Lack of bees?

[Gocorona]

Hello all,

I am located just north of Westcliffe, CO and seem to be missing my bees. I have a fairly extensive amount of flowers planted around my house and every year from the moment everything starts blooming, I have a fairly large bee population buzzing around. This year...nada so far.

Am I being paranoid? Is anyone else noticing a lack of bees?

I remember hearing something in the media a couple months back that our warm winter might have an impact on bees if they come out too early, find no food supply, and consequently starve. Is this something that is known to have happened?

I am very curious to see what the general consenus is around the state concerning if bees are showing up or not.

Thanks for any input!

[youngste80]

Growing up I could remember hearing the buzz of bees in my parents apple trees in the Golden area. So much so that I can vividly remember it today. I have 3 crabapple trees (Arvada area) in the front of my house and 3 years ago there were bees galore. Not as many as what I remember at my parents house growing up but enough to be noticed. This year we had a bumper flower garden due to the warm weather and I expected between the crabapple trees and the flowers that I would see lots of bees around. This year I have been very dissapointed. I am actually a little concerned about the Veggie garden as last year our yield was down. Partially due to hail early in July but possibly also due to not as many bees being around. And my parents apple trees... my dad and I were standing under them and we could not pick out a single buzz. Not a bee in sight... So quiet in fact that my dad made a comment about it without me bringing it up. Sad.

My neighbor has some very bee friendly flowers and they typically attract more bees then I can shake a stick at. We will see if this year there are many around. My initial impression is not good however.