Are things like the beetles and virus new introductions to the area, or is it just a confluence of factors that are hitting harder now?
I'd also heard (many years ago) that, while the colonies can collapse, the bees normally reproduce quickly enough that you don't see much of a net loss in colony counts year-over-year - how do you see that?
My impression is that the bee populations have been remarkably resilient year over year, but whenever I see this kind of stress-and-recovery cycle, I worry that there's a tipping point - many systems seem Fine under stress until they overwhelm their recovery mechanism and collapse catastrophically.
Not the OP, but here in New Zealand the issues are greatly exacerbated by hive overstocking, migrant beekeepers (eg a truck brings in 100 hives one day, and the additional extras in those hives are spread to local hives), poor beekeeping, American Foul Brood and a low sale price for honey.
Are things like the beetles and virus new introductions to the area, or is it just a confluence of factors that are hitting harder now?
I'd also heard (many years ago) that, while the colonies can collapse, the bees normally reproduce quickly enough that you don't see much of a net loss in colony counts year-over-year - how do you see that?
My impression is that the bee populations have been remarkably resilient year over year, but whenever I see this kind of stress-and-recovery cycle, I worry that there's a tipping point - many systems seem Fine under stress until they overwhelm their recovery mechanism and collapse catastrophically.