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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. Continue reading →
