High Springs, Florida | Now, now, Chris!
I am a beekeeper, with a small number of hives. I don't move mine around.
There are many causes of Colony Collapse Disorder. A big one is stress. Moving bees around stresses them, just like it would any living thing. Opening up the hive for inspections stresses them. A lot of beekeepers think you should be into your hives every week. I don't disturb mine, unless I think it's necessary. But you do need to keep tabs on what is going on a regular basis, inside the hive, to manage it properly.
Ideally in a perfect world, those that need bees for pollination should keep and manage their own hives. But that is not practical in this modern world of agriculture.
There are other pollinators besides honey bees. Wasps, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, and other species of bees. I have seen quite a few different types of bees, here in Florida, that are not European honey bees.
Edited by Mike Shimek 9/15/2014 11:37
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