All
I think we may all be in more agreement than it seems. CCD was a name
carefully chosen to not imply anything more than we know.
The initial Fall Dwindling Disease terminology had three problems -- our
surveys indicate that the problem was not confined to the fall, nor was it a
dwindle in terms of taking several weeks of months to play out, and it may or
may not be a disease. CCD means Colony (the effects are at the colony level),
Collapse (sudden, rapid reduction of population sizes -- a couple of weeks,
maybe even a couple of days), and Disorder (since it may or may not be a
disease).
CCD may be something new -- the nosema seen in Spain, the neonictotinics
(imidacloprid) used in France, a new virus, a fungus, the result of throwing
everything but the kitchen sink into a hive, etc.
OR
It may be something old -- a variation of mites and PMS, whatever went
through colonies in LA and TX in the 60s, etc.
I'm leaning towards the something old, since the symptoms are the same as in
the 60s, and the inability to pin down a cause just as problematic.
It looks to be contagious, and the total absence of robbing, invasion by
hive beetles, wax moth is peculiar.
Finally, our surveys are beginning to provide some useful information.
So far 105 beekeepers have responded. Of the 53 reporting CCD, 17 fed HF
corn syrup, 19 fed sucrose.
I'd be hard pressed to argue that HFCS was the cause, or that sucrose
provided any protection.
35 of the CCD reports indicated that their hives had good pollen stores, 25
reported good nectar stores, and 36 said that their hives had honey stores.
Jerry
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