Good Morning
Yesterday, a group of us formalized a working group and named the current
bee loss syndrome being seen in the U.S. As of this time, I have reports that
major losses have been seen in the U.S., starting in the spring in places
like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Its still ongoing in Florida, with major
losses occurring in Oklahoma, and a number of reports from California over the
last few days.
We are no longer calling this Fall Dwindle Disease -- its not a fall
phenomenon when looked at across the nation, its a rapid collapse (often in less
than 2-3 weeks), and it may or may not be a disease in the strictest sense. So,
we're terming it Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
We, a group of researchers, extension agents, and regulatory officials have
formed a group to investigate this problem and will call ourselves the CCD
Working Group. This group represents a diverse number of institutions
including Bee Alert Technology, Inc. (a bee technology transfer company affiliated
with the University of Montana), The Pennsylvania State University, the
USDA/ARS, the Florida Department of Agriculture, and the Pennsylvania Department
of Agriculture. We're planning on adding Eric Mussen to the group to
represent California.
CCD Symptoms
Based on initial visits to affected beeyards, the CCD drew up a list of the
following symptoms, typical of the disorder:
1) In collapsed coloniea,
a. The complete absence of adult bees in colonies, with no or little
build up of dead bees in the colonies or in front of those colonies.
b. The presence of capped brood in colonies,
c. The presence of food stores, both honey and bee bread
i. which is not robbed by other bees, and
ii. when attacked by hive pests such as wax moth and small hive beetle,
the attack is noticeably delayed (days, weeks)
2) In cases where the colony appear to be actively collapsing
a. An insufficient workforce to maintain the brood that is present
b. The workforce seems to be made up of young adult bees
c. The queen is present
d. The cluster is reluctant to consume provided feed, such as sugar
syrup and protein supplement
Initial results from the online survey (_www.beesurvey.com_
(http://www.beesurvey.com) ) has revealed that beekeepers think that this started at least 1-2
years ago, in its present form. As this list has mentioned, similar
syndromes have been reported in the U.S., dating back to 1896. It certainly looks
identical to the disorder reported by Oertel in 1965 (from bee losses in
63-64).
Finally, if you've experienced this, please fill out the survey - regardless
of how convinced you are that you know what caused it in your bees. Too
many factors, too few returns to sort this out without the help of the nation's
beekeepers.
Thanks
Jerry
P.S. We'd like to hear from beekeepers who HAVE not ever had this problem
-- where are your bees, what are you doing different? So, again, fill out the
survey, just be sure we know that your bees haven't had the disorder.
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---
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