Hello Carimona,
I have been on the road and just returned and playing catch-up! To try and
refute all your points takes needless
time so will simply make a few comments.

First 60 minutes and the nature program led watchers to believe CCD is
happening right now! It is not! Period!


We do have some SSDD but no CCD from what I have been able to gather from
members of the North & South Dakota beekeepers meetings ( personal
conversation with those in attendance) and reported in my December ABJ
article.

I attended the fall meeting of the Kansas Honey Producers and asked if any
of the members were seeing CCD symptoms. The answer was no!

The same question was asked at the fall meeting of the Missouri State
beekeepers assn. which I just returned from. Not one person except for Dr.
Caron which said he lost 11 of his 12 hives last winter to CCD. (SSDD many
of us thought). Hardly enough for the industry to get excited.

My article on my trip to the Dakotas looking for CCD is in the December
American Bee Journal. Best bees in years were the comments from those with
Australian bees and those running U.S. bees. Look at the pictures. No CCD
here!

The VAST majority of hives in the U.S. are owned by the large migratory
beekeepers. By far! The best hives I look at are always in these operations!
Without exception.

The idea these guys are a dumb --- bunch of box movers which do not know
what they are doing is very stupid!

IAPV clearly did not enter the U.S. first with the Australian  import as I
got some of those bees and they did fine! Still around. Even did not need
treatment for varroa the first year!

I find it interesting that an author for BC wrote all about the Australian
bees without ever seeing his first import bee. He did get hold of a thrown
away shipment paper.

He has never taken the time to read my articles about the many ways I
consider the Australian import service superior to the U.S.. For starters
they have got Denis Anderson! He knocked the USDA-ARS on their heels with
the discovery of varroa destructor.

The USDA now says n. ceranae has been in the U.S. over ten years. Wow!

They now say IAPV dates back to at *least* 2002. Wow!

They were called to California in 2005/2006 and said they had no idea what
killed those bees but needed to know what a normal hive looked like! Wow!

Is it any wonder that some large migratory beekeepers get their information
from sources outside the U.S. such as the U.K., Germany, New Zealand,
Australia and others?

I am through arguing with others on BEE-L. Post your opinions and we will
let the list decide who is right!

I say to the CCD group. Quit looking through deadouts and showing slides of
black trachea and blown out tubules and go to the beekeepers which have got
the best bees in years and find out why they are not seeing CCD problems!

Many on the list know I am not into speaking at bee meetings. Have turned
down EAS, HAS and many others. Bee groups are  saying they are sick
and tired of getting researchers showing slides of black trachea and blown
out tubules and want speakers which will share the way they are successfully
keeping bees!

Sadly most beekeepers running thousands of hives have little
time for speaking at meetings or even reading bee magazines! I interview a
few of those in my December article. One of those commercial migratory
beekeepers is running around 6000 hives and all are Australian. Listen to
what he has to say and see the pictures he sent for publication. He fights
varroa all the time but has seen no CCD.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison



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