Scientists: From Weatherford Tx; The honey bees are totally gone; What has happened?

Question

Last year i saw hundreds if not thousands on my 20 acres. This year I cannot see even one?

Answer 1

It is probably pesticides.  I also see fewer fireflies every year.

Answer 2

It's called CCD, or Colony Collapse Disorder. Essentially, the bees cannot find their way back to their hive and so the hive stops functioning and eventually dies out. We have yet to figure out the exact cause, though pollution, viruses and even cell-phones have been forwarded as causes.

There is cause for hope, however, as CCD seems only to be affecting bees brought over from Europe. Bees native to the Americas and Australian bees are unaffected.

The downside, of course, is that European plants aren't pollinated by native and Australian bees.

Answer 3

What I heard is that some human decided to meddle with the  size of the hexagons inside a bee hive (human made, for transporting them).  They figured that larger hexagons would select for larger bees, so more honey production. Unfortunately, the bees increased only slightly in size, but the extra space gave viruses and bacteria room to thrive, and diseases began to wipe out the honeybees. Yet another case of human greed trying to outwit Mother Nature, ending up in disaster. When will we learn?