This message was from ANDY NACHBAUR to ALL
originally in conference WN-BEENET on WILDBEES (WILD BEE'S BBS)
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hI All!
 
   Spring is here in the central valley of California. The almonds
are coming into full bloom and the air is full of bees and the
heavy aroma of almond pollen.  Beekeepers are finishing up on movement
of bees into the almonds and the weather has warmed up to the mid 70's.
 
   The condition of the bees placed in the almonds is better then the
last few years due to better pasture conditions last fall. As always
some notable severe losses due to winter dwindling was experienced by
a good number of beekeepers. In some extreme cases the loss approached
75%, and was not thought to be caused by starvation, pests, or
pesticides. As far as I know no investigation into these losses is
ongoing or planned. Beekeeping is a political incorrect endeavor in
the United States today, and no one in California government is going to
spend any money to investigate problems for such a unpopular group,
especially since 50% of the bees in the state for almond pollination
are from out of state and pay little if any taxes in California. Even
fuel taxes are so high and quality is so poor, most truckers don't buy
any fuel at all in California if they can avoid it.
 
 
   The only effort from our government services is to put out a
continuing warning that the "killer" bees will arrive here any moment,
but not to worry. Well someone should tell them the dreaded Afro bees
have been part of the gene pool here for many years maybe 90 years or
more, and the only difference between the areas that are declared to
have Afro bees is the placement of traps, or the looking for them. In
effect where ever the government looks for the dreaded Afro bees they
are soon found. The almonds require more bees then can be supported year
around in California, so we have 500,000+ hives in the almonds that
were in other states last summer. Thousands of these hives come from
Texas, Arizona, and other areas that are known to be inhabited by
Afro genes, so it is reasonable to expect that they have left and will
leave their genetic mark on our shirking supply of truly local bees.
 
                        ttul Andy-
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