>    The following is a post I placed on the GardenWeb hoping to find
some answers.

I get a ton of mail every year asking 'why did my bees die'.  I try to
answer, but basically, my best answer is always the same: Find a local
mentor.  Ask around.  Beekeepers are everywhere.

I know that I cannot diagnose losses over the internet any better than a
doctor can do a cat scan by email.  Without seeing and smelling and
feeling the bees and hives and environment and quizzing you, *nobody*
will be able to do more than guess, and if you are going to solve your
problem, you need more than guesses.

Please, *everyone*, get a some local experienced beekeeping friends who
will look into your hives.   Beeginners *need* a local mentor, someone
who has kept bees successfully, profitably and without serious incident
for a decade or more.  I have kept thousands of bees for over thirty
years and I am always asking any stray beekeeper that comes along -- no
matter how green or how cynical -- to go with me to see my bees and
venture opinions.

Almost any beekeeper you ask will be more than happy to come and look at
your hives.  I would, if I were nearby.  That's what beekeepers like to
do better than anything else: look in other people's hives, compare and
advise, so don't think you would be imposing on any real beekeeper in
this world that you happened to ask.  There are beekeeper groups meeting
monthly in almost any part of any country you care to visit, and these
are the people who know what is happening locally.

A few years back, I was on a  busload of beekeepers and we were taken on
a ride to see the All American Canal at the US/Mexico border.  We were
let off at the canal to look around, and -- guess what -- there were a
few pallets of hives nearby.  I think every beekeeper of that whole lot
had to look inside them.  No veils, no smoke, all dressed up for the
tour.

Beekeepers LOVE to look in other people's hives and stop cars by the
highway, jump the fence in loafers and dress clothes and lift a few
lids -- just to see.  Some are too shy, so if you invite one over, I'm
betting you'll have a taker, and you'll both learn.

allen
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/default.htm
Where there is a picture of beekeepers at the All American Canal
(somewhere)
Was it January 2001, Aaron?