Hello All! Having inspected some colonies with these symptoms and reviewed Jerrys great observations, I will post my ‘first impressions‘. As WRONG as I know they probably are, I consider them as first impressions, and do not stand firm on what I suggest as the situation evolves my impressions will evolve also. Jerry wrote the symptoms = * *NO old bees. *No dead bees inside or outside the hive. Here in my area,,, What comes to mind is our Chief Apiarist mentioned to me in a email the curiosity of lack of pollen in these affected colonies here in Pa, and I support this observation in the colonies I have seen exhibiting symptoms starting sometime around June-July. IMO we are looking at something that was potentially affecting the colonies several months ago (damage done and or gone) and only now investigating the 'after symptoms' as they appear in the present, and therefore symptoms observed now may not reflect the actual cause. We are investigating in many cases a dead or dying colony that may have been exhibiting clear symptoms several months ago and the death or symptoms we are seeing NOW potentially caused by other factors such as starvation, dwindling and failure to thrive ect. complicating and deceiving the investigation. From my observations earlier this season, there seemed to be a perplexing inability for the affected colonies to collect pollen or sufficient nectar to maintain minimal brood nest functions. Due to the clear stress signs caused by this apparent lack of nutrition, I assume the colonies would have been doing all they can in reassigning of younger and younger bees to forager status, and reducing egg production due to lack of nutrition. The symptoms of dwindling I observed in some colonies was very gradual, and few dead bees inside or outside the hive was obvious to me over the length of several months. This observation therefore does not support an absconding event or rapid dwindling from varroa suggested by many, which IMO would have exhibited distinct symptoms associated with such an event had varroa been the cause. Its as if something is affecting these colonies ability to find or communicate the locations of nutritional forage, it’s as if foragers are getting confused, lost and misdirected in the field which may explain the lack of dead bees near the colony over worked and dying out in the field or lost. One thing, they certainly are not bringing sufficient pollen and nectar back to the colonies. *A cup or two of young bees are working hard to re-establish the colonies. This I am seeing also. And I may add, what small amount of bees that are left look healthy and very small broodnest seemingly healthy, EXCEPT for the apparent inability to manage adequate brood production, honey or pollen near the nest. *Brood chewed out. *Occasional wingless or deformed wing bee. My gut tells me, depending on severity, this could potentially be normal symptomatic of varroa and minor DWV and perhaps related, or perhaps not, but the timing certainly is right. *Curious note, even the hive beetles are gone. This is a great observation!!!! Due to this obvious lack of SHB in these colonies, and considering the SHB keen ability to select colonies from amongst the group that would have sufficient food. I assume the SHB voluntarily abandoned theses colonies weeks earlier as the colony was in decline due to an apparent lack of food / attractants (pollen honey). This is a great observation, because the fact that the hive beetles are gone in these colonies suggests to me that a reduction of the SHB attractants (pollen and honey) also preceded the bee dwindling event!!! If it had been a rapid dwindling or absconding event, with all the pollen and honey left behind and less bees to protect it, the SHB would have made short work of the infected colonies. This IMO is important information showing the symptoms of lack of pollen possibly occurring several months earlier. The development stage of any existing SHB could be noted and may suggest an approximate SHB departing date. It would be interesting to compare stored pollen levels in these colonies with that of unaffected colonies and also pollen content in recently stored honey. *Emerging adults stuck in cells, some with tongues out. Perhaps, this could be unrelated to the actual event and symptomatic of the later event of chilled brood caused by dwindling or stress, OR perhaps not. *And none of the hives are being robbed out. Another great observation, worthy of noting!!!! In the colonies that I have inspected here in PA, robbing was also observed to be rather non existent. I assume here the cause was because there was almost NO uncapped honey or nectar, and very little capped honey, much less odors that would cue a robbing event. This important to note because this particular observation does NOT support a rapid dwindling or absconding event. This observation is more suggestive of a gradual reduction in stored honey preceding or coinciding with a gradual dwindling of bees to match, which are IMO a prerequisite for maintaining colony stabilization and protection from robbing while the colonies fundamentals are being eroded. *Some evidence that there may be transfer of problem from hives set side by side, but so far has not spread to nearby (few hundred yards) beeyards. That these die offs are affecting single beeyards and not a yard several hundred meters away, could potentially suggest a breeding or management related factor due to the propensity for beekeepers to split colonies, leaving the daughter colonies in the same yard. So perhaps this might need investigated also, perhaps not. It might be important to find colonies that are still healthy and exhibiting symptoms in the early stages, checking pollen foraging rates and comparing levels of stored pollen, nectar. Best Wishes, Joe Waggle Ecologicalbeekeeping.com ‘Bees Gone Wild Apiaries' Feral Bee Project: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeralBeeProject/ -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---