Waiting for the Almond Bloom by Dennis vanEngelsdorp

Hundreds of colonies sit in a holding yard outside of Chowchilla, California. The beekeeper that owns this particular set of bees has come all the way from Louisiana to take advantage of the huge demand for honey bees as pollinators of almond crops. These bees will hold in this yard for several weeks until the onset of the almond bloom at which time they will be moved into almond orchards located throughout California's Central Valley. Each year migratory beekeepers, from all over the country, move hundreds of thousands of honey bee colonies, by truck, into the Central Valley.

As part of a national survey on honey bees led by the USDA, researchers from the Pennsylvania State University will help collect data on hundreds of colonies of bees originating from different regions of the country. The colonies will be tagged and followed through the almond pollination process. Each time the colonies are visited researchers will collect samples to test for viruses, varroa mites, and nosema spores, as well as conduct colony assessments to determine the overall health of individual colonies.

For information on almond pollination visit: gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/book/chap_2.html 
by Mike Andree
Research Technician
Penn State University