I heard about this problem on the radio this morning and sure enough when I looked it up, here is what I found. Wonder what is going on here?

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11183-mystery-illness-devastates-honeybee-colonies.html

It's here, imported from the east coast. The new mystery is called CDC (colony collapse disorder). This is entirely a different mass killer than the devastating mites.

Almond farmers hire beekeepers from out of state. The out of state bees intermingle with local bees, and CDC gets transferred when the local bees already know how to combat mites. It is one disaster after another.

I saw 1 honeybee last year-- that was the first in 2 years-- I saw 3 last Friday. I hope whatever it is has done it's damage and moved on from here.