dinks have been around as long as there has been beekeepers. sure the reasons have changed over the last 2 decades and beekeeping is more complicated. poor queen mating - bigger problem in the last 5 yrs contaminated comb - have you used apistan or checkmite? EFB chalkbrood nosema AFB mites viruses its up to you the beek to figure out whats wrong. dinks in the spring are not a sign of CCD. unless you're claiming that your bees flew the coop during winter. nosema or tracheal can leave a dink cluster after winter. you keep crying wolf about CCD - you got a story of a decent hive one day and nothing but brood and a small cluster a short time later? I'm not talking after 5 months of winter either. ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************