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 **************************************************** * General Information About BEE-L is available at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm * ****************************************************