>  When I checked 1/21/06 they were mostly alive...I attribute my loss to
>varroa, nosema (some with heavy dysentery), perhaps also tracheal mites (not
>checked).


Zach, you may want to check them for Tracheal, if the dead bees aren't too 
rotten to cut. You say they were alive in Mid-January, but died later with 
heavy staining. I find that to be a classic example of Tracheal damage.

>  I would like to know how beekeepers with more bees fared ...

Of the 500 I've checked, 33 didn't make it. 225 left to check, but I don't 
predict any changes to the % losses...unless I find a bit of starvation. I 
did find a few Varroa deaths. Dug some dead in the process of hatching bees 
out of their cells with my pocket knife...shrunken abdomens and no wings. 
But that was just a few. Found a few Tracheal problems...colony boiling out 
in mid-winter, in a pile on the snow. Had TJ cut them. He thought I seeded 
the sample, but no...40/50 bees cut were heavily infested with much 
scarring of the Trachea. Rest of yard...all quiet in winter, and alive now.


>Apparently climatic
>conditions do make a difference (i.e. harder to winter here with a longer
>winter, although it has been quite warm this past one).


Well of course. But we had a warm winter, and losses shouldn't have been so 
high. It seems to me that beekeepers with acclimatized stocks fare much 
better than those who buy their bees in from far away. Trying not to point 
any fingers here. Did you northern beekeepers who lost your bees use 
northern stock, or southern stock? While southern bees are great for 
southern beekeeping, the aren't resistant to Tracheal, which is still a big 
problem in the north. Everyone seems convinced that Varroa is the main 
culprit in these large colony die offs, but I wonder how much is actually 
Tracheal mite destruction. Obviously we have to keep our Varroa populations 
in check, but don't forget Tracheal. Requeen with tolerant stock. Once your 
bees can tolerate Tracheal mites, and winter well, then you can work on 
controlling Varroa. Until then, it's a crap shoot, and who knows what is 
killing the bees, or if they can winter in the north, anyway.
Mike  


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