Gheez! CCD is defined by its symptoms. These change with the season. The classic symptoms were those seen by us and others in warm areas in winter/spring 2006-7. But, its a disorder - nothing says it can't happen in the winter - in fact, my loss of 90% of our research hives in MT happened in February. It gets harder to diagnose (distinguish for other pathologies) at some times of the year. Our CCD colonies still ended up with the majority of the bees fleeing the hives - whether outdoors or in the shed. Of course we had some dead bees in the bottom, but nothing close to the number that disappeared. In our shed, many ended up trapped, desperately looking for any exit. Any an amazing number found their way out of our simple shed. But,they didn't want to stay in their hives. If they can leave the hive, they will. What we DID see - no shortages of food (hives had plenty of honey and stored pollen), no bees head first and dead as would be expected if they starved, lots of brood for time of year, queen's were overdoing it. Brood was developing nicely, then the bees fled. Jerry **************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home. (http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom00030000000001) **************************************************** * General Information About BEE-L is available at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm * ****************************************************