it is unclear to me wether Nosema (ceranae) is a problem. Colonies test positive "all over the country", it is very common, but I never see clinical symptoms. Highes et al do not find differences among strains I believe, but that might be a question of the way of looking (DNA/protein) and the sample size etc. A pet theory of mine is that we are looking at speciation of N ceranae. It is kind of a tropical thing (imported by beek), that is adapting to cooler climates right now. Probably it gives more symptoms in warmer climates. If it is a speciation thing, there might be more strains around and when strains compete for hosts this leads to increased or decreased virulence depending on the ecological context. Beekeepers are a big part of the ecological context in all sorts of ways. Increased virulence is kind of the norm with parasite competiton for hosts (in theory) but not necessarely so.   My beekeeping practice is non-standard these days. I do not unite ( I rather kill before uniting), I do not use foundation, I never give combs with brood along with artificial swarms and I split like crazy when circumstances are good.  Foundationless systems take getting used to. Things are delicate and you have to play with "colony life cycle". In year one, I make a shook swarm on empty frames with some wax drops. This colony will expand and build worker brood mainly. After the winter they continue with worker brood at first but make up to 20-40% drone brood IF they are up to it and resources are plenty. This brood I leave undisturbed in the "good ones" to pump the air full with drones. When these good ones want to swarm I split, cutting away almost all drone and worker comb when no worker brood is present anymore (and apply oxalic). Good colonies will give me some honey, drones in the air, 1-2 splits and a lot of wax. When the weather is optimal... The real honey comes from colonies that overwinter very small and have no swarming tendency until the Tillia blooms, I use separators on these or make what we call a "flyer".  All the best,Lennard     		 	   		  
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