Just got off the phone with Davey Hackenberg! He's taking a short break in Florida now, but he has two loads of bees currently in California doing some much needed pollination! He said the blooms are about 35% open right now, so it sounds like another typical start for crops out there. This is the time of year where he is repairing equipment and working on splitting bees to create more hives. He tries to replace all the queens at least every spring (if not every 6-8 months). Although the worker bees have to adapt to/accept the new queen bee, the queens he buys have already mated so they can start laying broods within only a couple days of being in the hive. Who knew!?
Also, if there are any beekeepers reading this who may pollinate crops, Davey advises for you to keep the price of pollination up because keeping bees is expensive and especially with all the bee loss occurring, it is important not to give your services out for free. If you take your bees to a crop that has lots of pesticides on it, you may not have half of your bees left a few months down the road.