http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikonvscanon/ / CC BY 2.0
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My grandfather kept bees for nearly 70 years, and I wish he was alive to ask about the current colony collapses. He started by keeping wild bees in the Oklahoma Territory/Texas area in the early 1900's, and said the European bees were much 'nicer'. (To translate from frontier 'speak'- they didn't sting as much as the wild bees. While it's possible, I 've no doubt he would have recommended against keeping wild bees in hives based on his experiences!)
Grandfather Frank did say honey bee colonies collapsed sometimes for no apparent reason, and on a somewhat regular basis; he would get new queens and start over when this happened. (Or just wait for a new swarm to be removed, when people called him up for this service.) His hives usually were very remote, and still had these collapse problems. We had a reduction in domestic bees here in my area of the northern Sierra Nevada foothills in 2006 & 2007, but the bees were back big time in 2008 (along with many varieties of wild bees). The numbers of domestic honey bees leveled off again this year.
Growing up I fondly remember my grandfather's fresh desert sage/orange blossom honey comb, which my family chewed like candy. We don't seem to have many commercial hives here where I live now (most of the orchards are gone since the pear blight), but I hope some beekeepers still provide fresh honey comb. (Note: never give any honey to infants younger than 12 months to protect them against infant botulism.)
I also remember my grandfather's beeswax candles, and to this day I prefer them over other candles. I like to support beekeepers by buying their products-when I can find them. Contrary to conventional wisdom the honey bees in my garden like basil more than sunflowers ; I wonder what that honey would taste like?
Just some bee memories and observations.
May the bees buzz around and bless your neighborhoods,
D.
(Auburn, CA)