> And, if you say - Yeh,
 > but my bees are healthy and the equipment and bees get  mingled
 > anyway - DO  YOU KNOW whether any other  bees within a minimum of 2
 > miles of your apiary are healthy, free of problems?

Not to get argumentative over this, I have seen lots of robbing at
cracks, entrances, bucket seams, and progressive robbing associated with
other forms of feeding besides open feeding, extending to the point
where hives were robbed right out.

 > When we looked at operations with CCD, where we saw waves moving
 > through holding yards, odds were the beekeeper was open feeding.

At that moment?  Even then, it makes sense since the phenomenon is
associated with fall AFAIK and so is open feeding.

If it matters, I've been to many, many yards where bees were open
feeding and where there was no CCD.

What does that prove?  Neither observation proves anything except our
personal prejudices.  Confirmation bias, it is called, and I am as
guilty of it as anyone.

We open fed for decades and always had about 15% winter loss, even after
varroa, and we did not cull in fall.  In my country this is excellent
success.  Top 10 percentile.

 > Look at this another way - a yard of 30 strong colonies could easily
 > have 120000 bees.

My yards would have a lot more than that, I hope.  Even after drum
feeding.  I reckon about 1,050,000 in October for a yard of 30 hives.

 > So, if I were to go to every restaurant and soup kitchens that I could
 > find and pour leftover beverages in a barrel, then mix it all
 > up...You'd be exposed to EVERYTHING contagious that anyone sampled
 > from the community had.

There may be some merit to an argument made on the basis of hygiene,
hyperbole undermines it. Neglecting the unwarranted anthropomorphism,
the metaphor is simply unfair.

Why?  The number of actual bodies and families (hives) is much smaller
than the number of bees -- 30 in this case -- and the bees from these
hives have been intermingling intimately all through the season.
Moreover human populations range much wider and are less homogeneous.
their hygiene.  When a bee meets another bee, oftentimes they french
kiss right here on the spot.  Most people don't do that much.

Just add one yellow hive to a black yard and watch.  Or consider that
many of the yards in question may have been loaded onto trailers and
moved several times, with the bees playing musical chairs between hives
each time after being put down.

An finally, the syrup open fed is not gathered up and intermixed.  It is
clean, pure fresh food-grade syrup added to fresh drums with fresh straw.

Bees thrive when fed, and if the best way available is to drum feed,
with adequate surface area and reasonably competent and scrupulous
attention, it is a fine and proven way to feed.

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