Jerry Bromenshenk wrote
>
> By excuses, I mean taking the easy way out = picking your favorite culprit
> of the day.
Which is why you may be on an impossible task.
>
> The CCD has brought some regional favorites - causal agents- to light.
> Toxic honeydew - or just poor nutrition from honeydew - seems to be real in some
> areas at some times -- but where's the proof? So far, its always been -- my
> dad told me, another beekeeper told me. (snip)
>
> Maybe someone ought to sample, find out once and for all - is it real, or is
> it a myth? Is something else in the area causing the problem?
>
>
>
I did have a honeydew problem which was pointed out to me by Tony
Jadczak. I changed my management practices and took off the honeydew at
the end of the season and problem solved. But the symptoms of honeydew
are more in line with dysentery and weak bees than CCD. Also, there were
additional factors, including other fall honey (aster was probably
another culprit) that tend to be bad for overwintering bees. So the
problem was just like most we run into in beekeeping. It is not just a
single issue but many. The problem, which I continually point out on
this list, is we have a difficult time controlling the variables.
Which gets back to your first observation, that there are may things
being blamed. Add CCD to the list and it becomes the newest culprit.
Bob's observation of the beekeeper on the CBS show confirms it. It was
probable Varroa but now it is CCD.
I know in Maine that Varroa gets blamed for every bad beekeeping
practice. Failure of colonies can be cause by Tracheal, starvation, any
and all of the brood diseases, small colonies, location, hive
construction (where the beekeeper knows what the bee really needs), and
even Varroa- which will take the blame. I thought that commercial
beekeepers were exceptional beekeepers until I went around with Tony and
inspected commercial operations on the blueberry barrens. Some are but
many are not. So it would not be hard for me to believe that they could
also say that CCD was the cause of their ills when it as really just
about anything and they just do not see it.
I have my guesses and they seem to focus on viral disease, but who
knows. I hope you do find out, but your lab is the great outdoors where
a thousand different experiments are going on run by the same number of
beekeepers, all doing something different. And they all can claim CCD.
Bill Truesdell (currently in his Eeyore mode)
Bath, Maine
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