In California, long before varroa, my rule of thumb for taking hives to
almonds was to assume taking only 2/3rds of my August colony count to
almonds the next February.  So 33% "loss" has long been my working economic
model--even without the involvement of pesticides, varroa, DWV, or Nosema
ceranae.  Has sustained me.

BTW, it wasn't that those colonies necessarily died.  I mainly due to
combining the weaker ones in fall.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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