Good Morning
 
Yesterday, a group of us formalized a working group and named the current  
bee loss syndrome being seen in the U.S.  As of this time, I have reports  that 
major losses have been seen in the U.S., starting in the spring in places  
like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa.  Its still ongoing in Florida, with  major 
losses occurring in Oklahoma, and a number of reports from California over  the 
last few days.
 
We are no longer calling this Fall Dwindle Disease -- its not a fall  
phenomenon when looked at across the nation, its a rapid collapse (often in less  
than 2-3 weeks), and it may or may not be a disease in the strictest  sense.  So, 
we're terming it Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).  
 
We, a group of researchers,  extension agents, and regulatory officials have 
formed a group to investigate  this problem and will call ourselves the CCD 
Working  Group.   This group represents  a diverse number of institutions 
including Bee Alert Technology, Inc. (a bee  technology transfer company affiliated 
with the University of Montana), The Pennsylvania State  University, the 
USDA/ARS, the Florida Department of Agriculture, and the  Pennsylvania Department 
of Agriculture.   We're planning on adding Eric Mussen to the group to 
represent  California.
 
CCD Symptoms
 
Based on initial visits to affected beeyards, the  CCD drew up a list of the 
following symptoms, typical of the  disorder:
 
 
1)      In collapsed coloniea,  
a.       The complete absence of adult bees in colonies, with  no or little 
build up of dead bees in the colonies or in front of those  colonies. 
b.      The presence of capped brood in colonies,   
c.       The presence of food stores, both honey and bee  bread 
i.      which is not  robbed by other bees, and 
ii.      when attacked by  hive pests such as wax moth and small hive beetle, 
the attack is noticeably  delayed (days, weeks) 
2)      In cases where the colony appear to be actively  collapsing 
a.       An insufficient workforce to maintain the brood that  is present 
b.      The workforce seems to be made up of young adult  bees 
c.       The queen is present 
d.      The cluster is reluctant to consume provided feed,  such as sugar 
syrup and protein supplement 
Initial results from the online survey (_www.beesurvey.com_ 
(http://www.beesurvey.com) ) has revealed that  beekeepers think that this started at least 1-2 
years ago, in its present  form.  As this list has mentioned, similar 
syndromes have been reported in  the U.S., dating back to 1896.  It certainly looks 
identical to the  disorder reported by Oertel in 1965 (from bee losses in 
63-64). 
Finally, if you've experienced this, please fill out the survey -  regardless 
of how convinced you are that you know what caused it in your  bees.  Too 
many factors, too few returns to sort this out without the help  of the nation's 
beekeepers. 
Thanks 
Jerry 
P.S.  We'd like to hear from beekeepers who HAVE not ever had this  problem 
-- where are your bees, what are you doing different?  So, again,  fill out the 
survey, just be sure we know that your bees haven't had the  disorder.

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