Peter

CCD colonies are not necessarily completely dead - remember,  we usually see  
a queen and a small cluster of young bees.   Typically, in a given bee yard,  
we see a few strong colonies, some  moderate colonies - both of which 
visually  
look to be ok.  Then  we see failing  CCD colonies - a queen, mostly  young 
bees, an  excess of brood (at the time of year when queen's are  laying - 
often  
2-4 frames with some beew).  We also see some collapsed  colonies  (queen and 
small retinue of very young bees - barely cover 1/2 of one   frame), and a 
few 
empty boxes.  Over a period of a few weeks, we  usually  see more failing and 
collapsed colonies in a yard, with CCD  sometimes taking out  every colony, 
but 
more often, taking out 50-80%  of the colonies within a beeyard  or holding 
yard.  
In large  holding yards, we've seen it start at one end  and roll through to 
the  other end like a wave.

This past fall/winter/spring, we've seen a higher  percentage of empty boxes  
(even the queen is gone).  Remember  also, I don't necessarily think Nosema  
and CCD are the same.  The  one case that I saw that looks like the classic  
Nosema ceranae kills  reported by the Spanish had dead bees with lots of 
Nosema  in  
them.

Jerry





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