I believe that until the investigators fully include colony collapses  
from abroad showing exactly the same symptoms as those listed for CCD, 
then the whole picture will never become clear. Agricultural chemicals, 
certain varroa and other treatments could readily be dismissed (at 
least in my case) where I live in the mountains of Greece and use only 
Apiguard. I lost about 30 colonies, most of them headed by that year's 
queens. I could put it down to poor mating as we had a cool spring and 
maybe there were not many drones flying; I could put it down to the 
fresh wax used in each of these colonies - but don't have the means of 
analyzing the wax. Maybe the emulsion paint on each of the new colonies 
was to blame . . . . but what ever the cause the exact symptoms as for 
CCD. Another bee yard 300 metres away no problems - but I retained the 
queens in each of these.

As for beekeeping journals, my March issue of the BKQ carries a report, 
but  copy dates and deadlines  don't always allow us to hang around to 
wait to see what is happening. News has to be reported as it occurs and 
  the facts sent to editors (which one tries very hard to verify) have 
up to a certain point to be taken on trust. I think we4 all manage 
pretty well in not sensationalizing the reports we make in the way that 
they appear in the national and international press.

John Phipps


> The scary part to me, is reports that responsible beekeepers, 
> practicing
> good management, are experiencing new losses this spring--past the 
> point
> that one would expect poor fall forage to exert an effect.  I support 
> the
> investigation, and hope that the researchers can either discount CCD, 
> or
> find the cause.
>
> Randy Oliver
>
>
>
John Phipps
Editor: The Beekeepers Quarterly
Neochori, Agios Nikolaos,
Messinias, Greece 24024
webpage: www.iannisphoto.com

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