>        HI , We had the same type of problem in California 2 years ago.
  >After Andy did his post , I called down to where  I'm getting my bees in
  >the spring.My source is ok but there were some around Yuba City that did
  >get cleaned out pretty bad.There was ten miles along the river that did
  >get wipped out.
 
Hi Roy,
 
One guy told me from the air that at one time he could see bee hives
the full length of the river system into the San Francisco Bay from
both the north and southern river systems.
 
  > Last night I talked to a lady that gathers information for the US
  >government on honey production and numbers of hives.The numbers are still
  >coming in , but that 10 mile strech took out 16,000 hives.
 
Most of the information is incomplete, but I got one report that one
beekeeper or group of beekeepers from Florida lost 11,000 from one
holding yard. I did not report that because I have not had a chance to
confirm it. I would not be surprised that the total numbers will be
close to 100,000, but thats just an educated guess at this time.
 
  >off with the problem now then in 2-3 weeks from now.All the bees are not
  >in the area for Almounds.I don't like to see us loose any hives, but it
  >could have been much worse. I can't remember the total number that are
  >trucked into California for pollenation , the # is way over 50,000
  >hives.We do not need a lose of one more hive , with the other problems
 
California receives closer to  450,000 hives each winter and spring from
out of state for almond pollination. Several honey bee keepers bring in
10,000 or more hives each and many bring in 5,000+. The total lost from
this one big storm that affected the river systems from Fresno north
will be between 8 and 10% of the total number of hives in California
which are estimated at 850-900,000.
 
  >that we have.The winter loss in the USA will be more than expected. We had
 
NEWS to me, most beekeepers here report no unusual losses at this time.
 
  > We all need to help get more people back into beekeeping. It can help
  >soften the fall.Too many eggs in one basket is not smart business.We
 
The "too many eggs in one basket" can be expressed as too many bees in
one area and this is in my opinion the reason for all the new problems
beekeepers are having today such as mites....
 
  >better take a very good look at what we are doing in agriculture and see
  >if it works with or against nature. If its against nature , we loose.
 
The danger in this is that we may find that we are no longer needed..!
 
  > David , we will come out of this flooding loss , but I hope we come out a
 
Some will and some won't it depends more on their personal financial
condition then anything else, speaking from my own experience which I
won't bore you with the details except to say the shock of losing one's
ability to provide his livelihood is something that is no difference
then a death in the family, or a marriage turned bad. Some people get
over it real fast and start right over and some never do.
 
  >of its world.The view is different when we come down off of the mountain
  >that we have made for ourselves.
 
Yeh, I been there, and in the long fall from my high mountain its the
first stop that gets you, the trip down was not that bad.
 
                           ttul, the OLd Drone
 
 
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