> Dee makes good points about winter and fungus, mold, yeast. And I've
> seen some mighty nasty looking pollen sub, if it sits in the colony
> without being consumed.
True. We've seen this in particular with Feedbee, at least while it was in
the development stages. Maybe it is better now. Don't know. Other
substitutes, like BeePro and standard soy/yeast formulae don't seem to mould
much, if sufficient sugar is used and the water is not overdone--in my
experience, anyhow.
That considered, we don't know how various moulds affect bees, moreover,
there are zillions of types of moulds and fungi. I would assume that some
are beneficial and some toxic, just as with humans. After all, there are a
number that are normally found in hives, and some are suggested to be used
in the fermentation of bee bread.
> Problem is, every factor that might be involved is nullified in some
> instances -- although we may be looking at a common syndrome with
> multiple causes.
My guess--you heard it here first--is that we are seeing multiple phenomena,
with multiple causes but similar effects, that happen to occur at the same
time and are thus mistaken to be related (due to the associative nature of
human thought processes) by more than coincidence.
allen
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