"Question: Anyone seeing dragon flys in large numbers around
their hives/operations this year? Got one beekeeper
mentioning them in mid-west, and I know from years past
they ketch and eat honeybees, and
 this beekeeper also
raises queens and is having mating problems with queens
failing to return from mating flights."

Here in central Texas, I see a pretty steep increase in the dragon flies roaming and eating bees each August.  I can't raise queens in August, as we have a sharp dearth that starts early in July and lasts through into September.  But we have another issue:  purple martins and scissor tail fly catchers.  They race through my bee yards in the spring, in small flocks of hundreds, eating bees as they swoop down between the hives.  I have noticed difficulty getting queens mated once the purple martins and scissor tail fly catchers realize that a bee yard is easy pickins.  But such is nature, you can no more fight it than curse the wind for blowing.  It is the price for existing inside any ecosystem. 
 Unfortunately, as humans, we want to optimize our results in everything we do, and don't want to leave room for natural processes, we want to take them over.  I am deeply concerned by the beekeepers on this forum that report wanting to kill the birds, praying mantis, spiders, dragon flies, etc. that prey on their bees.  Bees are a tasty little treat and bountiful supplier of nutrition for both humans and wildlife.  Let's keep it that way.







       
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