Randy wrote:
> I don't think that Bob was trying to explain CCD cases.

* He certainly gave that impression. Bob wrote:

> Most CCD claimed crashes of semi loads of bees occurred after the bees were
unloaded at their destination.

> We have got an hypothesis that the new diesel fuel additives being added to
replace sulfur and increase fuel mileage might be causing hives to crash.


* * *

I don't think this is the typical pattern of bee poisoning by fumes.
If the fumes were so toxic, one would expect bees dying on the truck.

Years ago I almost killed a yard with fumes. I had 85 hives in a
location near San Diego. I had been battling ants all summer. The came
up out of the cracks in the adobe soil and were overwhelming the
weaker hives one by one. They would drive the bees out of the hives
and eat the brood and honey.

So -- I started putting powdered diazinon around the hives.  They were
about ten inches off the ground (we used old bee supers as hive
stands). This was working pretty well, until the temperatures went
above 100F. Then the stuff started to vaporize and the bees started
pouring out of the hives to die.

I borrowed a bee truck and loaded them all up. I parked the truck over
night, in order to unload at dawn. The bees kept coming out of the
hives to die during the night. Once they were on site, though, they
die-off stopped. So, I think a fume kill would be immediate and not
delayed reaction like CCD.

-- 
Peter L. Borst
Danby, NY  USA
42.35, -76.50
http://picasaweb.google.com/peterlborst

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