Jim Wrote:

>>>> The actual situation is that these folks decided to bet their jobs on
reacting "now" rather than "later", and they did it because what they saw in
their initial look-see convinced them that it was a clear and present danger
- a problem of a serious nature.<<<<<

 

As the first dude to write about CCD in ABJ I rise to support everything Jim
said on this thread. I was there (in FL) in a cold windy January taking
samples. My fellow grunts were mostly other beekeepers, who may or may not
have had problems but were kicking in. These guys knew the symptoms all
right. The winds of ruin were on their necks. I have pix of the empty hives.
They stood them on end like tombstones. It was a sad sight indeed. We
covered 5 pollinators in FL on that trip, while other teams were in CA. Dave
H has been the most visible but there were others taking the hit. One I
remember had about 1400 colonies and had lost half of them. He may be out of
business by now. Would you want to accuse him of looking for a place at the
public teat? How wealthy do you think he would get when that number of hives
is about minimal to make a living?

 

BTW, nothing much has changed since that first piece and the bottom line is
still "we don't know." That says nothing about all the stuff that was
eliminated."

 

Dick Marron

 


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