Well you people in the States have your own problems with Bees


US bees buzz off without trace
• Jacqui Goddard, Miami
• February 20, 2007
HUNDREDS of millions of bees have vanished in 22 US states, leaving keepers financially crippled and jeopardising $20billion of crops that need the insects for pollination.
Beekeepers report their hives emptying within days because of an unexplained phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder (CCD), which spontaneously drives swarms to abandon their homes and disappear to die.
While fungus, mites and pesticides have caused die-offs in the past, scientists admit they are struggling to solve this mystery.
"There's no simple answer, no smoking gun," said Jerry Bromenshank, an entomologist at the University of Montana who is involved in the study.
The problem first became apparent in eastern US states, such as Florida and Georgia, during the last three months of last year, but in recent weeks reports have poured in nationwide, sending shudders through the honey industry and triggering alarm among farmers who rent the insects to pollinate their crops. Apiarists move their hives around the nation according to the seasons; California requires 500,000 colonies at this time of year - about 15 billion bees - to pollinate its almond trees.
Because of the deaths, bee supplies are down and the cost of renting them has quadrupled.
Dave Hackenburg, a beekeeper in Pennsylvania since 1962, lost 2000 colonies - about 60 million bees - over a period of three weeks. In Florida with his remaining hives to pollinate citrus trees, he estimates that CCD has cost him up to $870,000.
"It's the worst thing I've seen in 40 years of bee-keeping," he said. "It worries me a lot, because honeybees are like the canary in the coalmine - if something's bothering them, it's a warning to us humans too."
Professor Bromenshank said: "The bees just vanish - that's one of the really strange things. In pesticide kills you normally find them dead, but in this case, one day you've got a big strong colony, two days later you've got virtually an empty box."
Weak or ailing bee colonies are usually raided within hours for their honey by moths, beetles and other bees. But with CCD, the hives are left untouched.
"We saw one guy in California with hundreds of boxes empty, each with 30 to 40 pounds of honey inside. There are two bee yards within half a mile and they should have been robbing it blind - we should have been fighting them off. But nothing."
The Times

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...7-2703,00.html