I've been seeing a lot of bumblebees around my yard, more than I remember from years past . In addition, there have been a few honeybees, or something that looks very similar.

Alex
Lehigh Valley

A strange year for bees. Our farm was near an apiary site before the BLM declared the area a wilderness so the site has been returned to a near natural state. There is either a wild european colony somewhere or an africanized colony nearby. This is supposedly important for our tree, melon and berry pollination. This year there were adaquate honey bees present but they did not seem to be carrying pollen. About 1/3 of the bees were inexplicably on the ground under the apricot trees. I don't know why, but would guess either parasitized or contaminated by an environmental toxin. As there is no commercial agriculture or industrial activity the problem is very wide in origination. Pollination on a fully flowered Anna apple tree with an abundance of flowers was minimal at less than 10% even with honey bees and other varieties of bees and moths present. Other apple trees were fully pollinated but I would have to check to see if they are self pollinating varieties. One apricot tree was fully pollinated and the other 50% but that may be because of every other year yielding trees. As CCD (colony collapes disorder) is in its second or third year the future is unknown, but with reported losses of upwards of 70% for commercial beekeepers it would be a wonder if commercial honey bee pollination succeeds in the future without a very significant change. The africanized bee is not easily distinguishable from a european honey bee so I don't know which we have. I try to observe all honeybee activity and know that the blackberries are being pollinated but I don't know how. The honeybees aren't carrying the pollen I'm used to. In addition it is extremily dry in the surrounding wilderness (dryest in 25 years) so there are no sources of pollen, blossoms or water besides the three homesteads in this canyon for at least 10 miles in all directions with irrigated acreage under 5 acres total. In the past the honeybees were considered pests because the beekeepers would not keep enough water available and they would fill up dog dishes and swamp coolers but this hasn't happen this year. I haven't seen more than 10 honeybees at any water source here on the farm. The bumblebees aren't out yet. If there is an internet site that is keeping up with this potential disaster I haven't found it.

In our first warm spring weather I was nearly overrun by bumblebees and honeybees and wasps. Now that more normal spring time has come, I am seeing a few of each, but not the big masses I had. But, the only thing flowering right now around here is really the plain old white clover. The big old rosemary shrubs have stopped flowering, and that seemed to be the real hit in my yard. Honeybees stop by occasionally and leave disappointed.

But I don't know what is "normal" for this area. And it's been a very strange spring.

Most pollinators I see here in urban central CT are wild bees - bumble bees, halictid bees and what I think might be andrenids. I also see some honey bees, but there are many more of the others and have been every year.

I have observed the same as Bruce more or less. This year there are even more bumblebees than usual. I have about half a dozen bumblebee sightings per honeybee sighting.

Scott

Honeybees have made a nest in my water meter vault in my front yard. Trouble is the water meter reader is due to read the meter next week so I will have to kill the colony before then so he doesn't get stung when he lifts the concrete lid. I advertised free bees because I didn't want to kill them if possible and only two beekeepers responded. One women beekeeper never showed up and a man came but said he had to build a box first and would come back this week but so far hasn't. So if no one comes to rescue them by this weekend I will have to kill them. I was thinking either wasp and hornet spray, sevin, or flood them out. Someone recommended dropping dry ice into the chamber so I could kill them and salvage the honey without poisoning it. Trouble is I can't risk getting stung as I am allergic to bee stings. I don't think these bees are africanized as I can stand three feet away from their nest and they don't attack me.

I would ask the local water company to estimate your usage this month. Many utility companies estimate bills all the time instead of reading every meter every month. Just tell them you have a beekeeper coming out to move the colony, but he can't get there in time.

Also, there are removal bee services in the yellow pages. Most are people who will move the colony elsewhere if they can save it.

I haven't seen one single honey bee in my area, but just like Alex mention, since we live in same area, I have been seeing lots of Bumble Bees. Bumble bees were out earlier than usual, and many more than I've ever seen.
At least something is making up for the pollination.

Bass

One suggestion for removing bees from the water meter box, is to remove the cover and leave it off. If it is done after dark, they won't fly or sting.

When daylight comes, they might just disappear on their own. They don't like daylight, but prefer to have a nest in dark places.

