--- Bob Harrison <[log in to unmask]> wrote: ...Even my friend Aaron (and the others) left out the > number one deadout cause > by far. > > More than double any other cause I ever saw! > > Starvation! Easy to see! > > Bees dead with heads stuck in empty cells! > > Either no honey or honey a distance from the dead > bee cluster! Hello All, Would like to hear your thoughts on this Bob. I agree that dead-outs will generally be found to have died of starvation. But my thoughts are that starvation is given more credit for colony failures than it deserves. For example, if you do the dead-out examination and find a dead cluster about 3 inches round that 'clearly starved', and stores and inch or two away from the cluster. Do you blame starvation? OR do you blame the cause of the starvation? which might be dwindling from some other factor resulting in too small a cluster with not enough strength to be able to shift to new stores? The guy that has cancer for 5 years and has heart failure. Would you blame heart failure?,,,or do would you blame the cancer as the cause of death? Best Wishes, Joe Waggle ~ Derry, PA 'Bees Gone Wild Apiaries' Buy~Sell~Trade: Organic, Bees~Queens~Equipment at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OrganicbeekeeperClassifieds/ Check out a giant swarm: http://joebee.homestead.com/files/honeybeeSwarm.jpg __________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger Show us what our next emoticon should look like. Join the fun. http://www.advision.webevents.yahoo.com/emoticontest :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::