>
>Would this be because of the huge losses of bees this year?
>

There are several reasons.

High pollination demand and prices is the main driver.  The other aspect
is a large number bees being in California instead of East Texas.  Many,
many nucs are made in East Texas each spring for honey production in the
Midwest.  The source of bees to make those nucs has been shifted.  Granted
that in the past it has been practice to ship bees from the almonds back
to East Texas to make these nucs and I am sure this will occur this year
as well.  This works fine so long as the bees come out of the almonds in
good condition, weather cooperates and there are no management loop
holes.  This is not as reliable as if the bees were in East Texas for the
February pollen flow off the pines and wer sitting there getting fattened
up with supplemental feed before being split in March.

Bob Nelson

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