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The honeybee colony loss we had over last winter was one of the largest we have had. This was typical of many beekeepers in the US over the last 2-3 years. We now are running only 1/3 the number of colonies that we normally do.
We made as many splits (making 1 hive into 2 or 3) as we could this spring - but this sometimes weakins the colonies and decreases the amount of honey they yield.
The very dry conditions did not help the bees either. If the flowers do not produce lots of juicy nectar, there is not much for the bees to harvest.
In spit of all this the bees have produced a nice crop, and with the help of other beekeepers in the area we will have plenty of honey available this year.
You may have heard of many stories about bees disappearing (Colony Colapse Disorder). The experts still do not have an answer to this. However, if you look back in history, there have been many un-explained bee losses over the years. All I know is that it has nothing to do with cell phones, global warming or any other silly things people can blame it on.
HOBBYISTS AND PART-TIME BEEKEEPERS - The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates there are between 139,600 and 212,000 beekeepers in the United States. The vast majority (95 percent) are hobbyists with fewer than 25 hives and about 4 percent are part-timers who keep from 25 to 299 hives.
COMMERCIAL BEEKEEPERS - Commercial beekeepers are those with 300 or more bee colonies. There are approximately 1,600 commercial beekeeping operations in the United States, which produce about 60 percent of the nation’s honey. The rest of the story....
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