In a message dated 07/08/2008 10:00:37 GMT Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Then,  hives are placed too close together and possibly too many in one
> spot.  Even just a small change, like having half as many hives at a
> site,  could reduce disease in apiaries.



Refer to Bailey's writings and lectures on the effects of having too many  
hives in one location.  From my (fallible) memory the density and  distribution 
that Tom Seeley reports in the Arnott Forest is fairly close to  that which 
Bailey concludes (on a world wide average basis) is the maximum  density of 
colonies without ill-effects.  Perhaps this is coincidence.  Perhaps Seeley's bees 
have read Bailey. Perhaps Bailey was right. Perhaps this  is why the Arnott 
Forest bees survive.
 
Dare I suggest it: perhaps somebody studying CCD ought to read Bailey and,  
in the light of what he has written, go through the results so far and see to  
what extent the 'Bailey factor' can be applied?
 
Chris



   

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