Hello Pete & All,

Hi Bob,
If you don't mind me asking, what do you think most beekeepers feel is
needed?

I was told last week two longtime operations folded recently in the south.
The reason was huge bee die off and not able to secure the funds to rebuild.
Money is frozen for all but those with collateral. I can speak from
experience and say bankers will not loan money for bees, bee hives or the
honey crop you *think* you are going to make.

That said the first concern if I was in charge of funding would be to make
low interest loans available to those commercial beekeepers which can show
they had bees in the amount of dead hives they are claiming and  the hives
have died in the last few months.  Observed unexplained circumstances ( CCD)

AIG get billions and beekeepers get zero in loans. Loans are to be repaid.
Sure some may default but many good beekeepers are simply giving up and my
friends there is not a beekeeper waiting to rush in today and take their
place.

Second we need to complete testing of ALL stored samples ( Jerry B. freezer
and others freezers). The current die off right now appears close to the die
off of 2006/2007 and many many beekeepers in the north have not checked
their hives yet. Many people close to the CCD situation predict losses will
rise as beekeepers check all their hives. Several said the die off might
even be higher this time.

Yet the USDA-ARS has not yet responded to my knowledge. If a member of BEE-L
has heard of the USDA-ARS sending people to California please respond.

Many of us felt the losses of 2006/2007 were maybe another unexplained
die-off as has happened before in beekeeping history.

Now the experts believe whatever is killing hives took a short break and is
back with a vengeance. If their hypothesis is correct than we need to
*document the current situation fully * as described by Jerry B..

  One of the problems in 2006/2007 was that the USDA-ARs acted too slowly.

Complained they needed to observe hives dying from CCD. Well guys NOW is the
time. Pack your bags and go help Jerry figure this out. In other words take
some funding Delaplane and send all available personal into the field taking
samples and making observations.

Matt Beekman ( California) estimates 400,000 to 600,000 hives with problems.
Hard to get exact figures but plenty of hives crashing for the USDA-ARS to
look at and take samples.

A normal team is 2-3 people to check one million hives. Hmm. With 4.1
million looks like we could get a higher number of researchers involved!

WILL BE CHEAPER NOW WHILE HIVES ARE IN ALMONDS THAN DECIDING TO TAKE THE
SAMPLES AFTER THE HIVES ARE PULLED.

I would make loans available to queen and package producers to expand as
needed to help ease the pressure if hives continue to die. Right now most
queen and package sellers are sold out until May for both package bees and
queens.  Several said they would when they could not meet demand in
2006/2007 but then when the situation improved dropped the idea.

I could go on but I think you get the idea! I believe trying to breed a bee
which can handle today's problems is an important program but I would not
place the project as a number one priority. Beekeepers need help now to stay
in business.

What is happening today with Delaplane and crew ( with funding in place)  is
like leaving all the people from hurricane Katrina on the roof tops or in
the auditorium while you plant plants along the shore to prevent a future
surge. Plants will be in place in about 10 years! Both a good idea but lets
take care of the higher priority issues first!

The above is what beekeepers are telling me they need most!

"Super bee coming"
projected arrival date around 20 years I was told by a source close to the
funding.

I am going to upset a few Russian beekeepers:

Tax payer funding paid for the project but a Russian breeder queen cost *at
first* $500 a queen.THESE WERE NOT INSTRUMENTALLY INSEMINATED QUEENS BUT
SIMPLE OPEN MATED QUEENS SELECTED FROM YARDS!

To keep up the Russian breeder needed to get Russian breeder queens each
year.

A breeder market! Think alpacas, llamas, pot belly pigs  or ostrich?

Not the way the project was supposed to go as explained TO ME by Dr.
Shiminuki but things changed after his retirement.

Will Delaplanes * super queens* be cheaper?

 I bet not!

Will they come with a money back guarantee?


bob

Ps. Myself, Dann Purvis ,Justine Danner ( Kona queen) popped some 
Russian/Russian drones ( semen) and inseminated 26 pure Russian queens in an 
afternoon at Purvis Brothers apiary in fall 2004. If you look at the picture 
of a queen being instrumental inseminated on page 43 of the January 2005 
American Bee journal ( vol.145 No.1)  article on Purvis Brothers Apiaries 
titled "21 st. century Beekeeping" and read the caption under the picture 
you will see my answer to the $500 a queen pricing at the time!

Caption from picture from page 43 of the article:
"actual close up of me ( Bob Harrison) inseminating a Purvis blue line 
Russian survivor queen"

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