Hello Jerry & All,

I am glad  Jerry is not puzzeled by what many are seeing.

Many of us are starting to believe the biggest problem facing commercial 
beekeeping is not CCD (whatever CCD is)  but nosema ceranae.

Absconding or swarming?
My point was that many are finding empty hives (Jim & Dave)  at a time when 
bees do not normally swarm. If they absconded the hive would be empty.( not 
always of course!)

 If the bees swarmed and the bees did not raise another queen then the bees 
would drift to other hives (lack of queen pheromones but not always of 
course) making the hive empty.

Either way when the beekeeper arrives he simply finds empty hives. Did they 
swarm or abscond?


If a handfull were in the field when the swarm left then those bees would 
try to raise a few cells if the old queen left young larva.  You can take a 
small piece of comb with larva and shake a couple hundred bees in and the 
bees will in most cases make a queen cell or two.



bob

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