Hi Aaron, Thank you for sharing your excellent observations! As I see it, whether or not collapses should be attributed to CCD specifically is of minor importance, if it distracts from the fact that a number of beekeepers worldwide are experiencing losses far above the "normal." I talk to these guys, or correspond with them, and feel the frustration of experienced beekeepers watching their operations collapse. Just last night, as we were hauling a couple of truckloads of bees home, a California commercial beekeeper called to share the extensive collapses that he and several of his fellows were experiencing these past weeks. I'm writing this before I head out to unload them, and I have little idea of what I'll see in my own boxes. I checked all these colonies closely a few weeks ago, and all appeared to be heavy and in good health, yet as I loaded them last night, some 5-10% felt like they had been robbed out. The extent of losses in France (2005-2006) is sobering--see http://www.api-connaissance-sanitaire.fr/mortalites%20colonies.htm --excerptedbelow. Note that these were small yards--not large commercial beekeepers. Randy Oliver % de mortalité de colonies dans certains ruchers du département Alpes-de-Haute-Provence 100 % (57/57) Aveyron 60 % (15/25) Cantal importante (sans données chiffrées) Deux-Sèvres 38 % (243/637) Dordogne 100 % (25/25) Haute-Garonne 100 % (57/57) Hérault 100 % (38/38) Indre 21 % (nombre de colonies non précisé) Loire 50 % (22/44) Lozère 1 93 % (29/31) Lozère 2 70 % (30/34) Puy-de-Dôme 91 % (21/23) Pyrénées Atlantiques 74 % (52/70) Hautes-Pyrénées 75 % (15/20) Sarthe 1 50 % (nombre de colonies non précisé) Sarthe 2 100 % (nombre de colonies non précisé) Vienne 40 % (30/75) Haute-Vienne 75 % (18/24) ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************