>Hypothetically, if we were to withhold treatment altogether the population
of bees would fall to say 1 to 5 % of what it is now. The remaining bees
would survive either because of resistance or because the density of
colonies was so sparse that disease would no longer easily spread from
colony to colony.

This would clearly be the immediate effect.  What would happen after that is
unknown, but my "educated" guess is that the population would rebound in
about 6-10 years.

Re Andrea's question about breeding bees resistant to CCD, this is a thought
to which I have been devoting some thought.  We are obviously doing so
currently, since no one breeds from dead colonies.  However, an intentional
program could be of great benefit.

I am currently considering doing so, since I have collapsing colonies at my
disposal.  I inspected my Remebee test yard yesterday, and again
photographically documented collapsing colonies that are unable to maintain
enough of an adult population to adequately cover their sealed brood.  We
had a cold snap the night before, and some of the struggling colonies
suffered starvation and brood loss since they simply don't have enough
foragers to take advantage of the honey flows.  The apparently healthy
colonies alongside have put on major weight, whereas the collapsing and
struggling colonies have virtually no stores.

It is sad to watch the collapses happen, some quickly, some in slow motion.

Randy Oliver

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Access BEE-L directly at:
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L