Hi Bob,
Glad to hear from you!
Re California situation, the weather has been abnormally cold and wet.
Beekeepers are having trouble getting into their colonies for supplement
feeding, and broodrearing has been curtailed, meaning that colonies will not
go in as strong as hoped.

Supply of colonies still sounds adequate, but there are a number of
operations that were surprised by late losses.   Some have had major
collapses.  But no one that I am talking with is even going to try to
predict what the supply will look like on February 15.  Rental prices are
strong.

There was a glut of offered bees last month, but that appears to have dried
up as beekeepers lifted the lids.  There are plenty of white boxes in
California--the question will be, how many of them contain bees?

The word I'm hearing from all over, is that it just takes a lot more work to
keep colonies alive.  Most operations appear to be struggling to keep
existing boxes full, and have not been able to expand.  Yearly losses are
unacceptably high.

Sure, a number got hit by the usual problems--mites got ahead, poor forage,
nosema, or pesticide issues.  However, good beekeepers with good management
are still having problems, despite paying attention to the above.

Although many have pet answers to explain colony collapses, the answer does
not appear to be simple.  Clearly, many of the losses can be attributed to
the usual culprits, plus N ceranae, but there are other losses that remain
unexplained.  Viruses are highly suspect, plus sublethal pesticide/miticide
exposure.

I wish everyone the best of luck!

Randy Oliver

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