To answer the OP, there was a 'bug' with the bug catching system which included bees, ladybugs, mantis, and cockroaches. Too many started to spawn, causing people to have far too many of each. To correct this, the administrators made the decision to first remove bugs all together for a while (when we had a monsoon), second to reduce prices that many bugs were salable for, and third to reintroduce the bugs with altered behaviors.
Bees now appear rarely in bushes. It appears you can't bomb the bushes to make them appear, from my findings, only slash it with your sword/pick it up/eat it with your horse. Also, they leap out of the bush like a jaguar. So don't get your hopes up.