> and more of the organic beekeeping outfits.

As nosema ceranae moves into organic outfits and the only cure most of us 
have found is higher than normal doses of antibiotic I expect you will many 
organic outfits seeing total collapse.

Now that most large outfits have got a handle on N. ceranae most report best 
bees in years. Weather biggest issue I hear.

However:

Beeks in the boot heel of Missouri/Arkansas and nearby states are reporting 
high losses for the 4-5 the year in a row.
Not knowing what is causing their bees to dwindle most claim CCD. Some have 
sought my help and others Jerry B.'s.

I suspect one of the beeks has contaminated his comb (as per Brian's 
suspicions) but another ran Russians on clean comb. Another has his own 
version of Honey B healthy but was sure was not the source of his problems.

Quite a few commercial beeks have simply pulled out of the honey rich delta 
and have found their problems went away.

Sorting out the issue is very hard as ltttle testing is being done. . Once 
the Beek says he uses other than the normal methods of treatment for varroa 
or nosema I have a hard time with helping the beek.

There seems to be a connection between using the new apistan strips and hive 
problems. I have not heard of any beeks using checkmite for a very long time 
but many still use apistan strips. Maybe a coincidence but it seems those 
using apistan are seeing problems.

Those with the best bees (using legal treatments) are using formic acid 
pads. Joe traynor ( national meeting in his talk)  said the beeks bringing 
the best bees into almonds *said* they were using formic for varroa control.

bob 

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