Today's email on East Texas problems:
  Posting my friends problems (name withheld) to show others the way I work through a problem. You eliminate the most likely and keep eliminating until you end up with the likely cause.

  -------,
  I suspect your problems are from the cotton pollination (spraying?) . Ask the grower if he is part of the government spray program. If so ask for the crop duster. Contact the crop duster and ask when he last sprayed AND MORE IMPORTANTLY THE TIME OF DAY. If his records show ( he is required to produce records if he is spraying for the government) he sprayed while your bees were on the cotton bloom email and I will help you contact the program for compensation. 

  Outlaw crop dusters ( are around) will not cooperate. I have talked one in our area to cooperate when I told him I would not ask for damages and only wanted to know for my own information. He had sprayed my bees while in bloom.
   He said he was sorry and did not see the hives in the trees.(which I do not believe) but said he would be more careful and he has!

  I am not familiar with cotton pollination like I am crops I have done but if you have observed the bees prefer corn pollen then I suspect the new neonicotinoids as a possible source of your problems instead of the cotton boll weevil spraying.

  The boll weevil spraying should have produced a next day kill. The neonicotinoids from our observations kill slowly with contaminated pollen. Also your problem may be from another cause such as the new nosema. Feeding fumidil at least once a year has been found to slow nosema but twice a year is what most commercial beeks are doing. Testing yards is best but few beeks own the equipment. The old field test (pulling out the mid gut) has worked for me to get a *general* idea but when nosema loads are high enough for the field test you are usually already seeing the effects of nosema loss.

  Have you ever fed fumidil or had your bees checked for nosema?

  Bob

    Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 7:11 PM

     
    Bob,
    One thing I have noticed the last few days is the bees that did not go to the cotton are doing quite well. Only the bees sent to cotton are showing the problems I described. 

    In my experience bees do not really care for cotton pollen so is it possible they may have worked the corn for pollen even though the cotton was in full bloom?

    I have not been able to contact the farmer who has leased the land to ask what type of chemicals he used but I think he probably used "Malathion" on the cotton.

    Does not sound like a Malathion kill.

    Thanks,
    -------


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