One must also understand with this study that the groups compared differed in not only who survived, but who was treated for varroa (in this study all of the untreated colonies died, and two of the treated ones as well).

I'm not sure what this can tell us about predicting winter losses through measuring pathogens...if anything.

Clearly, since none of our colonies are treated and don't all die over winter, there are differences between the colonies in the study and the colonies that we run.

I'm not sure that we can draw anything more from this study than:

"If your bees are susceptible to mites to the point where none of them will survive winter without mite treatments, then their winter survival is increased by treating for mites."

...I'm not sure how useful that information is to anyone.

The mite treatments used (formic and oxalic) in the colonies that survived may well impact the pH (and/or other more subtle factors) within the hive, effecting nosema ceranae and/or other pathogens.

deknow

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