> Don't almonds and > packages tell the most reliable stories about the 
> broad impact of
> CCD?

Almonds give the best information these days on the majority of the U.S. 
hives as clearly 2/3 of U.S. hives are moved into California.

Not being able to get package bees and queens (which happened in the spring 
of 2006 in the U.S. ) clearly showed the extent of losses over the 2005/2006 
winter (blamed by most beekeepers as either SSDD or varroa related) which 
from my sources was greater numbers of dead hives industry wise than the 
2006/2007 winter.

 In Missouri in spring 2006 we called the entire list of queen and package 
producers looking for queens (as we needed other than the 100's we had 
ordered the year before which were sent) to make extra spilts as our bees 
were super strong and needing split to keep out of the trees. Hives 
returning from almonds were super strong needing split.
We place an order for so many each spring from several queen producers and 
then when we see exactly the number needed we call for extra amounts. Always 
has worked until a big die-off happens.

When making calls looking for extra queens all the queen and package 
producers in spring 2006 said they were overwhelmed with beekeepers looking 
for package bees and queens. Surely others on the list had the same problem 
in spring 2006 as we did?

We were finally able to get a 500 queen order out of Australia but their 
season was over and took some talking to get the queens.

Commercial beekeeping keeps getting harder and harder and the headaches 
bigger and bigger. CCD is only one of many new problems.

Unless I change my mind next spring I am moving into the sideliner class and 
slowly getting  out.( except for a couple hundred hives in the backyard for 
honey for family and friends ). Sadly my wife said last year I will have to 
stop putting a couple hundred hives in the field next to the house as a new 
neighbor is allergic. The neighbor said as a kid she stepped on a bee 
barefoot and her foot had swollen up.  Ever try and convince a person her 
reaction was normal?
Hard to do!I guess it does not matter that I was here first and the bee farm 
was a pasture when I started.

I was feeding bees this morning when my faithful ton and a half four-wheel 
drive feed truck started making a noise. I pulled  in the repair shop in 
Higginsville and was told the flywheel flex plate was cracked. Good news and 
bad news I was told.

Good news is the part is not expensive but the bad news is the transmission 
and transfer case need pulled to replace the part. A decade ago I would 
change the equipment to another flatbed ( I have several others standing by) 
and go on but today I am shutting down and pumping hot water through the 
lines and will worry about the problem next spring.

bob



-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.

******************************************************
* Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at:          *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm  *
******************************************************