Could there be too many beekeepers?

[Into the lions den]

I dont suppose a few thousand miles on the back of a truck helped much.

The idea that long distance migration *in itself* hurts bees is incorrect and is the product of the writings of some people who do not actually understand the process as it is practiced over there, and the main erroneous charge that gives it away is that UK amateur beekeepers believe that these colonies are closed in for the journey. they are not, they are moved open and generally arrive pretty well cool and unstressed. Yes, I have done it and helped on almond migrations with my friend Glen Fischer of Camarillo CA.

Of much more significance are the conditions they encounter at either end of the journey.

The first biggy is the shock of 'instant spring'. The colonies are often taken out of snow at origin, and, in conditions when they should be left well alone, hauled across the country and put down in a situation where they have little else but winter bees to go out and work, and a collapse is inevitable.

It is so early in the year that the bees are needed for the almonds that almost anywhere they come from in the states is going to be a stressed origin of some sort, possibly with the exception of Florida and California itself.

The second, as has been pointed out already, is the monoculture at destination. No balanced diet.

Finally, mass bee dieoffs are nothing new. They have happened periodically for a very long time, possibly as long as man has been keeping the little darlings. I do not recall seeing it myself but have been told of CCD like symptoms 50 or more years ago under the common title of 'Marie Celeste Syndrome', and there are earlier documented outbursts of the problem too.

Also check out the USA colony number statistics for the last decade, and the honey production figures. Tells a rather different story from 'the bees are dying off and we are in big trouble' sensationalism. Apparently NO shortage of bees for the almonds last year...........