Our bees arrived 3 weeks ago, about the usual time...
...but this spring has been rainy (no surprise for Oregon) and a bit colder than usual, so the ladies haven't been in great evidence in the fields.
Saturday (April 20) dawned clear and sunny. The dogs and I had a morning walk about 8 when it was still cool and the grass was damp. An hour later we started out to the barn again and I could hear a quiet humming in the cherry trees along the drive, so I went back to the house for the camera. All the cherry trees blossom nearly together most years, but this year we had an early group, and only recently had the remaining trees started their show.
I captured a lone bee in a blossom
We went over the dike and toward the blueberry fields. There was a crescendo in the humming as we approached the bushes. That beautiful buzz signifies essential progress for development of the fruit.
Then we arrived at the hives to witness the source of the activity
We have 96 colonies this year (128 last year). They have a lot of work to do, but each healthy colony harbors approximately 60,000 workers so there are ~6 million bees out and about when the temperature is high and the flowers that provide pollen are open. Approximately 40,000 bushes, maybe a thousand or two flowers per bush.
Surrounding trees and other vegetation - big leaf maples, Japanese maples, heather, fruit trees, ... - create a competition for the attention of the honey bees.
Honey bee mouth parts are not ideally suited for the small entrances to blueberry flowers.
We encourage the native bumble bee population whose mouth parts can reach deeper into the flower, but they are not sufficient for adequate pollination of the fields. We require a healthy honey bee industry to produce healthy crops. We do not use chemicals that can damage the colonies.
Without healthy bee colonies and, equally important, continuing generations of dedicated beekeepers to maintain the colonies, agriculture as we know it will perish and people will starve.
Observing bees is hard work; my co-workers petitioned for a break to do what they do best.
ps: This personal reflection was inspired by marmar's post “Dance of the Honey Bee” in Video and Multimedia yesterday. Many thanks to marmar. 
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...when we first moved to the farm about 20 years ago and placed them in the treed areas away from the fields. We didn't get any residents. I may have drilled holes too small. The other mistake I realized later was making the houses from pressure treated wood...what was I thinking? 
I haven't repeated the experiment.
Mason bees are as good as honeybees for pollinating blueberries.
I should probably try again. A good question, thanks.
Thank you so much for sharing these photos and for caring for the bees (and Earth) so well 
