SOLUTION TO THE VANISHING BEES?

i had a very interesting conversation yesterday that might just have made me privy to the reason the bees are missing:

in a conversation with a local beekeeper here in rural arkansas, i learned that he'd gone out and found some of his hives empty and did some investigation both after dark and just before dawn and found something that looks like a simple reason for the mystery.

here in north central arkansas we have bumblebees and then something that looks like them but larger that the locals call 'woods bees'.

my friend says he went out before dawn and saw something bigger than a 'woods bee' but looking just like a huge bumblebee, (i've seen these as well), emerging from a hive with a dead bee.

he has learned since that this is really a type of wasp that has migrated down from canada.

in looking after dark he found several in a newly emptied hive.

he says they only work in the dark, and are gone with the light, but when he made his hive entrances too small for the wasps, but big enough for the honeybees, the problem ended and he has had no trouble since.

simple and elegant, isn't it? i've passed this info on to the american beekeeping federation, but if any of you know beekeepers or know anyone who is suffering losses, you might pass this story on.

that's the buzz
inea1111