> Bob I would appreciate it if you would elaborate a little  here-are you
> talking disease resistance, population, honey production?

Not disease resistance as we had few issues before mites but the bees seem
far more fragile today than before mites..

Populations seemed easier to maintain before mites  Bees more prolific.

We all thought after varroa had killed off 95% of the feral colonies
(U.S.D.A. estimates at the time) that we would see bumper honey crops. For
the most part did not happen. The opposite happened. In the Midwest we went
from making 4-5 supers of honey in spring and a couple in fall to 2-3 in
spring and none in fall most years.

We went to needing to feed a higher amount of syrup and in many cases pollen
patties for the first time.

> Also the rough years of decline

I would say in my area 1998 was a turning point. Most had record honey
production in 1995 & 1997.

I have pondered the decline and the only thing which stands out is the
failure of apistan in 1998 and the introduction of coumaphos.

Many beekeepers felt around 2000-2001 that coumaphos wax contamination was
why they were having troubles and melted millions of combs.

I changed my comb and saw better results but those which did not also seemed
to see an improvement.

2003-2004 the bees never seemed quite right but large scale crashes seemed
rare then in the winter of 2004-2005 hives started crashing in Florida. I
helped with the issue and we felt the problem was virus issues brought on by
less than 98% varroa control. We did not know of the possible nosema ceranae
involvement then. Three viruses were found in crashing samples sent to
Brenda Ball (U.K.).

Then in the winter of 2006-2007 came the big U.S. wide crash.

Virus ( Kashmir) & nosema ceranae were found in 100% of the *first* CCD
samples.

Not often said was the fact most outfits having trouble had been in
California almonds at least once. many felt whatever was killing hives was 
originating in
California almonds.

Whatever is causing beekeepers to lose hives is still around and although
many hail the news from jerry about the problem *might* be caused by two new
virus and nosema ceranae most of us *yawn* as Virus (Kashmir, IAPV or a new
virus) in
combination with nosema has been the suspect since the start.

My opinion is that nosema ceranae in combination with IAPV, Kashmir virus,
ABPV or jerry's new virus can kill bees.

A program running now on the history channel shows the way a virus could
wipe out most of the earths population and once the hospitals are full the
rest might die waiting in line for treatment. The U.S. is totally unprepared
for SARS or a asian flu pandemic.

Dr. Shiminki saw no cure for virus issues (PMS) other than varroa control.
He said virus are in most hives but can be spread from hive to hive and bee
to bee. There is no guarantee with a flu shot you will not get the flu and
people die every year which have been given flu shots. If virus is half the
issue and nosema ceranae is perhaps the other half as Jerry's study suggests
then I suggest wiping out nosema ceranae completely from our bees has a
better success rate than trying to stop virus issues.

bob

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