On Wed, 30 Apr 2003 23:22:02 -0400, "Alexander Pensky"
wrote:

I don't know what the situation has been in southern Ohio, but here in
NE Ohio we have not had ANY wild honeybees for about 5 to 7 years now.
I mean zero. They were all killed off by the varroa mite. In June the
white
clover flowers come out in my yard and they are IGNORED. (In olden times
there would be dozens of honeybees on them at all times; kids went
barefoot at their peril.) Nowadays if you see a honeybee in your yard it's
because there's a beekeeper nearby.

We had the same situation but then the beekeepers began using a
variety that is resistant to the mites. Those have been swarming and
establishing wild colonies - much to the dismay of the beekeepers of
course. But I suspect that our winter wiped them out also.

A friend of mine keeps four hives on my property and they provide
pollination services to my orchard. He just replaced the dead ones
yesterday so we are back in business just in time for the flowering
season. That is about a week late this year.

John