More tales from the front Well some good news for a change My first inspection a few days ago Let me recap population changes, it'll illustrate my points Fall06 N:10 + 6 S:10 (hives + winter nucs) Spr07 N:4 + 5 S:0 (really 6, killed late supercede) Fall07 N:12 + 12 S:8 (S repopulated with own boxes, SO2) Spr08 N:8 + 11 S:7 (no supplimental heat for nucs) Those rated very good VG08 N: 6 + 3 or 4 S:5 Clearly few of these absconded The deadouts had ccd like symptoms Better bees than I"ve seen for a few years S got 2 treatments FA and OA(v), made no honey of course N had inadequate VD control (1 FA, 1 OA), late winter a 2nd OA I already have 6 pads on in case it was too late Probably these VG started laying early Mar Clearly nucs withstand ccd winter loss better Whether FA is a treatment or it's a severe lack of VD for these results is a good question, I think both After all I still see physical symptoms without difficulty, but this may be carryover from 07 Still it's less than 20% loss, breed up from (not many) sick bees I likely do NOT have nosema, this is another factor Since I will never be rid of X, I am forced to breed from my own for a bit, I wanted a bit more russian since they seem a bit more resistant. However bees first exposed to X seem have little innate resistance (IMO), after some months crash Will this matter, or are the genes the thing? It sure would be good to know how the infection works so as to know where to attack it. BTW ants are back at S, not many yet dave **************************************************** * General Information About BEE-L is available at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm * ****************************************************