Hello All,
Brian said:
Is there an emergency here (concerning CCD).

It is sad to hear this  hype from beekeepers. I do understand those out of
the loop (not seeing problems in their hives) might feel that CCD is
simply a big hoax. However those not directly involved need to realize
most researchers and the larger beekeepers see a problem and trust their
wisdom.

Some updates:
Denis Anderson ( Australia) is looking into CCD and visited the Dave
Hackenberg experiment in the last couple weeks.

The Ag corp with the pesticide treated seed paid for research (to prove
their product is not the problem) and did not like the results so
cancelled the funding. (source AHPA insider).

Reports of hives crashing are increasing.

Reports of drought are coming from parts of the Dakotas all the way to
California putting stress on hives and in some areas a repeat of last
fall.

Beekeepers in areas of seed treated cotton and canola are reporting CCD
type symptoms.

Jim Fischer has raised some excellent points and is correct as to when we
might expect some CCD funding from my contacts. I said last spring on
BEE-L not to expect help this year from the government and another repeat
of fall 2006 will have to happen before the problem gets fast funding.
Sadly it appears the problem is happening again.

Yes the almonds got pollinated but many out of state beekeepers are leary
about shipping hives which are not strong and healthy. Time will tell if
enough hives will be available for 2008 almonds. Remember it was only a
few years ago there was not enough hives in almonds. Even 3 framers were
sold into almonds.

Jim said:
Neither ABF & AHPA can claim to represent more than a fraction of the
total of either hives or beekeepers"

Sad but true *but* the larger players belong to one or the other. The
commercial guys with 300-2000 hives is an area which rarely attends or
belongs. I myself did not belong to national, state and local
organizations for the first couple decades of beekeeping. I attended my
first Midwestern Beekeepers meeting  and did a program about commercial
beekeeping in Florida and was voted president at the next meeting ( job I
held for three years).

Since then I have made many contacts in beekeeping I would not have made
without belonging to beekeeping organizations and many beekeepers might
have never heard of me. I can name many commercial beekeepers which do not
belong to beekeeping organizations or belong and never (or hardly ever)
attend.

We need to all stand behind the effort to get research for the current
problems. All beekeepers need to step into the picture and join beekeeping
organizations. Even if you only own a single hive there is unity in
numbers!

bob

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