> Dee makes good points about winter and fungus, mold, yeast.  And I've 
> seen some mighty nasty looking pollen sub, if it sits in the colony 
> without  being consumed.

True.  We've seen this in particular with Feedbee, at least while it was in 
the development stages.  Maybe it is better now.  Don't know.  Other 
substitutes, like BeePro and standard soy/yeast formulae don't seem to mould 
much, if sufficient sugar is used and the water is not overdone--in my 
experience, anyhow.

That considered, we don't know how various moulds affect bees, moreover, 
there are zillions of types of moulds and fungi.  I would assume that some 
are beneficial and some toxic, just as with humans.  After all, there are a 
number that are normally found in hives, and some are suggested to be used 
in the fermentation of bee bread.

> Problem  is, every factor that might be involved is nullified in some 
> instances --  although we may be looking at a common syndrome with 
> multiple causes.

My guess--you heard it here first--is that we are seeing multiple phenomena, 
with multiple causes but similar effects, that happen to occur at the same 
time and are thus mistaken to be related (due to the associative nature of 
human thought processes) by more than coincidence.

allen 

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