Hello peter & All,

> This is the same story we have been hearing for years.

Not exactly. 

 >How is it possible that the bees aren't gone by now and with them humankind, like Einstein supposedly predicted?

I think both of us know Einstein never made the prediction but losses in commercial operations are sustainable *only* because the beekeeping is able to do as the Russian breeder said and split 7200 hives from 2000.

> The key weakness in all of this is that nobody sees the big picture and what is really happening, because they are mainly worried about themselves, and their righteous indignation upon sensing their own helplessness. You know, being absolutely sure about something doesn't make it true. But what can one say to folks whose minds are made up?

I actually take the other side of the coin. Being close to the major players I see winter losses running at least 30 plus percent and late season losses (as in the Russian bee case) about as high.

"Dinks" are worthless and in many cases exposer to the neonics is the reason.
We are seeing issues with bees we have never seen before. Empty hives. Hives with a small ball of bees and a queen. No adult bees. Whatever started in 2006 has not went away. researchers have not solved the problem.

beekeepers have survived by increasing splitting to a level never seen before in the industry and attention to detail as far as mites and disease goes.

To be *completely honest* BEE-L is the only place on the net I have seen where people skip hand and hand with chemical companies and sing the same song:
"The neonics are not a problem for bees and never will be".

My interests are moving away from beekeeping now but still trouble shoot problems if needed. I may or may not sell down further next spring but I will share a first hand experience I *swear* (on my dead mothers grave) is true!

Two weeks ago I took off ( after the Finnish of extracting ) and went to a lake in central Missouri fishing. I was at the lake four days and fished day and at night. In the day while I watched my lines I walked through fields of "Queens Ann Lace, Goldenrod and both colors of heartsease ( smartweed).
In four days I never say a single honeybee. I have fished the area for over thirty years and always saw plenty of bees. Very sad. I really can not explain why. 

I have been fighting mites for over 20 years and have saw hives crash from every problem described in bee books. All I can say is bees simply disappearing is new and different. Back when problems started (you can check the archives) i looked for a word to describe hive dwindling. *Dinks* is the word a came up with. I have been traveling to Texas each spring to look at hives returning from almonds and get queens and at times brood. 

There are two kinds of hives. Strong or "dinks". years ago the hives were super strong or simply dead . 

The commercial beekeepers I visit are puzzled. They might split 2000 into 7200 and the bees look great but in fall half are empty boxes or dinks.

Strong hives can go into almonds and when returned to Texas half are strong (if lucky) and the rest empty boxes or "dinks".

In the opinion of many of these beekeepers the USDA-ARS is not set up to even investigate part of one percent of the number of commercial hives. Commercial beekeepers have to work fast to make their splits and head north. Solving the problem would be wonderful but as long as splitting works then beekeeping is sustainable.

*if* the base number of strong hives would disappear it would be impossible for the package bee industry to supply the industry. Used to be the most valuable thing the commercial beekeeper had was his comb. Today its his base of strong hives to split from.

Many of my friends say I am wasting my breath putting forth the commercial beekeeper story on BEE-L. All I ask is to listen and consider what I say.

maybe Randy will ask the Russian beekeeper what happened to the missing bees. 
How many of the 7200 are dead or dinks and depopulated in fall. I have been around the industry for decades. I have not a problem with depopulating dinks but think the whole story needs told. The Russian beekeeper put the math out. 

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
semi retired Midwest beekeeper

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