem. Thank You > Beast Reagards > Roy > > Roy: I was talking to the wife of the owner of the bee supply house in Sacramento. Ca. She said that U.C. Davis said that California has lost about 80% of its feral bees. I got the e-mail address of the U.C. Davis Apiculturist. He might be able to answer some of your questions. Eric Mussen <[log in to unmask]> Hope this helps. Jeffrey R Tooker 33600 Navion Paynes Creek Ca. 96075