> question for you Bob, in view of Randy's observation that most commercial

> outfits he knows have low rates of colony loss,as do you.
>

Just for clarification, I was only referring to the Calif package bee
producers.  I know plenty of commercial operations that experienced high
losses.

I've also spoken with those who received bees from out of state to place
into almonds.  Many arrived crawling with mites or in poor shape otherwise.

On the other hand, one beekeeper in the Illinois corn belt walked up to me
and said that he sent 2400 of his 2600 hives to almonds.  I've asked others
with bees in corn areas to report as they finally open their hives this
spring.  I'm generally hearing of decent winter survival.  I would
appreciate hearing from any on the List with bees in corn, and who kept
mites under control, how your  colonies survived the winter.  You can write
me off list to avoid the flak from disbelievers.

Another  buddy, an exceptional Calif commercial beekeeper, whose hives
summered in the Dakotas or on Calif agricultural wasteland ramped his
colonies up with pollen supp to the point that he sold shook bees in
January, and still took the strong shaken hives to almonds.

Since the first reports of CCD, I've been following the differences between
those that supply strong hives to almonds each season, and especially those
who supply package bees each season, against those who always seem to have
problems.  I'm fully aware, as Bob points out, that none want to have their
names publicly associated with CCD.  They are far more candid at the Calif
Queen Breeders meetings.

  The consistently successful have a few management techniques in common:

1.  They keep varroa levels down all the time, and never let them climb in
summer.  Those that have allowed varroa to climb invariably suffered
subsequent crashes.

2.  They make sure that colonies in late summer are either on good forage,
or they feed lots of pollen supplement.

3.  If they go to summer pollination, they allow their hives to recover
afterward on good forage.

>The losses are real! reason needs found.


Bob, are you saying that drought over 60% of the country,  following a
warm, varroa-breeding winter, coupled with lack of Taktic for mite control,
are not enough reasons to explain unusually high colony losses?

Are you saying that neonicotinoid use suddenly increased last season,
resulting in higher losses than in previous years?  If so, please share
your sources of information.

>the problem is too big for the USDA to handle?


Bob, you have always said that it is up to beekeepers to handle their
problems, and that they lead the researchers.  Some beekeepers have
apparently figured out how to handle the problems, and those are the ones
that I choose to learn from.


> >Virus is a good scapegoat.


Especially since they are so demonstrably effective at killing colonies.

--
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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