Hello All,
A few comments.

 a raft and water?

I suggested to Jerry back in 2007 (in archives) to use an abandoned airfield 
to set hives
and recover the dead flyers. They could be marked and picked up at night
with a black light.

We have always known bees fly out to die. In fact I have a unfinished
article  on the subject back before CCD on the advice of Horace Bell. We
have discussed the suicide bees at great length.

The makers of fumidil/fumigillin have published and we have known bees lives
are shortened by nosema infestation. The big selling point for fumagillin.

I guess I will go where the USDA fears to tread.
We found in tests in Florida bees fresh out of the Imidacloprid orange
groves could not always find their way back to the hive. Many of the bees
were found several hundred feet from the hives (450) in water. nosema spore
counts low.

Disorientation was the cause I put on the case.

A suggestion was made to feed Honey Bee Healthy( HBH) when bees are off feed
by jerry Bromenshenk with heavy nosema infestation.

With all do respect to Jerry. We find HBH does stimulate feeding by bees but
the problem as defined by Dr. Eric Mussen (USC Davis Bee lab) is the bees
are unable to take up syrup in the normal way. Nothing wrong with the bees
*desire* to feed. Dr. Mussen said research on the dead bees in feeders
showed heavy nosema ceranae infestation and *starvation*. Reported when he
gave a presentation at the Missouri State Beekeepers meeting.

In talks with Medivet they said the drench was the answer but really could
not explain to *my* satisfaction why dumping mix on the bees would solve the
intake problem.

My personal opinion is Medivet has not a solution but needed to come up with
the drench to passify commercial beekeepers.

bees not able to take syrup through their proboscis is not a figment of
commercial beekeepers imaginations.  Medivet is well aware of the issue as 
is
Dr. Mussen.

From the fumagillin label:
"Heavily infested colonies that will no longer take syrup may be sprayed
repeatedly ,directly not the bees,frame by frame with 1:1 sugar syrup
containing 2 G of fumagillin B per litre of syrup"

Pete can point the finger in other directions in his confusion but those of
us looking at the problem need to solve the problem not wait for the next
study to come down the line.

Documentation is not problem solving.

All many of us see in today's research is confusion. It used to be 
commercial
beekeepers could never agree. Since  CCD its the worlds researchers which
never *seem * to be in agreement with each other.

Current thread as an example!

My 2 cents worth.

Weather in the 70's F. next week. The last time we had a similar year in
Missouri was 1936 ( and NO I was not born yet!). My source said the area
went into severe drought. Hope history does not repeat.
Fruit bloom could be 3-4 weeks early in our area.

bob

             ***********************************************
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

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm