To all:

While attempting to discover why my bees apparently collapsed after arriving in California in 2006 I began wondering about the possibility that the drive from mid-central Kansas was what caused bees to go down hill so fast. Inspecting them the morning they were unloaded they  were up to snuff accdording to the beekeeper placing my bees.  Many looked "great" was the normal response with 1/3 being average and 1/3 fair.   There was also exceptions of about 6 -10 hives that were taken out of the wrong line of bees at 2:00 a.m. and mistakenly put on the truck but that's life.  I was amazed a week later when they were getting ready to place them I received a call saying that only a third would make it and that was if we combined 3 into one.   What happened during the course of that week while in the holding yard with five other loads of bees that I and my brother worked for five days helping to reduce them as well into 1/3 of the original number of units.   Two truckloads of equipment went back to the Dakotas and most of us did not pay expenses.   It was my last trip to Almonds.
Whether it was the holding yard enviornment, the weather, the trip who knows but I can tell you that I looked at a dozen  truckloads of bees that were all doing the same thing.   There were hives that had a good nuc laying outside of the entrance for 10 feet after being unloaded directly into almonds however and they had not been placed in a holding yard.  I just asked Bob recently if anyone had ever investigated this connection and he was not aware of any studies into the matter and I now know why.   After spending a couple dozen hours investigating it and several phone calls there is little information available on the new low sulfur fuels that have been required to be in place by the end of 2007.    What I do know is:
1.  Formulations have changed in the last three to five years.    To boost engine performance, cetane enhancers are being added to the fuel to enable the new formulations to provide the power to run these new mixes which no one
will tell you what they consist of as it is all proprietary information.
2.  Winter mixes are different than summer diesel fuel formulations due to the temperature factor in the combustion of diesel fuels.   Winter formulations allow for more sulfur content or they would not start the engine up without
extensive warming.
3.  As Ted said in an earlier post, all kinds of additives are being added to make the new fuels more powerful to head down the road at optimum speeds and torque.  It is a brew that only God knows what will be in the actual emissions of Diesel Exhaust or DE.
4.  We know that there are from individual reports  40 to 200 chemical compounds in DE, one of which is Naphthelene and of course many forms of Nitrous Oxide and Carbon Monoxide. 
5.  Many of these DE compounds are known carcinogenic and mutogenic in mice and we believe humans as well.
6.  When diesels sit idling at low speed and low temps reburning their own exhaust, concentrations of chemical
compounds and particles increase exponentially.
7.  There are no new studies available on any of the new reformulated fuels being used today and changed due to the new laws put into place in the last few years.
8.  The variables involved make an actual study difficult if not impossible to make any direct links
9.  Conclusions are difficult to arrive at and the information to make them will be difficult to find or obtain.
10.  If I rode the back of a semi from Kansas to California I would be one sick puppy.  Bees detect things in parts per billion that would never affect our sense of smell or stomach.
11.  When I asked Diana Cox-Foster about this at the Conference she said there were too many non-migratory beekeepers experiencing the same CCD symptoms that would not give her an inclination that this was the cause, at least directly and as a sole cause.  This is a valid point.
12.   I know that the vast majority of those with valid CCD symptoms are migratory beeks.
13.  The beekeeper that has had the most problems moves his bees 16 times per year is what I was told.  He is however very convinced of the Neoticinoid connection which is also highly debatable and the conclusive information and studies will be lengthly to say the lest.  
14.  We may never have an exact cause as it is most likely a combination of contributing factors all of which when
put together become synergistic in their total effect and the bees have had too much.

Anyone wishing to make investigations or attempting to research the topic further can contact me and I will be happy to provide you with the numerous weblinks and tons of pdf's and information available which is mostly at
least 5 to 10 years old but does shed some light on the subject.  I don't know if I have any time to really investigate this any further or if it would do any good.

Tim Tucker

-----Original Message-----
>From: Mike Bassett <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Mar 11, 2008 7:28 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [BEE-L] Todays die off email
>
>On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:42:12 -0500, Bob Harrison <[log in to unmask]> 
>wrote:
>
> At night in truck stops the air
>>is full of diesel fumes. The bees have no air to breathe but the diesel 
>fume
>>contaminated air. Many times the bees are exposed for up to 36 hours each
>>way to California. Exposed each time they are moved.
>
>seems to me bob may be on to something. if it only takes 1/2 hr to affect 
>people, just think what it can do to bees with a much smaller brain.
>
>http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/brain_diesel_dc
>
>mike basset new york 
>
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