Bejay

I live in st thomas, and there are consideralbly less bees around than normal.. we had a pretty substantial drought this year and htat might have somehting to do with it.. ill just have to wait and see

I did some research on this one day at work and found an interesting article from England that stated that the cells used by many beekeepers are larger than the bees normalle prefer to use and it results in a larger bee (why I don't know) and that bees raised on normal sized cells, as well as bees who solely forage for food are not affected, or as affected by CCD. I have seen many of the big fuzzy bumbles around but not many honeybees, but I don't recall if they are usually around at this point or not in the year. I know that from year to year the bumbles are always around earlier, but not how much earlier.

~Chills

I seem to have honeybees in moderate numbers. They were really working the strawberry blooms today.

Thanks for all the replies.
I have seen a couple honey bees for several days, but the numbers should be wayyyy higher.
I guess some areas are doing fine and others are wiped out.
Ann

We seem to have pretty fair numbers of what appear to me to be our standard honeybee. Right now they are hitting the apple pretty good, and we got excellent fruit set on the two apricots.

We have a large maple in the yard that hasn't bloomed yet, but when it does the entire tree just humms with the bees.

We also get quite a few tiny wasps and flies of different kinds, and we keep a colony of orchard mason bees that seems to be self-sufficient now.

Good luck,

M

Anyone have any good links for identifying other beneficial pollinators that are alternates to honey bees? I have so many new bugs around that I I am unsure which ones are good guys and which are... well, not!

Not too many honeybees earlier in the year here in Northern CA, but as the weather has gotten warmer, there have been more. My yard has plenty of them, and some bumblebees, too.

Nimzo

In California I heard it is the driest year on record. The apricots and peaches have pollinated properly. The first bees carrying pollen have been seen and maybe 100 are at water sources as the temp gets up to the 80's.

CALIFORNIAN- did you get those bees moved?

There is also a bees & beekeeping forum.

My blackberries are in bloom and I'd been wondering if they are getting pollinated since I haven't been seeing bees on them in the early evening when I get home.

I was home during the afternoon yesterday and I saw several honeybees on them as well as a mason bee or two.

What stood out to me was that one of the honeybees was very light in coloration. It was pretty much blond all over. It had some stripes but they were pretty faint.
?

I've also seen honeybees on my rosemary and fewer on the blueberries and evergreen huckleberries.

All the bees seem to prefer azalea to fruit.

I seldom see honeybees around my place. If I see a dozen in a year that's a lot.

My pollinators are bumblebees, Southeastern Blueberry Bees, and a number of species of flies, moths, butterflies and what not that I haven't identified yet.

I almost never spray insecticides and have a lot of natural cover around so the native pollinators haven't been wiped out.

.....Alan.

A beekeeper finally came to remove the bees but he may have been too late, time will tell. The day he came for some reason all the bees came out of the water meter box and formed a swarm on the grass about two feet away. The beekeeper swept them all into a box using a brush and dustpan. But when he lifted the water meter cover he found four combs laying on the bottom of the box and we could see where they had been attached to the lid but evidently someone knocked them off. The box was also all full of ants but no dead bees to be seen. The question is did the city water department beat the beekeeper to the box and knock the combs off, and did they spray them with poison? I have a theory that if the city didn't open the box possibly the ants chased the bees out, but the beekeeper said bees can defend against ants. But anyway the beekeeper said he would call me in a few days and tell me if the colony survived and whether the queen was in the swarm. It was dark out when he came and he was working by flashlight so he couldn't tell then. Today I saw a few stragler bees flying around where the swarm had been. I blocked the entrance to the water meter box so none of them could get back in.

I think I saw a honeybee, not sure. I definitely have bumblebees, though, and LOTS of yellow jackets. Lots and lots of those, flying from flower to flower. They are supposed to be poor pollinators, but at least they try.

I'm a hobby beekeeper myself, [5 hives] and it seems mostly the large, commercial keepers, especially migratory hives are suffering with heavy losses, 50% or more.
They say, mostly it has to do with stress, allot of things come together now and they get sick,...it seems?? Not as bad as in USA , hopefully, they will find out what makes bees disappear!
Here, in the Edmonton area, right now bees are building up with a good supply of pussy willow source, there is some nectar, but mostly pollen, [bee food] what is essential for new bees.
I strongly encourage you, to take up beekeeping, I do believe, we need more hobby keeper,....it's a good thing and allot of fun!
Konrad
{{gwi:101405}}

I haven't seen too many bees this year. Wasps, though...luckily for me and my allergic son, these are diggers - they just float around close to the ground, and their nests are all in the garden where the boy won't accidentally bother them. They're supposed to be pretty good pollinators, and don't sting unless you try to hurt them.